Dear “Google This Day In History” and everyone else:
Today is April 9th. That means that this is the anniversary of the day that General Lee surrendered to General Grant.
That surrender took place at Appomattox COURT HOUSE. Now, I know you think this means there was a town called Appomattox and they had a little white court house building and the men went inside and officially surrendered.
You are wrong. The name of the village was Appomattox Court House. It’s the equivalent of saying MTSU is located in Murfrees or that the country music capitol of the world is Nash. Please stop bugging me by saying “Appomattox”, especially first thing in the morning on my Google homepage.
Thank you.
It’s also Paul Robeson’s birthday.
Yes, I did think it was a little white court house in a town called Appomattox. But I don’t any more. And I won’t forget!
At least I knew that in the U.S., witches were hanged, not burned, and that there is a difference between Salem Village and the town of Salem.
Thank you for clearing that up! I have a childhood memory of a picture of Lee’s surrender and I’ve always wondered why it looked like a home and not a courthouse.
How did Google word it, because Lee did in fact surrender in what is today Appomattox, VA?
1865: Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox
Just like that.
Huh, maybe that was why it was on Jeopardy the other night.
They scored it right even though the contestant only answered “Appomattox” and Alex had to expand it.
I also thought for some reason that it was not pronounced the way it was spelled.
Appomattox Court House is within a state park.
http://www.nps.gov/apco/
The old village of Appomattox Court House is located on the Appomattox River. When the railroad came through central Virginia, the new town of Appomattox sprang up five miles away on the railroad.
Sixty years ago I would ride my bicycle from my home in Appomattox to the “surrender grounds” at Appomattox Court House. The buildings, especially the chimneys were shored up with two by twelves. Sometime after I left Appomattox in 1951 to go to college, the State took those buildings down and put them back up brick by numbered brick, painted them, and put up white picket fences. There is a little Civil War Museum located there. Another ten miles into the park is Holliday Lake.
If you have school age children and are driving US 460 between Roanoke and Norfolk in the summer, they would enjoy a day trip to Appomattox Court House and Holliday Lake.
[...] surrender. Katherine Coble explains why it’s wrong to say that Lee surrendered at Appomattox. Clickety. That surrender took place at Appomattox COURT HOUSE. Now, I know you think this means there was a [...]
My sister in law just had her ruptured Appomattox removed.