Appomattox Court House * Tour the Village
The restored Court House Building (center) is at the heart of the historical village, as seen from the Richmond-Lynchburg stage road. Meeks Store is on the left foreground.
Appomattox Court House, April 9, 1865. It was eight days after the collapse of the Confederate defenses around Richmond and Petersburg. General Robert E. Lee’s exhausted and hungry survivors of the Army of Northern Virginia had managed to make their way west over seventy miles along the South Side Railroad . Many had not made it, killed or captured by Federal pursuers or just quietly slipping away. Now those who were left found their path blocked in every direction. Desperately needed supplies were lost to Federal cavalry in fighting on April 8 at Appomattox Station. After a few last attempts to force a way through the blocking Federal forces, Lee accepted the inevitable. The only acceptable path left was surrender.
Today the area encompassing the last fighting and the surrender is part of Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. Many of the events of the surrender were in the area of the park. The village is closed to vehicular traffic, and visitors can walk about the restored buildings and try to understand what it was like in the Civil War. Other important areas are outside the village along Virginia Route 24.
click on one of the areas of interest on the map above or the menu below:
Village of Appomattox Court House
Site of Grant’s Headquarters
North Carolina Monument
Confederate Cemetery
Raine monument
After the Surrender wayside marker
Popularizer of the Banjo – Virginia historical marker M68
Apple Tree Site
Site of Lee’s Headquarters
Map and directions to Appomattox Court House
The Historical Park is in central Virginia, 19 miles east of Lynchburg, 50 miles west of Richmond and Petersburg, and 145 miles southwest Washington D.C. (Note these distances are “as the crow flies.” Driving distance will vary depending on route.)