my which was now under General George G. Meade, at Gettysburg. Hard fighting continued for three days, from July 1-3, 1863. The Confederates met their defeat in what proved to be a turning point of the war. Always generous to those under him, Lee insisted on taking the blame for the failure of the campaign in which the United States suffered 55,000 casualties, making it the bloodiest battle in the history of the United States.Witt 7In the Spring of 1864, Lee first faced General Ulysses S. Grant. In a series of fierce and very bloody battles called the Wilderness Campaign, Grant pounded the army of northern Virginia to pieces with this larger army cannons and guns. Lee held out for nine months in the siege of Petersburg, but his tired hungry men finally had to retreat. Early in 1865, Lee was made General in Chief of all the Confederate armies. Richmond fell in April, 1865, and Lee's ragged army retreated westward. Northern forces cut off and surrounded Lee's troops at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, where Lee surrendered to Grant, on April 9, 1865. "There is nothing left to do, but to go see General Grant, and I would rather die a thousand deaths". Grant tried to make the surrender as easy as possible, and allowed the Confederate troops to take their horses home for Spring plowing. As Lee made his last ride down the lines on his famous horse Traveler, he told his army, "Men, we have fought through the war together. I have done my best for you; my heart is too full to say more." Lee's defeat at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, marked the end of his brilliant military career (Nolan 121)At the end of the Civil War Lee set an example for all of the Ex-Confederate soldiers and officers, by his refusal not to show bitterness to the Union. "Abandon your animosities, and make your sons Americans". He than set out to form a permanent and stable union of the states(www.stratfordhall.org/rel.htm 2). On June 13, 1865, Robert E....
