Page "Abraham Lincoln" Paragraph 81

As Grant continued to wear down Lee's forces, efforts to discuss peace began.

Confederate Vice President Stephens led a group to meet with Lincoln, Seward, and others at Hampton Roads.

Lincoln refused to allow any negotiation with the Confederacy as a coequal ; his sole objective was an agreement to end the fighting and the meetings produced no results.

On April 1, 1865, Grant successfully outflanked Lee's forces in the Battle of Five Forks and nearly encircled Petersburg, and the Confederate government evacuated Richmond.

Days later, when that city fell, Lincoln visited the vanquished Confederate capital ; as he walked through the city, white Southerners were stone-faced, but freedmen greeted him as a hero.

On April 9, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox and the war was effectively over.