In the small village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia on April 9, 1865, General Ulysses S. Grant

accepted the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. In keeping with the intentions of President Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, which included the famous line, “With malice toward none, with charity for all,” General Grant allowed Confederate officers to keep their sidearms, horses and baggage, and soldiers were paroled and allowed to return home.