Confederate General Robert E. Lee was could almost feel the noose tightening, as Union soldiers led by Ulysses S. Grant were moved in closer and closer — first Richmond, then Petersburg, 25 miles to the south. Lee had one last desperate lunge in him – he tried to take Fort Stedman and split the Yankee lines – and the defeat cost him 5,000 men. Meanwhile Grant’s army, enjoying a 2-1 superiority in numbers, readied for the final campaign.

On this day, March 29, in 1865, federal troops under command of Grant launched a flank attack on the Confederate lines in Petersburg. Both men understood that of Petersburg was taken — as it most likely would be — Lee’s army in Richmond would be effectively surrounded. Lee had no choice but to retreat.

The final blow came ten days later. Cornered at Appotamox, Lee’s army, now numbering less than 30,000, formed up, and made a cavalry strike against the union cavalry to break a hole through which they can escape back to their supply lines. The attack was repelled by a just-in-time arrival of infantry, and with Lee outnumbered, surrounded and out of supplies, he surrendered at the Appotamox court house that day.