435. Appomattox , April ,1865
The end of the Confederacy was now plainly in sight . Lee ＇ s men were starving . They were constantly deserting either to go to the aid of their per - ishing families or to obtain food from the Union army . As soon as the roads were fit for marching , Grant set his one hundred and twenty thousand men once more in motion . His object was to gain the rear of Lee ＇ s army and to force him to abandon Petersburg . A last despairing attack on the Union center only in - creased Grant ＇ s vigor . On April 1 Sheridan with his cavalry and an infantry corps seized Five Forks in the rear of Petersburg and could not be driven away . Petersburg and Richmond were abandoned . Lee tried to escape to the moun - tains . But now the Union soldiers marched faster than the starving Southerners . Sheridan , outstripping them , placed his men across their path at Appomattox Court House . There was nothing left save surrender . The soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia , now only thirty - seven thousand strong , laid down their arms , April 9,1865. Soon Johnston surrendered , and the remaining small isolated bands of Confed - erates were run down and captured .
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