Pennsylvania SR 80: A Resolution recognizing April 9, 2025, as "Appomattox Day" in Pennsylvania, in honor of the historic Confederate surrender in Appomattox, Virginia, which led to full emancipation in the United States and signaled the end of the American Civil War, and urging the designation of "Appomattox Day" as a legal holiday in this Commonwealth.

Bill Text

PRINTER'S NO. 619
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE RESOLUTION
No. 80
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY HAYWOOD, KEARNEY, FONTANA, TARTAGLIONE,
SANTARSIERO AND COSTA, APRIL 11, 2025
REFERRED TO RULES AND EXECUTIVE NOMINATIONS, APRIL 11, 2025
A RESOLUTION
Recognizing April 9, 2025, as "Appomattox Day" in Pennsylvania,
in honor of the historic Confederate surrender in Appomattox,
Virginia, which led to full emancipation in the United States
and signaled the end of the American Civil War, and urging
the designation of "Appomattox Day" as a legal holiday in
this Commonwealth.
WHEREAS, On the morning of April 9, 1865, the Battle of
Appomattox Court House came to an end after Confederate General
Robert E. Lee found that the last route of retreat was blocked
by several of seven regiments of the United States Colored
Troops (USCT) present at Appomattox that day; and
WHEREAS, Confederate General Robert E. Lee is noted as
saying, in defense of the Confederacy, that "There is nothing
left for me to do but to go and see General Grant, and I would
rather die a thousand deaths"; and
WHEREAS, On the afternoon of April 9, 1865, Confederate
General Robert E. Lee and Union General Ulysses S. Grant met at
Wilmer McLean's house in Appomattox, Virginia, and agreed on
terms of surrender, thus effectively marking the end of combat
in the American Civil War; and
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WHEREAS, General Ulysses S. Grant created the terms of
surrender, which allowed 28,000 Confederate soldiers to go home
with pardons; and
WHEREAS, The defeat of the Confederacy led to the
reconstruction of those states that rebelled against the end of
enslavement of Africans and African Americans; and
WHEREAS, Countless memoirs and oral histories testify that
many slaves first learned of and experienced emancipation at the
moment of the Union's triumph at Appomattox; and
WHEREAS, Approximately 4,600 enslaved people were emancipated
in Appomattox County on April 9, 1865, by the surrender; and
WHEREAS, One of the accounts of a formerly enslaved person
living in Appomattox was from a woman named Fannie Berry, who
described the community's reaction to the surrender by stating
"[We] began to sing...'You are free, you are free'... such
rejoicing and shouting, you never heard in your life"; and
WHEREAS, The USCT involvement at Appomattox served as a point
of pride and as vindication to other Black soldiers and
civilians, especially those in Southern states; and
WHEREAS, African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass
reflected on the surrender during a Decoration Day address in
Arlington, Virginia, and is quoted as saying, "When the dark and
vengeful spirit of slavery, always ambitious, preferring to rule
in hell than to serve in heaven, fired the Southern heart and
stirred all the malign elements of discord, when our great
Republic, the hope of freedom and self-government throughout the
world, had reached the point of supreme peril, when the Union of
these states was torn and rent asunder at the center, and the
armies of a gigantic rebellion came forth with broad blades and
bloody hands to destroy the very foundations of American
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society, the unknown braves who flung themselves into the
yawning chasm, where cannon roared and bullets whistled, fought
and fell. They died for their country"; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Douglass noted on that day, "We are sometimes
asked, in the name of patriotism, to forget the merits of this
fearful struggle, and to remember with equal admiration those
who struck at the nation's life and those who struck to save it,
those who fought for slavery and those who fought for liberty
and justice"; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Douglass continued, "I am no minister of malice.
I would not strike the fallen. I would not repel the repentant;
but may my right hand forget her cunning and my tongue cleave to
the roof of my mouth, if I forget the difference between the
parties to that terrible, protracted, and bloody conflict"; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Douglass concluded, "We are not here to applaud
manly courage, save as it has been displayed in a noble cause.
We must never forget that victory to the rebellion meant death
to the Republic"; and
WHEREAS, The anniversary of the surrender at Appomattox Court
House has been recognized since 1866 and continues today with
the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park hosting
annual anniversary historical and educational events; and
WHEREAS, April 9, 2025, will mark the 160th anniversary of
the surrender at Appomattox, Virginia; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate recognize April 9, 2025, as
"Appomattox Day" in Pennsylvania, in honor of the historic
Confederate surrender in Appomattox, Virginia, which led to full
emancipation in the United States and signaled the end of the
American Civil War, and urge the designation of "Appomattox Day"
as a legal holiday in this Commonwealth.