I heard Rick fire up his scooter around 7:30 or 8:00 am, rev it up outside my door, and thunder off into the distance... I rolled over and went back to sleep.

 
FInally packed up, I did the same around 10:00 am, riding past the Waffle House and headed back onto Hwy 60 heading further east. Pics #01 and 02 are just some more old barns I rode past - obviously I like them and take a lot of pics of them. Starting with Pic #03, I arrived at Appomattox Courthouse National Battlefield Park, and FINALLY found a picture of an outhouse...something I was looking for all through WV. Those boys must ALL have indoor plumbing now. The recreated structures and manicured lawns betrayed the real effect of the day some 137 years ago, but it was sobering all the same. Pic #05 and 07 is of the courthouse, but thats not where the meeting took place. The surrender took pace at the McLean house(Pic #12) some 100 yards away.

 
Pic #08 is a painting depicting the actual meeting, followed by pics #09 and 10 of the current recreation in the old house. It was awesome to imagine these events taking place in this spot so long ago.

 
Pic #13 is the old stage line that ran frmo Richmond through Appomattox to Lynchburg, VA. It was on this very road that each side was lined with soldiers on opposing sides, and saluted each other as the regiments handed over their battle flags and lined up their wepons along the fences. Pic #17 is the little Confederate cemetary where 17 of the hundreds of Confederate dead are buried. One of whom enlisted two days before the war began and died in the last 24 hours of thebattle. I sat through a 30 minute speech by a re-enactor telling the story of the days leading up to this historic moment ending the Civil War...except...

 
Well... that wasn't really the end of the Civil War! It happened to be where an army of maybe 9000 Confederates surrendered under the comand of General Robert E. Lee. But it wasn't the end of the war. 17 days later and 120 miles by road south of Appomattox in a little tobacco farming community called Durham, North Carolina, the Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the armies of the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida...some 89,000 troops who were still at war... met with Major General William T. Sherman in a farmer's house on the Hillsborough Road. They discussed a surrender, and met the next day to sign a proposed agreement to cease the hostilities. Union President Andrew Johnson refused the terms of this surrender and ordered General U.S. Grant to depart Appomattox, march to North Carolina, and resume hostilities. Three weeks after Appomattox, the Civil War was still going on!

 
On April 25th, General Johnston again met with General Sherman in an attempt to avoid a continued war, and surrendered his 36,817 Confederate soldiers in North Carolina and 52, 453 under his command in Georgia and Florida... a substantial amount as compared to the 9,000 at Appomattox.

I rode those 120 miles south to Durham, to the monument erected at the Bennett House just 2 miles from my house. This is where the Civil War really ended. Appomattox gets the credit because thats where the commanding officer got trapped with his paltry army of 9,000...so few because they lost so many in their escape from Petersburg, VA, the battle that turned the tide in the War. Pic #22 is the actual fence that stood outside the Bennet Place, on the Hillsborough Road, where Sherman and Johnston tied up their horses to effect the surrender. Each April, re-enactors play out the event on these grounds in a two-day re-enactement that is free and open to the public. Y'all come on down and take a look...I'll bring the whiskey and hard-tack!

 
I had a grueling two mile ride home - I hate the final drive into my neighborhood after a good ride - this was a good ride. Time to get off, cut the grass, wade through hundreds of emails and a foot of snail mail. But to crash in my own bed atthe end of a 5 day ride is great... hope you enjoyed it... I will update and correct the trip maps on the WV Trip home page soon in case you're interested.

Till next time - Ride Free...

-Muthuh