Ends of War

The Army of Northern Virginia's chaotic dispersal began even before Lee and Grant met at Appomattox Court House. As the Confederates had pushed west at a relentless pace for nearly a week, thousands of wounded and exhausted men fell out of the ranks. When word spread that Lee planned to surrender, most remaining troops stacked their arms and accepted paroles allowing them to return home, even as they lamented the loss of their country and cause. But others broke south and west, hoping to continue the fight. Fearing a guerrilla war, Grant extended the generous Appomattox terms to every rebel who would surrender himself. Provost marshals fanned out across Virginia and beyond, seeking nearly 18,000 of Lee's men who had yet to surrender. But the shock of Lincoln's assassination led Northern authorities to see threats of new rebellion in every rail depot and harbor where Confederates gathered for transport, even among those already paroled. While Federal troops struggled to keep order and sustain a fragile peace, their newly surrendered adversaries seethed with anger and confusion at the sight of Union troops occupying their towns and former slaves celebrating freedom.  In this dramatic new history of the weeks and months after Appomattox, Caroline E. Janney reveals that Lee's surrender was less an ending than the start of an interregnum marked by military and political uncertainty, legal and logistical confusion, and continued outbursts of violence. Janney takes readers from the deliberations of government and military authorities to the ground-level experiences of common soldiers. Ultimately, what unfolds is the messy birth narrative of the Lost Cause, laying the groundwork for the defiant resilience of rebellion in the years that followed.

A detailed and compelling analysis. . . . Janney's study is a welcome reminder that ending a war is a messy business, no more so than in the instance of the American Civil War." --America's Civil War , A very important book."--Virginia Magazine of History & Biography , Excellent. . . . Janney's detailed research of paroles for surrendered Confederates makes a major contribution to the field."--Journal of Southern History , Immensely readable and utterly convincing . . . [Janney] offers a fresh and disquieting version of Lee's surrender, adroitly balancing official, political and military decisions with the recollections of the men on the ground who endured -- and sometimes defied -- its consequences. Anyone who still believes that the scenes around Kabul airport this summer were uniquely chaotic must read Ends of War." --The Wall Street Journal , Remarkable. . . . Janney has performed a superb task in helping us understand our greatest war and the workings of the human condition."--Civil War Book Review

Caroline E. Janney is the John L. Nau III Professor in the History of the American Civil War and Director of the John L. Nau III Center for Civil War History at the University of Virginia.