On this day, 150 years ago, the Civil War began its end. The fighting didn't stop immediately, but today was the significant turning point in the conflict. Exactly one and a half centuries ago, Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Ulysses S. Grant in a tiny Virginia hamlet called Appomattox Court House. This was the beginning of the end for the Confederate forces, and for the Confederacy itself.

I am no student of Civil War history, I should mention, so I have no brilliant or original insights to offer today. The Civil War looms large in American history, and draws not only scholars interested in research but also military enthusiasts and re-enactors. There's a very good reason why Americans can become so obsessed about the Civil War, and the reason is that it is the only war really ever fought solely on American soil. Not many commemorate the War of 1812, and the Revolution was fought for our independence from Britain (so it doesn't really count as a war on "American" soil). This leaves the Civil War as the only conflict which left a large legacy of battlefields and other sacred sites scattered around the country. To remember other major wars we participated in, American veterans must travel to the foreign lands where they were fought -- but the Civil War left its mark here at home, from Gettysburg to the battlefields of the South and the West, to (finally) Appomattox Court House.

What strikes me about Lee's surrender, in the little that I know about it, is how low-key it was. Everyone present knew what it signified -- even though the Confederacy still had something like 150,000 soldiers still in the field in various places, Lee was the unquestioned military leader of the Southern forces, and his capitulation was the domino that knocked over all the rest. After Appomattox Court House, the South's forces crumbled quickly, and the war was over in a matter of weeks. It is impossible to overstate the importance of what happened in this tiny Virginia village in relation to America's history. And everyone, at the time, knew full well of the importance of the event.

General Grant could have demanded harsh and unforgiving terms from Lee. He didn't. It's easy to imagine a raucous victory party by the Union forces, but there was no real celebration or taunting of the vanquished enemy. In the final review, both the Union forces and the Confederates afforded each other proper military honor as the defeated forces' weapons were stacked in front of the victors.

The terms of surrender were simple, and created with the spirit of necessity. The Confederate officers and their men were only required to give their parole -- their promise -- that they would not rejoin the fight against the lawful American government. They were not imprisoned, they were not executed, they were not tried for what was essentially an act of treason. They were allowed, instead, to go home. They were allowed to keep their sidearms, and they were allowed to keep their horses. This last was more important than you might think, because these horses (and these men) were needed to begin spring planting back on farms throughout the South. Life would be allowed to continue and approach some sort of normalcy, as the bloody five-year war came to an end.

The timing of the event might have allowed this magnanimity to take place. Less than a week after Lee surrendered, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. One can't help but wonder if such generous terms would have been offered to Lee and his forces if Lincoln had been shot a week prior to the surrender (instead of a week later), what with the national horror and shock that followed.

Robert E. Lee didn't have a whole lot of choices, militarily. Surrender was pretty much the only option which remained open to him at the time. His army was both outnumbered and outmaneuvered. Lee was on the run away from Richmond when Grant caught him, and his forces were starving. Every attempt Lee made at resupplying his men failed. He was finally caught pushing towards his last opportunity to obtain fresh supplies, when Grant's forces arrived ahead of Lee's and effectively surrounded them. There was nothing left to do but admit defeat.

The two generals met in a brick house at Appomattox Court House, and cordially discussed the terms. General Lee was even allowed to keep his sword and his horse, both measures of military respect that Grant could easily have denied him.

As I said at the beginning, I have no deep thoughts or original insights to offer today. I leave that to others, those more well-versed in the history. But dilettante though I may be, I do think that today's anniversary is worth remembering by all Americans. On this day, a century and a half ago, the real end of the Civil War happened. The most violent political disagreement of our country's entire history drew to a close. It had been a bloody affair, one whose scars still linger today. The aftermath had plenty of problems (see: Reconstruction), and there were still plenty of bad feelings on both sides, but at least we stopped shooting at each other over them.

I don't think I've ever been to Appomattox Court House myself (if I was ever there, it was as a small child), but I have seen the fields of Gettysburg and Antietam. I've been to Harpers Ferry, where John Brown tried to provoke a war. When you grow up on the East Coast, you can't help but occasionally stumble over important sites from the Civil War. Next time I'm in Virginia, I'll try to make the effort to get out to Appomattox Court House, though, because what happened there changed history. And it's worth remembering.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant