This is a timeline of the conclusion of the American Civil War and includes the most important battles and other events of 1865, such as those that led to Confederate surrenders and the disbanding of units.

Capture of Anderson's corps (April 6)

On April 6 at Sayler's Creek (Sailor's Creek) a portion of the Confederate Army, commanded by General Richard Stoddert Ewell, was enclosed and cut off by the Union forces commanded by Brigadier General George A. Custer. The Confederates had been beaten at the Siege of Petersburg and were retreating, hoping to join General Joseph E. Johnston's army in North Carolina. In the skirmishes and pursuing battles that ensued, Lee lost most of the personnel of the Army of Northern Virginia. Seeing how few men of his diminished army remained, Lee asked in surprise, "My God, has the army dissolved?"^[1]

The casualties of three skirmishes were 7,700 Confederates and 1,148 Federals.^[2] Those taken prisoner included two key Confederate officers, Richard S. Ewell and Richard H. Anderson,^[3] and other key Confederate officers who surrendered during the fighting were William E. Simms, Joseph Brevard Kershaw, Montgomery Dent Corse, Dudley M. Du Bose, Seth Maxwell Barton, Eppa Hunton, and Custis Lee. This Civil War battle is considered by many historians as the straw that broke the camel's back, as the situation of the Confederates worsened quickly after it.^[4]

Destruction of Confederate supply trains at Appomattox Station (April 8)

On April 8, 1865, Union cavalry under Major General George Armstrong Custer came upon Confederate supplies on three trains at Appomattox Station, waiting for Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. With his Second New York Cavalry in the lead, Custer captured the supply trains, loaded with Confederate supplies of various kinds of amunition, food, a replenishment of clothes and blankets, medical supplies needed for the wounded, and other equipment.^[5]

Those guarding the supply trains were locomotive engineers and other men untrained for fighting. They were soon run off, abandoning the trains. Fred Blodgett of the Second New York Cavalry got his engineers to take the trains away from the town of Nebraska (now known as Appomattox, Virginia) as quickly as possible, as he knew Confederate forces led by Brigadier General Reuben Lindsay Walker’s Reserve Artillery were on the way to defend their supplies. The trains were then burned, destroying the Confederate supplies. This Battle of Appomattox Station, with the destruction of the trains involved, was ultimately the determining factor in the well-known surrender of the Confederate General Lee that took place the next day at the little hamlet of Clover Hill (then also known as Appomattox Court House, since it was the county seat).^[3]

A Virginia historical marker at the station reads:

Near this building stood the station of the South Side Railroad where, on April 8, 1865, three trains unloading supplies for the Army of Northern Virginia were captured by units of Sheridan’s Union cavalry under Gen. Geo. Custer. Significant for its relationship to the surrender by Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House, this action also marked the last strategic use of rail by Confederate forces.

Surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia (April 9)

General Robert E. Lee commanded the Army of Northern Virginia, while Major General John Brown Gordon led the Army's Second Corps. Early in the morning of April 9th, Gordon attacked, aiming to break through Federal lines at the Battle of Appomattox Court House, but failed, and the Confederate army was then surrounded. At 8:30 A.M. that morning, Lee requested a meeting with General Ulysses S. Grant to discuss surrendering the Army of Northern Virginia. Shortly after twelve o'clock, Grant's reply reached Lee, and in it Grant said he would accept the surrender of the Confederate army under certain conditions. Lee then rode into the little hamlet of Clover Hill, where the Appomattox county court house stood, and waited for Grant's arrival.^[6]

Head Quarters of the Armies of the United States Appomattox C.H. Va. Apl 9th 1865

Gen. R. E. Lee Comd'g C.S.A.

General,

In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th inst., I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of N. Va. on the following terms to wit; Rolls of all the officers and men be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer to be designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental commander to sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery and public property to be parked and stacked and turned over to the officer appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side arms of the officers nor their private horses or baggage. This done each officer and man will be allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority as long as they observe their parole and the laws in force where they may reside—

Very Respectfully U. S. Grant

Lt. Gen ^[7]

Surrender of General St. John Richardson Liddell's troops (April 9)

The Confederates lost Spanish Fort in Alabama at the Battle of Spanish Fort, which took place between March 27 and April 8, 1865 in Baldwin County. After losing Spanish Fort, the Confederates went on to lose Fort Blakely to Union forces at the Battle of Fort Blakely, between April 2 and April 9, 1865, which historians consider to be the last major combined-force battle of the American Civil War. It happened six hours after General Lee's surrender to General Grant at Appomattox. In the course of the battle, General St. John Richardson Liddell was captured and surrendered his men. The successful Union assault can be attributed in large part to African-American forces.^[8]

Disbanding of Mosby's Raiders (April 21)

Mosby's Rangers, also known as the 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry, were Confederate military cavalry companies who opposed the Union control of the Loudoun Valley area. Under the command of General Robert E. Lee, John S. Mosby had formed the battalion on June 10, 1863, at Rector's Cross Roads near Rectortown, Virginia. Mosby practised psychological warfare and guerrilla warfare techniques to disrupt the Union stronghold.

Mosby's men never formally surrendered and were disbanded on April 21, 1865, almost two weeks after Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant.^[9]

On the last day of Mosby's striking force, a letter from him was read aloud to his men:

Soldiers! I have summoned you together for the last time. The vision we have cherished of a free and independent country, has vanished, and that country is now the spoil of a conqueror. I disband your organization in preference to surrendering it to our enemies. I am no longer your commander. After association of more than two evenful years, I part from you with a just pride, in the fame of your achievements, and grateful recollections of your generous kindness to myself. And now at this moment of bidding you a final adieu accept the assurance of my unchanging confidence and regard.

Farewell.

Jno S. Mosby, Colonel ^[10]

Surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston (April 26)

Many historians say the second and last major stage in the peace making process concluding the American Civil War was the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston to Major General William Sherman on April 26, 1865 at Bennett Place. There was nearly one hundred thousand Confederate soldiers that surrendered from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. The first major stage in the peace making process was when General Lee's surrender occured at Appomattox on April 9, 1865.^[11] The remaining parts of the Florida "Brigade of the West" surrendered with the rest of General Johnston’s army on May 4, 1865, at Greensboro, North Carolina.^[12]

There is a historical marker at the farm house in Durham, North Carolina, where General Johnston surrendered.

BENNETT PLACE

Farm home of James Bennett, where Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston
surrendered his army to Union General William T. Sherman, April 26, 1865.

Johnston's surrender followed Lee's at Appomattox by 17 days and

ended the Civil War in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida.

Surrender of the Confederate departments of Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana regiments (May 4)

The documentation of the surrender of General Richard Taylor's small force in Alabama on May 4th was another stage in the process of concluding the American Civil War. The son of former President Zachary Taylor, Richard Taylor, commanded the group of troops called the Department of Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana. It consisted of ten to twelve thousand soldiers. Mobile, Alabama had fallen to Union control by April 1865. Reports reached Taylor of the meeting between Johnston and Sherman. Taylor agreed to meet with Major General Edward R. S. Canby for a conference north of Mobile, Alabama. They agreed to a 48 hour's truce on April 30. Taylor agreed to a surrender after this time elapsed, which he did on May 4 at Citronelle, Alabama.^[13]

Nathan Bedford Forrest surrendered on May 9 at Gainesville, Alabama. His troops were included with Taylor's. The terms stated that Taylor could retain control of the railway and river steamers to be able to get his men as near as possible to their homes. Taylor stayed in Meridian, Mississippi, until the last man was sent on his way. He was paroled May 13 and then went to Mobile to join Canby. Canby took him to his home in New Orleans by boat.^[13]

Surrender of the Confederate District of the Gulf (May 5)

The Confederate District of the Gulf was commanded by a Major General Dabney H. Maury. On April 12 Maury retreated with his troops after the two major Confederate forts of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely were lost to the Union forces. He declared Mobile, Alabama, an open city after these battles. Maury went to Meridian, Mississippi with his remaining men. He wanted to join the remains of the Army of Tennessee in North Carolina, however hearing of Johnston's surrender to Sherman on April 26 he soon ran out of options. Ultimately Maury surrendered Mobile's military infantry soldiers and artillary of about four thousand men to the Union army on May 5 at Citronelle, Alabama. It was the last of the Confederate forces to surrender east of the Mississippi River.^[14]

Capture of President Davis (May 10)

On May 10, Union cavalrymen, under James H. Wilson's command, captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis as he fled Richmond, Virginia, following its evacuation in the early part of April 1865. Davis was going to Danville, Virginia, with his Confederate Cabinet. On May 5, 1865, in Washington, Georgia, Davis had held the last meeting of his Cabinet. At that time, the Confederate Government was declared officially dissolved.^[15]

The sequence of events that led to Davis's capture began early in May 1865, when the Fourth Michigan Cavalry was set up in an encampment of tents at Macon, Georgia. The military unit of several battalions was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin D. Pritchard. On May 7th, he was given orders to join many other units searching for the Confederate president. Pritchard's troops were to scout through the country along the Ocmulgee River, and by the next day the Michiganders had came to Hawkinsville, Georgia, about fifty miles south of Macon, from where they continued along the river to Abbeville, Georgia. There, Pritchard learned from Lieutenant Colonel Henry Harnden that his First Wisconsin Cavalry was hot on Davis's trail. After a meeting between the two colonels, Harnden and his men headed off towards Irwinville, some twenty miles south of their position.^[16]

Pritchard received word from local residents that on the night before a party, probably including the Confederate President, had crossed the Ocmulgee River just north of Abbeville. Since there were two roads to Irwindale, one of which had been taken by Harnden and his men, Pritchard decided to take the other, to see if he could capture Davis. He took with him about a hundred and forty men and their horses, while the balance of the Michiganders stayed on the Ocmulgee River near Abbeville. Some seven hours later, at 1 A.M. on May 10, Pritchard arrived at Irwindale. There was no evidence of Harnden's men being there yet.

Pritchard learned from local residents that about a mile and a half to the north there was a military camp. Not knowing whether this was Davis and his group or the First Wisconsin Cavarly, he approached cautiously. He soon identified the camp as Davis's. At first dawn, Pritchard charged the camp, which was so surprised and overwhelmed that it offered no resistance and yielded immediately.^[16]

About ten minutes after the surrender, Pritchard heard rapid gunfire to the north. He left Davis and the captured men in the hands of his twenty-one year old adjutant. Once he had approached the automatic gunfire, he realized it was the Fourth Michigan Cavalry and the First Wisconsin Cavarly shooting at each other, neither realizing who they were shooting at. Pritchard immediately ordered his men to stop and shouted to the First Wisconsin Cavalry to identify the parties. In the five minute skirmish, the First Wisconsin Cavalry had suffered eight men wounded, while the Fourth Michigan Cavalry had lost two men killed and one wounded.^[16]

Back at camp, Pritchard's adjutant was almost fooled into letting Davis escape by a ruse. Davis's wife had persuaded the adjutant to let her "old mother" go to fetch some water. The adjutant allowed this, and walked away from their tent. Mrs. Davis and a person dressed as an old woman then left the tent to go for the water. One of the other ranking officers noticed the "old woman" was wearing men's riding boots with spurs. Immediately, they were stopped and the woman's overcoat and black head shawl were removed, to reveal Davis himself.^[17] The plan of escape thus failed.^[18] The Confederate president was subsequently held prisoner for two years in Fort Monroe, Virginia.^[19]

Surrender of the Confederate Department of Florida and South Georgia (May 10)

In 1864, Major General Samuel Jones had commanded the Departments of Florida, South Carolina, and South Georgia, with his headquarters in Pensacola, Florida. His primary orders were to guard the coastal areas of these states and to destroy Union gunboats. He was also to destroy all machinery and sawmills that would be beneficial to the Union armies.^[20]

In the early part of 1865, Jones was transferred to Tallahassee, soon after Savannah had fallen to General Sherman and the Union forces in December of 1864. There, Jones headquartered the District of Florida. On May 10, at Tallahassee, he surrendered about eight thousand troops to Brigadier General Edward M. McCook. In military action east of the Mississippi River, the city of Tallahassee was the only Confederate state capital not captured during the Civil War.^[20]

Surrender of Thompson's Brigade (May 11)

Confederate Brigadier General "Jeff" Meriwether Thompson commanded Thompson's Brigade. The county seat of Wittsburg, Arkansas (county seat of Cross County from 1868 through 1886), would witness one of the final acts in the American Civil War. This happened after the collapse of Confederate forces east of the Mississippi. Major General Grenville M. Dodge sent Lieutenant Colonel Charles W. Davis of the 51st Illinois Infantry on April 30, 1865, to Arkansas to seek the surrender of Thompson, commander of Confederate troops in the northeast portion of Arkansas. Davis, arriving at Chalk Bluff (now non-extant) in Clay County, Arkansas on the St. Francis River, sent communications to Thompson asking that they have a conference. These two officers met then on May 9 to negotiate a surrender. Thompson requested from Davis two days to work out the details of the surrender with his officers. The Confederates under the command of Thompson agreed to surrender all the troops in the area on May 11. They picked Wittsburg and Jacksonport, Arkansas as the sites where Thompson's five thousand military troops would gather to receive their paroles. Ultimately Thompson surrendered about seventy-five thousand men all total that were under his command consisting of 1,964 enlisted men with 193 officers paroled at Wittsburg and 4,854 enlisted men with 443 officers paroled at Jacksonport.

Surrender of Confederate forces of North Georgia (May 12)

The surrender of between 3000 and 4000 soldiers under Brigadier General William T. Wofford's command took place at Kingston, Georgia and was received by Brigadier General Henry M. Judah on May 12, 1865.^[21] There were several letters between the various generals involved in the negotiations of this surrender, including Wofford, Judah, William D. Whipple and Robert S. Granger.^[22]

The Georgia historical marker in Kingston, Georgia, in Bartow County at the intersection of West Main Street and Church Street reads:

SURRENDER OF

CONFEDERATE TROOPS

Brig. Gen. Wm. T. Wofford arranged with Brig. Gen. Henry M. Judah,
U.S.A. for the surrender of some 3000 to 4000 Confederate soldiers,
mostly Georgians, not paroled in Virginia, N. Carolina, and elsewhere.

During final negotiations, Gen. Wofford´s h´dq´rs were at the McCravey -
Johnson res. on Church St. Gen. Judah´s h´dq´rs were at Spring Bank,
the home of the Rev. Charles Wallace Howard, 2 mi. N. of Kingston.

Rations were supplied to the Confederate soldiery by the Federal Commissary.

Surrender of Kirby Smith (May 26)

General Kirby Smith tried to send reinforcements east of the Mississippi River to relieve Vicksburg, Mississippi, in the spring of 1864 after the Battle of Mansfield and the Battle of Pleasant Hill. This was not practicable due to the Union naval control of the Mississippi River. Smith instead dispatched Major General Sterling Price and his cavalry on an invasion of Missouri that was ultimately not successful. Thereafter the war west of the Mississippi River was principally one of small raids. By May 26 a representative of Smith's negotiated and signed surrender documents with a representative of General Edward Canby. Canby in Shreveport, Louisiana then took command of Smith's regiment of 43,000 soldiers when they surrendered. General Smith surrendered his troops which by then was the only significant Confederate forces left west of the Missippi River. With this ended all organized Southern military resistance to the Union forces. Smith commanded the Army of the Trans-Mississippi, that surrendered May 26, and officially signed the surrender papers on June 2 on board the U.S.S. Fort Jackson just outside Galveston Harbor.^[23]

Surrender of the Cherokee Mounted Rifles (June 23)

Cherokee Brigadier General Stand Watie commanded the Confederate Indians who surrendered on June 23, being the last significant Confederate active forces.^[24] When fighting started in the "Indian Nations", Watie had formed the Cherokee Mounted Rifles. He was a guerilla fighter commanding Cherokee, Seminole, Creek, and Osage indian soldiers amounting to over 200,000 men. The Oklahoma horse soldiers earned a notorious reputation for their bold and brave fighting. Waite was famous for leading his Confederate forces to victory in the Second Battle of Cabin Creek and for capturing a Federal steamship on the Arkansas River with cargo worth over one hundred thousand dollars. The booty from the three hundred Federal wagon train at the Second Battle of Cabin Creek clothed and fed his entire regiment and dependants for more than four weeks. Yearly, Federal troops all over the western United States hunted down Watie, to no avail. They never captured him, and he surrendered at Fort Towson in the Choctaw Nations area of Oklahoma Territory.^[25]

Surrender of CSS Shenandoah (November 6)

The C.S.S. Shenandoah, was commissioned by the Confederacy to interfere with Union shipping to hinder their efforts in the American Civil War. It was a Scottish-built merchant ship originally called the Sea King, secretely purchased by the Confederate forces in 1864. In October of that year the Sea King was loaded with 800 tons of high quality smokeless Welsh coal to be sold to Bombay, India. A "coal agent" was assigned to watch over this valuable coal by the name of "George Brown" that went on the voyage that started down the Thames River. Brown was a secret agent by the real name of Lieutenant William Conway Whittle, CSN. He was Captian James Waddell's right hand man, the ship's executive officer. Waddell commanded the Confederate warship C.S.S. Shenandoah after the Sea King was converted to a warship out in International waters. The Sea King was reported missing, which in reality became the C.S.S. Shenandoah. The coal on board the merchant ship Sea King was really a trick to obtain the high speed ship itself away from the English.^[26]

The ship, commanded by Captain Waddell, first sailed from England on October 26, 1864, then around the Cape of Good Hope of Africa to Australia. While at Melbourne, Australia in January of 1865, Captain Waddell obtained additional men and supplies.^[27] Then sailing west and north into the South Pacific the C.S.S. Shenandoah was in Micronesia at the Island of Ponape (called Ascension Island by Whittle) when the American Civil War came to terms with the surrender of General Lee to the Union forces in April of 1865.^[28] Needless to say the crew of the ship had no idea General Lee signed surrender documnets on April 9 since they had no means of communications to the rest of the world.^[29]

The C.S.S. Shenandoah continued up to the Aleutians and into the Bering Seas. In the Bering Seas she demolished twenty-four innocent Union whaling ships.^[30] She then traveled north crossing the Arctic Circle on June 19.^[31] Continuing then south along the coast of Alaska they came upon a fleet of Union ships whaling on June 22.^[31] The C.S.S. Shenandoah opened fire continuously, destroying a major portion of the Union whaling fleet.^[31] Captain Waddell took aim at a Union whaling ship and at his signal, the gunner jerked a wrist strap and fired at the fleeing ship Sophia Thornton, being the last two shots of the American Civil War!^[32]

From a whaling ship they captured on June 27 Waddell learned of General Lee's surrender on April 9th and of President Lincoln's assassination and Confederate President Davis' proclamation that "the war would be carried on with renewed vigor."^[33] The crew of the C.S.S. Shenandoah dismissed the report of General Lee's surrender as propaganda, as they thought that Lee would never surrender his army and the Union forces would have to capture Lee. Captain Waddell decided to continue to take additional Union whaling ships as prizes.^[30] He thought, since he had an excellent equipped warship with well trained men and the Union whaling ships had just fat untrained whalers with no military equipment, they were easy prey.^[31]

They eventually got word on August 2 from an English barque, Bark Barracouta, from San Francisco bound for Liverpool that in fact General Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865 - some four months earlier! In the log of the C.S.S. Shenandoah was written that day a long entry that started with the words "The darkest day of my life." The captain realized then in his grief that they were taking innocent unarmed Union whaling ships as prizes when the rest of the country had ended hostilities.^[30] They knew then that they were now being hunted as pirates,^[30] so as they traveled south off the coast of South America they stayed far away from any mainland and went into the South Pacific. They knew pirates could be hanged. Waddell immediately then converted the warship back to a merchant ship,^[30] as it was known previously as the Sea King.^[34]

By August 24 they were at Pitcairn Island and traveled south then under Cape Horn.^[35] From then on they saw no land for another 17,000 miles until they arrived back in England, logging a total of over 44,000 miles around the world in a year's travel - the only Confederate ship to do a round-the-world trip. At this point all Captain Waddle wanted to do was surrender the Shenandoah and that the proper place to do this, in his mind, was at a European port. He decided on the Port of Liverpool.^[36]

The last Confederate surrender did not occur until November 6, 1865 when the notorious ship under Captain Waddell's command surrendered at the Port of Liverpool to one Captain R. N. Paynter, commander of HMS Donegal of the British royal navy. The last Confederate flag was taken down then.^[30] The C.S.S. Shenandoah was surrendered by letter to the Earl Russell of England.^[37]

In The Civil War: Strange & Fascinating Facts, the American Civil War historian Burke Davis says, "With little stretch of the imagination, the boarding of the raider by admiring British officers may be considered the end of our Civil War."^[38]

In Blue & Gray at Sea historian Brian Thomsen says "James Waddell commanded the commerce raider C.S.S. Shenandoah (formerely the British vessel The Sea King) targeting Union ships primarily along the Pacific coast during the war until August of 1865 (four months after Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse) when a British captain managed to finally convince him that the war was over - at which point he sailed directly to England, surrendering his ship, commission, and the "booty" on November 6, 1865."^[39]

Extracts from the United States Naval War Records published by the United States Printing Office The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of Rebellion of 1894 says, "November 5 - Arrived in the Mersey, off Liverpool, and on Monday, the 6th, surrendered the Shenandoah to the British nation, by letter to Lord John Russell, premier of Great Britain. (signed) JAMES I WADDELL."^[40]

Accomplishments

• The main accomplishment of the American Civil War is that it made free some four million slaves throughout the United States. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adoped on December 18 of 1865, abolishing slavery, and historians say this is one of the few wars that can clearly be seen as having accomplished something worthwhile, namely, the end of American slavery. More Americans died in the American Civil War than in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War combined. The 620,000 soldiers who were killed did not die in vain, but had achieved a great cause.^[41] The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution reads in part:

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

• The notorious superintendent of the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia, Captain Henry Wirz, was tried by a military commission presided over by General Lew Wallace from August 23 to October 24, 1865. On November 6, the day on which the Confederate ship C. S. S. Shenandoah surrendered, Wirz wrote an appeal to President Andrew Johnson. On November 10, he was hanged in the yard of Washington's Old Capitol Prison.^[42] Wirz's appeal to President Johnson reads in part:

November 6, 1865

To the President of the United States. Mr. President: With a trembling hand, with a heart filled with the most conflicting emotions, and with a spirit hopeful one moment and despairing the next, I have taken the liberty of addressing you. When I consider your exalted position; when I think for a moment that in your hands rests the weal and woe of millions - yea, the peace of the world - well may I pause to call to my aid courage enough to lay before you my humble petition. I have heard you spoken of as a man ready and willing at all times and under all circumstances to do justice, and that no man, however humble he may be, need fear to approach you: and, therefore, have come to the conclusion that you will allow me the same privilege as extended to hundreds and thousands of others. It is not my desire to enter into an argument as to the merits of my case. In your hands, if I am rightfully informed, are all the records and evidences bearing upon this point, and it would be presumption on my part to say one word about it. There is only one thing that I ask, and it is expressed in few words: Pass your sentence.