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. For the past four years, the National Park Service and many other organizations and individuals have been commemorating the anniversary of the Civil War and the continuing efforts for human rights today.“Bells across the Land: A Nation Remembers Appomattox” is a large-scale event planned at the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park in Virginia Thursday, April 9. The National Park Service and its partners invite communities across the nation to join in the commemoration. The bells at Appomattox will ring at 3 p.m. EST, coinciding 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.
“This is a significant event in the history of the nation and for this state,” University of Nevada, Reno President Marc Johnson said. “I am happy to say that the University will participate in this commemoration.”
After the ringing at Appomattox, bells will reverberate across the country. Churches, temples, schools, city halls, public buildings, historic sites and others are invited to ring bells precisely at 3:15 p.m. EST, for four minutes, each minute symbolic of a year of war. The University’s bells atop Morrill Hall will begin ringing at 12:15 p.m. PST, Thursday.
“The end of the Civil War has different meanings to different people,” Carol Shively, coordinator of the Civil War to Civil Rights Commemoration and for this event, said. “Each organization may customize this idea to its own situation.”
Shively said the University of Nevada, Reno was the first university to commit to participating in the bell-tolling event, and others followed Nevada’s lead, including Yale University, Georgetown University and now many others. Nevada’s state capital in Carson City was also the first state capital to support the effort.
“The National Park Service is very grateful for the University’s participation,” Shively said. “We ask participants to ring bells across the nation as a gesture to mark the end of the bloody conflict in which more than 750,000 Americans died. Some communities may ring their bells in celebration of freedom or a restored Union, others as an expression of mourning and a moment of silence for the fallen. Others may ring bells to mark the beginning of reconciliation and reconstruction, or as the next step in the continuing struggle for civil rights.”
Participants are asked to share how they observed the event by posting to social media and using the hashtag #BellsAcrosstheLand2015.
