Event

A Great and Happy People

On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee commander of the Confederacy's Army of Northern Virginia surrendered to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. Exactly 152 years later, we celebrate the sacrifices made to preserve the United States and the profound and noble political, legal and social changes made possible only by the Souths defeat.

In the century and a half since the Civil War, the causes and effects of Americas bloodiest conflict have become distorted in our national imagination not least of all by those who see the Lost Cause of the Confederacy as a high-minded struggle against the federal governments meddling. On the anniversary of the Unions victory, with unflinching clarity and pride, we commemorate the preservation of our country and the destruction of slavery and look to our past to understand how a nation torn apart by deep divisions might endure.

Learn more at americancivicforum.org/project/a-great-and-happy-people/the-civil-war-and-union-victory/