60-mile path of destruction unopposed, reached the Atlantic Ocean, and captured Savannah on December 22. On December 16, after much prodding by Grant, the Union Army under Thomas smashed John Bell Hood's Confederate Army at Nashville. These campaigns left Lee's forces at Petersburg as the only significant obstacle remaining to Union victory. By March 1865, Lee was trapped, Grant had severely weakened Lee's strength, having extended his lines to 35 miles. Confederate troops no longer confident of their commander, deserted Lee by the thousands, starving and under the duress of trench warfare. On March 25, in a desperate effort, Lee sacrificed his remaining troops (4,000 CSA casualties) at Fort Stedman, a Union victory, and considered the last Petersburg line battle. Grant, Sherman, Porter, and Lincoln held a conference to discuss the surrender of Lee's Confederate depleted armies and Reconstruction of the South on March 28. Defeated Lee and victory (1865) On April 2, Grant ordered a general assault on Lee's entrenched depleted forces. Lee abandoned Petersburg and Richmond, while Grant's conquering Union troops easily took Petersburg and captured Richmond the next day. A desperate Lee, and part of his army cut and ran, attempted to link up with the remnants of Joseph E. Johnston's defeated army. Sheridan's cavalry, however, stopped the two armies from converging, cutting them off from their supply trains. Grant was in communication with Lee before he entrusted his aide Orville Babcock to carry his last dispatch to Lee that demanded his surrender with instructions to escort him to a meeting place of Lee's choosing. Grant immediately rode west, bypassing Lee's army, to join Sheridan who had captured Appomattox Station, blocking Lee's escape route. On his way, Grant received a letter sent by Lee informing him Lee would surrender his army. On April 9, Grant and Lee met at Appomattox Court House. Upon receiving Lee's dispatch about the proposed meeting Grant had been jubilant. Although Grant felt depressed at the fall of "a foe who had fought so long and valiantly," he believed the Southern cause was "one of the worst for which a people ever fought." After briefly discussing their days of old in Mexico, Grant wrote out the terms of surrender. Men and officers were to be paroled, but in addition, there was amnesty: "Each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by U.S. authority so long