It happened in April
Lee Surrendered
April 9, 1865
"It would be useless and therefore cruel, to provoke the further effusion of blood," said Confederate General Robert E. Lee, "and I have arranged to meet with General Grant with a view to surrender." After four years of fighting the Civil War, Lee knew it was time to put an end to the fighting. Do you know where General Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia surrendered to the Union Army?
Shortly after noon on April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all United States forces, at the home of Wilmer McClean in the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The two generals met in the house you see in the picture. Today, the house at Appomattox is a replica of the original. With this meeting, the Civil War was effectively over.
In the weeks that followed, Confederate forces surrendered, and Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured. The bloody era that began four years earlier at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, was over. General Grant and the Federal Army had finally won. It was time for the people of both the South and the North to rebuild their lives. Can you imagine what that must have been like?
__________________________________
U.S. Entered World War I
April 6, 1917
On April 6, 1917, the U.S. joined its allies--Britain, France, and Russia--to fight in World War I. Under the command of Major General John J. Pershing, more than 2 million U.S. soldiers fought on battlefields in France. Many Americans were not in favor of the U.S. entering the war and wanted to remain neutral. However, the U.S. eventually did enter the war.
__________________________________
Archduke Ferdinand
June 28, 1914
Disagreements in Europe over territory and boundaries, among other issues, came to a head with the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria by a Serbian zealot on June 28, 1914. Exactly one month later, war broke out. In 1915, the British passenger liner the Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine, killing 128 Americans and futher heightening tensions. By the end of 1915, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire were battling the Allied Powers of Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Belgium, Serbia, Montenegro and Japan. In 1917, the U.S. entered the war. Germany formally surrendered on November 11, 1918, and all nations agreed to stop fighting while the terms of peace were negotiated.
_______________________________
WWII Memorial Registry of Remembrances
Erected between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument lies The National WWII Memorial. A memorial that would tell America and the world the historical and significance of WWII. A memorial that has enjoyed an overwhelming support from hundreds of thousands of Americans, Congress, hundreds of corporations, 47 state legislatures, and more than 450 veteran organizations, representing 11 million veterans.
With the erection of the WWII Memorial emerged The Registry of Remembrances, an online registry that provides users the ability to view, add, or edit honoree listings of Veterans who served in uniform, gave their lives and, those who supported the war effort from the home front. Eligibility includes any war-related activity from September 1, 1939 through July 25, 1947.
To visit The Registry of Remembrances, one can go to their website at https://wwiiregistry.abmc.gov/. You can search the Ragistry, Resister an Honoree or Edit an Honoree.
You may call them at: 1-800-639-4992. You may also Email them E: wwiiregistry@abmc.gov.
They also offer the Memorial’s Background and the Memorial’s Timeline, Information about the Memorial Design and Details surrounding the Memorial’s Dedication.
Dr. Zoe Simmons
Editor
Wartime Section
Published in U S Legacies Magazine May 2003
- Log in to post comments