The New York Times presents the common misconception:
On 9 April 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
Rico says what
actually happened was that, today, the ninth,
Lee signed an armistice with
Grant; the army was not, technically, surrendered until the twelfth. (According to
Wikipedia: The signing of the surrender documents occurred in the parlor (painting) of the house owned by
Wilmer McLean , of whom it is said that the Civil War 'started in his front yard and ended in his front parlor', on the afternoon of 9 April. On 12 April, a formal ceremony marked the disbandment of the
Army of Northern Virginia and the parole of its officers and men, effectively ending the war in Virginia.) That, coincidentally, is the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the War (given that
Fort Sumter was shelled on 12 April 1861) and
Rico's birthday...
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