By Katie Cayer and Laura Jowdy

One hundred and sixty years ago, on April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered the largest of the Confederate forces to the Union, accepting defeat.

It was a strange beginning-of-the-end to a sad chapter in American history, the U.S. Civil War. It had been four years of the worst crisis the country had seen since the Revolutionary War 90 years before. Now it effectively ended in a dignified farmhouse in Appomattox Court House, Virginia. In fact, the capitol of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia, had fallen six days prior. Lee’s troops were low on food and other supplies. Union General Ulysses S. Grant, knowing that Lee’s army was out of options, wrote to him on April 7, requesting Lee’s surrender, hoping to prevent further casualties.

But the Fighting Wasn’t Over…Seven Medals of Honor Earned While the Generals Debated

As the generals corresponded over the next two days, the fighting continued in and around Appomattox. In those few days, seven Army service members earned the Medal of Honor:

• James Lemuel Carey, who bravely urged his men forward in a charge
• John P. Donaldson, who captured the flag of the 14th Virginia Cavalry (C.S.A.)
• West Funk, who captured the flag of the 46th Virginia Cavalry (C.S.A.)
• Charles Higby and Joseph E. Sova, each capturing the enemy’s flag
• William H. Myers, who despite being wounded five times, exhibited gallantry in battle
• Edward Parsons Tobie, Jr., who refused medical assistance and remained with his regiment, performing the full duties of adjutant.

Slow News is Good News, Right?

By modern standards, news traveled slowly in the 1860s. With no Internet, cell towers, radio, or television, people got their news from letters, newspapers, telegraphs, and physical messengers on horseback. The news of Robert E. Lee’s surrender, as monumental as it was, took time to reach the other parts of the Confederacy. For example, it took three days for it to reach Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston in North Carolina, and another couple of weeks for him to complete terms for his troops’ surrender.

Seven More Medals of Honor Earned After Lee’s Surrender

The last battle of the Civil War to result in Medals of Honor was the battle for Columbus, Georgia, which took place on April 16, 1865. The Battle of Columbus produced seven more Medals of Honor, each for capturing the enemy’s flag: Norman F. Bates, Edward J. Bebb, Horatio L. Birdsall, Richard H. Cosgriff, John H. Hays, Richard H. Morgan, and Andrew Tibbets.

[To learn more about why capturing a flag was so significant in the Civil War, read our blog about another flag-capturer, George W. Reed.]

By mid-May, most of the other Confederate forces had followed surrendered as well. Pockets continued the fight, however, particularly west of the Mississippi River. In fact, the CSS Shenandoah, a Confederate ship tasked with raiding Union ships, continued to do so until the summer of 1865. After learning the news of the surrender and thus, the end of the war, Captain James Waddell and his crew knew returning to a U.S. port would mean facing a court sympathetic to the Union. Since they didn’t want to be tried and hanged as pirates, they decided to flee across the Atlantic Ocean and surrender at Liverpool in England. They didn’t reach port until November 1865.

The Real End of the War

The Civil War was declared officially over on August 20, 1866, well over a year after General Robert E. Lee’s surrender when President Andrew Johnson signed the extremely long-titled, Proclamation – Declaring that Peace, Order, Tranquility, and Civil Authority Now Exists in and Throughout the Whole of the United States. 

And with that, the War that split the country apart and resulted in 1,525 Medals of Honor officially ended.

Today’s service men and women continue the legacy of those who served in the Civil War, and the Medal of Honor continues to represent valor and sacrifice above and beyond the call of duty.

*****

About the Congressional Medal of Honor Society

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Medal of Honor, inspiring America to live the values the Medal represents, and supporting Recipients of the Medal as they connect with communities across America.

Chartered by Congress in 1958, its membership consists exclusively of those individuals who have received the Medal of Honor. There are fewer than 70 living Recipients.

The Society carries out its mission through outreach, education and preservation programs, including the Medal of Honor Museum, Medal of Honor Outreach Programs, the Medal of Honor Character Development Program, and the Medal of Honor Citizen Honors Awards for Valor and Service. The Society’s programs and operations are funded by donations.

As part of Public Law 106-83, the Medal of the Honor Memorial Act, the Medal of Honor Museum, which is co-located with the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s headquarters on board the U.S.S. Yorktown at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, was designated as one of three national Medal of Honor sites.

Learn more about the Medal of Honor and the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s initiatives at cmohs.org