Chair used by General Robert E. Lee during surrender at Appomattox, 1865
date: label: Date made
content: before 1865
label: associated date
content: 1865-04-09
name: label: user
content: Lee, Robert Edward
notes: label: Description
content: On April 9, 1865, General Ulysses S. Grant and General Robert E. Lee met in the home of Wilmer McLean at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, to negotiate the surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to the United States Army. Sitting in the chair on the left, Lee discussed the fate of his troops. Grant then, leaning over an oval table, drafted and signed the final terms of surrender. While there were still Confederate troops in the field under other commanders, Lee's surrender effectively marked the end of the Civil War.
label: Description
content: Union officers, recognizing the significance of the event, individually took pieces of furniture as souvenirs. General E. W. Whitaker grabbed Lee's chair, General Henry Capehart claimed Grant's chair, and General Philip Sheridan took the table and presented it to the wife of Major General George Armstrong Custer. In three separate donations, by 1915, these items were reunited at the Smithsonian Institution.
place: label: used
content: United States: Virginia, Appomattox Court House National Historical Park
label: associated place
content: United States: Virginia, Appomattox
topic: label: related event
content: Civil War
setName: label: See more items in
content: Political History: Political History, General History Collection
label: See more items in
content: Government, Politics, and Reform
label: See more items in
content: Military
label: See more items in
content: National Treasures exhibit
label: Exhibition
content: Price of Freedom
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Kendrick, Kathleen M. and Peter C. Liebhold. Smithsonian Treasures of American History
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PL.015820
label: catalog number
content: 15820
label: accession number
content: 59140
label: catalog number
content: 15820
objectType: label: Object Name
content: chair
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 45 1/2 in x 18 1/2 in x 20 in; 115.57 cm x 46.99 cm x 50.8 cm