1865 April
.....
April 1, 1865- . The Battle of Five Forks, Virginia. The Confederate defeat at Five Forks initiates General Lee's decision to
abandon the Petersburg-Richmond siege lines.
April 2, 1865- The Fall of Petersburg and Richmond. General Lee abandons both cities and moves his army west in hopes of joining Confederate forces under
General Johnston in North Carolina.
April 3, 1865- Union troops occupy Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia.
April 6, 1865- The Battle of Sailor's Creek, Virginia. A portion of Lee's Army- almost one-third of it- is cornered along the banks of Sailor's (or "Saylor's") Creek and annihilated.
April 9, 1865- Battle of Appomattox Court House and Surrender, Appomattox court House, Virginia. fter an early morning attempt to break through Union
forces blocking the route west to Danville, Virginia, Lee seeks an audience with General Grant to discuss terms. That afternoon in the parlor of Wilmer McLean,
Lee signs the document of surrender. On April 12, the Army of Northern Virginia formally surrenders and is disbanded.
April 14, 1865- President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by actor John Wilkes Booth at Fords Theatre in Washington, DC. On the same day, Fort Sumter South Carolina is re-occupied by Union troops.
April 26, 1865- General Joseph Johnston signs the surrender document for the Confederate Army of the Tennessee and miscellaneous southern troops attached to his command at Bennett's Place near Durham, North Carolina.
