When the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered to the Army of the Potomac on Palm Sunday, April 9, 1865, near Appomattox Courthouse, there was no cheering on the part of the victorious Federal forces, only a weary stillness, marking the end of the long, bloody Civil War. The setting was in Virginia, from the Battle of the Wilderness, through the Siege of Petersburg to the final surrender at Appomattox.