On the 9th April 1865, Robert E. Lee, General in chief of the confederate armies tendered his surrender to his counterpart the Union's Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant effectively ending the American civil which had raged for 4 years with tragic consequences. Lee's south was left in utter ruin as under the strain of the war it had collapsed both financially and physically. The union, to the contrary, had emerged as an economic powerhouse and seemed barely touched. However, as much as this picture may indicate that the Union had won an easy, 'inevitable victory,' it was false and did...
stacked up against their army they were denied help over the sea and blockaded heavily on it. The Northern military improvement under the much more administratively able Lincoln government catalysed the confederate defeat as the Federal victory became more and more inevitable as the war wore on. It is easy to encapsulate the entire confederate cause in the actions of Pickett's charge at Gettysburg, which 'swept to its crest, paused and receded .' The confederates at first bravely fought a cause, defeat slowly became inevitable sheer bravery kept it going, the north started precariously close to losing but over time.