As Wilson’s raiders moved through Alabama in early April, Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was struggling to survive in the East. On April 2, 1865, General Lee had to abandon Richmond, Virginia, forcing the Confederate government to evacuate. Meanwhile, the Confederates moved westward through Virginia, intermittently tangling with Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s pursuing Army of the Potomac. One soldier serving in the Ninth Alabama, William Cowan McClellan of Athens, Alabama, wrote to his brother on March 24, 1865, that “Grant has had to contend with the greatest gen. the world ever produced.” Despite confidence in Lee, however, McClellan confided to his brother that he was “low down” and could “see but little hope for these confederate states in these times.” McClellan was captured by northern soldiers before the war ended a few weeks later, when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
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Becoming Alabama:
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