On Saturday, April 8, 1865 the end was near for the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Sheridan’s Union cavalry seized Confederate supply trains at Appomattox Station, as Union forces late in the day maneuvered to the front of Lee, blocking his route toward Lynchburg. With his generals urging negotiations with Grant, Lee rejected that option and ordered an attack on Federal positions at Appomattox Station in hopes of forcing a passage through the Union forces confronting him. Attacking at dawn, the Confederates simply found too many enemy cavalry in front of them; the attack failed. Learning of their defeat, Lee immediately signaled his intention to surrender, and that afternoon in a private home at Appomattox Court House Lee surrendered the remainder of his army to Ulysses Grant.
00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.