Farmville

Half-starved and exhausted, the vanguard of the Army of Northern Virginia stumbled into Farmville early on the morning of April 7, 1865, where the men finally found long-promised rations ranging from bread to soup and ham. While the head of the army feasted, the rear guard a few miles east tried and failed to burn both bridges at High Bridge and keep the Union army south of the Appomattox River. With Federals approaching, Confederate supply trains rolled west toward Appomattox Station on the South Side Railroad, frustrating most of the soldiers who went unfed. By 1:30, the Confederates had entrenched north of the river at Cumberland Church, and the Union army occupied the town. That evening in Farmville, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant wrote to Gen. Robert E. Lee suggesting surrender, saying that the results of the last week showed the hopelessness of further resistance by the Army of Northern Virginia and that he wished to avoid any further effusion of blood. Lee received the letter at Cumberland Church, showed it to Gen. James Longstreet, and Longstreet replied, "Not yet."

Farmville, Virginia · United States