By April 1865, the Confederate army was running out of everything. Soldiers had no food, no shoes, and no hope of winning. General Robert E. Lee knew the war was lost. On April 9, he rode to a farmhouse in Appomattox Court House, Virginia. He went to meet Union General Ulysses S. Grant. What happened next surprised many people. Grant did not punish Lee or his soldiers. He offered generous terms. Confederate soldiers could go home freely. They could keep their horses for spring planting. Officers could keep their swords. Grant even ordered food sent to Lee's starving troops. When Union soldiers began firing cannons to celebrate, Grant stopped them immediately. He said there would be no gloating over a defeated enemy. Lee returned to his men and told them the war was over. Soldiers on both sides wept. The Civil War had lasted four years and killed more Americans than any other war in history. Families had been torn apart, with brothers sometimes fighting on opposite sides. But Lee's surrender meant the war was truly ending, and the country would have to come back together.