The Army of Northern Virginia's chaotic dispersal began even before Lee
and Grant met at Appomattox Court House. As the Confederates had pushed
west at a relentless pace for nearly a week, thousands of wounded and
exhausted men fell out of the ranks. When word spread that Lee planned
to surrender, most remaining troops stacked their arms and accepted
paroles allowing them to return home, even as they lamented the loss of
their country and cause. But others broke south and west, hoping to
continue the fight. Fearing a guerrilla war, Grant extended the generous
Appomattox terms to every rebel who would surrender himself. Provost
marshals fanned out across Virginia and beyond, seeking nearly 18,000 of
Lee's men who had yet to surrender. But the shock of Lincoln's
assassination led Northern authorities to see threats of new rebellion
in every rail depot and harbor where Confederates gathered for
transport, even among those already paroled. While Federal troops
struggled to keep order and sustain a fragile peace, their newly
surrendered adversaries seethed with anger and confusion at the sight of
Union troops occupying their towns and former slaves celebrating
freedom.
In this dramatic new history of the weeks and months after Appomattox,
Caroline E. Janney reveals that Lee's surrender was less an ending than
the start of an interregnum marked by military and political
uncertainty, legal and logistical confusion, and continued outbursts of
violence. Janney takes readers from the deliberations of government and
military authorities to the ground-level experiences of common soldiers.
Ultimately, what unfolds is the messy birth narrative of the Lost Cause,
laying the groundwork for the defiant resilience of rebellion in the
years that followed.
