Robert E. Lee's beleaguered Army of Northern Virginia surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Though Davis wished strongly to continue the war, Johnston sent a courier to the Union troops encamped at Morrisville Station, with a message to General Sherman, offering a meeting between the lines to discuss a truce. Johnston's army was still an active fighting force with an available line of retreat along which, according to Davis, "ample supplies" had been placed.