By 1884 the Confederate Soldiers were demoralized, tired, and their chances of winning the
war were almost nonexistent. The collapse of Vicksburg and the Union victory at Gettysburg was
the turning point for the southern luck. The South was able to win a few battles, but was
unable to gain any sort of a strategic advantage. By early April, the Mississippi was controlled
by the Union, the blockade of the South was complete, and the soldier’s spirits were low. To
add to the frustration of it all, all the Confederate and major southern cities were destroyed,
and the government in the Confederate Capital of Virginia was demolished. On the other side,
Lincoln was reelected, indicating that Union moral and luck were very high.

After Petersburg, Lee’s army fled into Appomattox County . Grant followed close behind and
on April 9th, seven days after Richmond was captured, Lee had to make a very tough decision.
In order to avoid further casualties, knowing that Grant and the Union were going to win more
and more battles as the Confederate side suffered, Lee met Grant at the town of Appomattox
Courthouse. He and his army surrendered. As Lincoln had wanted, Grant gave Lee generous terms
of surrender. The Confederates were allowed to go home and even keep their mules and horses.
Grant could have very well imprisoned the man if he liked. As record show, at the meeting Grant
and Lee, mortal enemies in war, showed great respect towards each other.

The famous surrendering of Lee is known as the end of the war by many, since there was no
confederate hope after its main army was done. In reality another major battle tool place
afterwards called Mobile Bay, and the Confederate President Jefferson Davis refused to admit
that his country was deceased. Lee spoke out about not using guerilla warfare, which helped to
end the war in the southerners’ eyes, because they had great respect for him. Additionally, the
death of Lincoln on April 15th caused even President Davis to sympathize with the people,
brought the nation together a little and caused the south to stop rebelling, out of respect
for the great man. The few armies that remained decided to surrender eventually, knowing that
any chance of winning was gone. One of the most important was that of Joseph Johnson, who
wanted to end the war as quickly as possible. Davis ordered Johnson not to budge, but Johnson
argued that it would be a crime if he did not save the lives of thousands of men that would die
if the war continued. He surrendered to General Sherman, who gave him extremely generous terms,
but then had to resurrender to Grant when the Union government said that Sherman ’s terms were
too easy, and made Johnson agree to the same terms that Lee had.

President Davis seemed determined to fight until he was bitterly defeated. He never gave up,
but was captured by Union men while he was wearing women’s clothing from his wife to disguise
himself. Ironically, the American Civil War began with the withdrawing of the Southern States
and the election of Lincoln, and ended with the reuniting of the Union and the assassination
of President Lincoln.

Shortly after 10 p.m. on April 14, 1865, actor John Wilkes Booth entered the presidential
box at Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C. , and fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln. As
Lincoln slumped forward in his seat, Booth leapt onto the stage and escaped through the back
door. A doctor in the audience rushed over to examine the paralyzed president. Lincoln was
then carried across the street to Petersen's Boarding House, where he died early the next
morning. As the nine-car funeral train carried President Lincoln home for burial in
Springfield, Illinois, people showed up at train stations all along the way to pay their
respects. Booth was shot while trying to escape from Union soldiers many months after his
assassination, because although he broke his ankle jumping from the balcony, he had hid from
soldiers in people barns and houses in the south. All his conspirators were captured and put
to death.

Booth probably wanted the South to rise again, and may have believed that after the death
of the Great Union President the south would immediately begin to rebel again. In killing
Lincoln, though, he only made things worse because Lincoln had plans to be kind and moderate
to the south during Reconstruction. Instead, Vice President Johnson was inaugurated as president
and as a southerner himself, he tried to make the terms very easy and control everything
himself, lacking the charm that Lincoln had to convince the Congress that his plans could have
worked. The arguments between Congress and the President only made things harder for the south
and made its revival much more delayed and drawn out.