April 9, 2015 - Today, April 9th, marks the 150th anniversary of the historic surrender at Appomattox. On April 9, 1865, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant met Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee to set the terms of surrender of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.
In conjunction with a major event at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, the National Park Service and its partners invite communities across the nation to join in this commemoration. The bells will ring first at Appomattox at 3:00 p.m. Eastern/ 12:00 pm Pacific on April 9, 2015. The ringing will coincide with the moment the historic meeting between Grant and Lee in the McLean House at Appomattox Court House ended. While Lee’s surrender did not end the Civil War, the act is seen by most Americans as the symbolic end of four years of bloodshed.
Yosemite is participating in the 150th anniversary commemoration by joining Appomattox Court House National Historical Park and NPS units throughout the country by ringing a historic bell. After the ringing at Appomattox, bells will reverberate across the country precisely at 3:15 pm Eastern/ 12:15 pm Pacific for four minutes (each minute symbolic of a year of war).
The plan is for those bells to then reverberate across the land. We ask you, our Yosemite and gateway communities, to join Appomattox by ringing your bells at 12:15 Pacific Time for four minutes (one for each year of the war). #BellsAcrosstheLand2015
