Battle of Appomattox Court House - Aftermath

Aftermath

While General George Meade reportedly shouted that "it's all over" upon hearing the surrender was signed, Grant was aware that only a single army had given up. Roughly 175,000 Confederates remained in the field. Many of these were scattered throughout the South in garrisons while the rest were concentrated in three major Confederate commands. Just as Porter Alexander had predicted, it was only a matter of time before the other Confederate armies began to surrender. As news spread of Lee's surrender, other Confederate commanders realized that the strength of the Confederacy was fading, and decided to lay down their own arms. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army in North Carolina, the most threatening of the remaining Confederate armies, surrendered to Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman at Bennett Place in Durham, North Carolina on April 26. General Taylor surrendered his army at Citronelle, Alabama in early May followed by General Edmund Kirby Smith surrendering the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department in May near New Orleans, Louisiana. Brig. Gen. Stand Watie surrendered the last sizable organized Confederate force on June 23, 1865.

There were several more small battles after the surrender, with the Battle of Palmito Ranch commonly regarded as the final military action of the Confederacy.

Lee never forgot Grant's magnanimity during the surrender, and for the rest of his life would not tolerate an unkind word about Grant in his presence. Likewise, General Gordon cherished Chamberlain's simple act of saluting his surrendered army, calling Chamberlain "one of the knightliest soldiers of the Federal army."