Brief Respite

— Lee's Retreat —

Half-starved and exhausted, the vanguard of the Army of Northern Virginia stumbled into Farmville early on the morning of April 7, 1865. Here, at last, the men found long-promised rations - everything from bread to soup and ham. While the head of the army feasted, the rear guard, a few miles east, tried and failed to burn both bridges at High Bridge and keep the Union army south of the Appomattox River. With the Federals approaching, the Confederate supply trains rolled west toward Appomattox Station on the South Side Railroad, frustrating most of the soldiers who went unfed. By 1:30, the Confederates had entrenched north of the river at Cumberland Church, and the Union army occupied the town.

Here in Farmville that evening, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant wrote a letter to Gen. Robert E. Lee suggesting surrender: The results of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of blood by asking of you the surrender of that portion of the C.S. Army known as the Army of Northern Virginia.

Lee, who received the letter at Cumberland Church, showed it to Gen. James Longstreet. He handed it back to Lee and said, "Not yet."

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Show me all markers in:  Farmville, VA  |  Prince Edward County  |  23901  |  Virginia  |  United States of America

Farmville
Site of the Randolph House
Cumberland County / Prince Edward County
Bizarre
Dr. William W. H. Thackston
Main Street - Mayor J. David Crute - EACO Theatre
Beulah AME Church
Confederate Veterans Monument
First Baptist Church
Four Sororities Founded

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