The Appomattox Court House Pin Oak grows at the Virginia site where Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Union General Ulysses S. Grant met on April 9, 1865, to end the American Civil War. By war's end, over 600,000 lives were lost on both sides of the conflict. Named for its many short side twigs or "spurs," the pin oak's exceptionally tough branchlets were once used to fasten or "pin" barn timbers together. Acorns are an important food source for wood ducks and other wildlife.