Final Combat wayside marker

Appomattox Court House > Village of Appomattox Court House

The Final Combat wayside marker and the “Last shot from the artillery” sign are in Appomattox Court House National Historical Park in front of the Peers House.

The Final Combat wayside marker in the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

From the iron marker:

From this spot was fired
last shot from the artillery
of the Army of Northern Virginia
on the morning of April 9th, 1865.

From the wayside marker:

Final Combat

“It seems to me every one was more scared than ever, from the fact that we knew the war was nearly over, and we did not want to be killed at the end of the war.”
Private John L. Smith, 118th Pennsylvania

Late on the morning of April 9, 1865, the Army of Northern Virginia engaged in its final combat. Before the flags of truce passed along the entire line – and as the Confederates withdrew through the village – the two sides exchanged scattered last shots. Some of the last cannons discharged were fired from the yard of the Peers House, to your left.

The cannon in the Peers yard caused some of the last casualties of the war in Virginia. The Confederate guns fired at Union infantry advancing toward you, across the distant ridge. The identity of the last man killed in the fighting here is not known, but all of the men who died during the final battle at Appomattox Court House suffered a cruel and ironic fate.

From the captions to the illustrations at the bottom:

A gun of the Richmond Howitzers offers final defiance from the yard of the Peers House (above). The Howitzers had been in the war’s first major battle at Manassas in 1861. On April 9, 1865, they fired some of the last shots here at Appomattox Court House.

The death of Lt. Hiram Clark of the 185th New York during the last minutes of fighting at Appomattox Court House (left). Clark was killed while his regiment advanced toward you from the distant ridge beyond the Wright House.

Private William Montgomery (right) of the 155th Pennsylvania was just 19 years old when struck by a cannon shell the morning of April 9.

Location

The Final Combat wayside marker and the “Last shot from the artillery” marker are in front of the Peers house at the corner of Prince Edward Court House Road and Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road (both closed to cars) in the Village of Appomattox Court House. (37°22’39.9″N 78°47’35.7″W)