General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9, 1865. The formal meeting and surrender took place in the home of Wilmer McLean, a small brick house in the village of Appomattox Court House, which served as a symbolic location as McLean had moved there to escape the war after the First Battle of Bull Run
. The surrender marked the effective end of the Civil War in Virginia and was the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia under generous terms that allowed Confederate officers to keep their sidearms and horses and permitted soldiers to return home without disturbance if they observed their paroles
. The two generals met face-to-face for the first time in nearly twenty years, exchanged signed documents, and shook hands in a respectful farewell
. Thus, the place where Lee surrendered to Grant was the McLean House at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
