The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the events surrounding
the end of the American Civil War. This war was a war of epic
proportion. Never before and not since have so many Americans died in
battle. The American Civil War was truly tragic in terms of human
life. In this document, I will speak mainly around those involved on
the battlefield in the closing days of the conflict. Also, reference
will be made to the leading men behind the Union and Confederate
The war was beginning to end by January of 1865. By then,
Federal (Federal was another name given to the Union Army) armies were
spread throughout the Confederacy and the Confederate Army had shrunk
extremely in size. In the year before, the North had lost an enormous
amount of lives, but had more than enough to lose in comparison to the
South. General Grant became known as the "Butcher" (Grant, Ulysses
S., Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, New York: Charles L. Webster &
Co.,1894) and many wanted to see him removed. But Lincoln stood firm
with his General, and the war continued. This paper will follow the
happenings and events between the winter of 1864-65 and the surrender
of The Confederate States of America. All of this will most certainly
illustrate that April 9, 1865 was indeed the end of a tragedy.
In September of 1864, General William T. Sherman and his army
cleared the city of Atlanta of its civilian population then rested
ever so briefly. It was from there that General Sherman and his army
began its famous "march to the sea". The march covered a diezce of
400 miles and was 60 miles wide on the way. For 32 days no news of
him reached the North. He had cut himself off from his base of
supplies, and his men lived on what ever they could get from the
country through which they passed. On their route, the army destroyed
anything and everything that they could not use...