Appomattox Court House

This is our third National Park we have been to in the last couple of days and the flag has been at half staff.  So I asked why.  A Range died in Washington State.  He was rescuing climbers on Mt Hood.  

We are at Appomattox 

Ulysses S. Grant and his men

This is a painting of the men in the home of Wilmer  McLean.  They are signing the surrender agreement.  Here on April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee, commanding general of the Army of Northern Virginia, surrendered his men to Ulyssses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all United States forces.  Lee's surrender signaled the end of the Southern states' attempt to create a separate nation.

Robert E. Lee and Col. Charles Marshall

Wilmer McLean's home were the signing took place in the parlor.

The replicated  room where the surrender documents were signed. 

 Lee here

 
Grant here

The parks department  reconstructed buildings using old foundations for placement and pics and stories for the designs.  This is the kitchen to the McLean house. Back in the day the kitchens were separated because of heat and mainly fire.  If the kitchen burnt down it would not bring the whole house down.

I loved how they set the table and had the hams and other meats currying from the ceiling.

Great table detail.  They tried to have this great detail in the other buildings as well

  Meeks Livery stables

 
Clover Hill Tavern on the right.  The one on the left is the Tavern guest house.  There would have been a Dining Room for the tavern in between the two.

 

To print the passes that Confederates needed to return to their homes printing presses were set up in the Clover Hill Tavern.  Printers worked in relays to print 30,000 blank forms. 

These are a couple of the passes.  They do state if the soldier had horses or side arms.
Officers were allowed to keep their side arms and any Confederate soldier who owned a horse was allowed to take it home with him. 

White building was Meeks Store and the small orange building was Woodson Law Office


We had a great day walking around learning about our history.


We also took the time out to wash our dirty car.  We had not washed it since the Outer Banks and it was way dirty.  We were concerned about the salt from the air out there and dirt messing up the paint job.  It came out great.