Appomattox Court House National Historical Park preserves the Virginia village where one of the Civil War’s defining moments unfolded. Once the small county seat of Appomattox County, the community declined after rail traffic shifted commerce to nearby Appomattox Depot. In April 1865, Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia made its last failed attempt to break through there before Lee met Ulysses S. Grant in the McLean House and signed surrender terms on April 9; on April 12, Confederate troops laid down their arms. The village later deteriorated, but preservation efforts in the 20th century restored key buildings and protected the landscape associated with the Confederacy’s collapse.