Okla-homey
4/3/2008, 07:03 AM
April 3, 1865: Richmond captured
http://aycu09.webshots.com/image/48288/2003844706838539435_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003844706838539435)
143 years ago today, the slavocracy capital of Richmond, VA falls to the Armed Forces of the United States, the most significant sign that the Confederacy is nearing its final days.
For ten months, General Ulysses S. Grant had lain siege to the northern Virginia city. After Lee made a desperate attempt to break the siege by assaulting Fort Stedman and the Federal line on March 25, Grant prepared for a major counter-attack.
He struck at Five Forks on April 1, bagging the end of Lee's line southwest of Petersburg. On April 2, Grant ordered a coordinated series of thrusts all along the Petersburg line, and the Johnnies defending were overwhelmed and skedaddled.
On the evening of April 2, the Confederate government fled the city with the army right behind. Now, on the morning of April 3, US troops entered the rebel capital. Richmond was the holy grail of the United States war effort, the object of four years of campaigning. Tens of thousands of Federal soldiers' lives were lost trying to get it, and nearly as many Confederate lives lost trying to defend it.
http://aycu29.webshots.com/image/50868/2000636249759571037_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000636249759571037)
14 year old Confederate soldier lies dead in the Rebel trenches. The boy died defending his country. In so many ways, it was a "rich man's war but a poor boy's fight."
On this morning in 1865, the glorious and grand army of the Republic came to take possession of their prize. One resident, Mary Fontaine, wrote, "I saw them unfurl a tiny flag, and I sank on my knees, and the bitter, bitter tears came in a torrent."
http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/51484/2000698257220182193_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000698257220182193)
Many black folks took refuge in boats moored in the James River to escape the fires that raged in the Richmond on the night of April 2 set by the Rebel army as it evacuated.
http://aycu01.webshots.com/image/51480/2000683333832696917_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000683333832696917)
Now as then, soldiers love to have their photographs taken among the spoils of war
As the Federals rode in, another wrote that the city's black residents were "completely crazed, they danced and shouted, men hugged each other, and women kissed."
http://aycu21.webshots.com/image/49100/2000663606548008164_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000663606548008164)
Army of Freedom marches in
Among the first forces into the capital were black troopers from the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry, and the next day President Abraham Lincoln visited the city. For the residents of Richmond, these were symbols of a world turned upside down. It was, one reporter noted, "...too awful to remember, if it were possible to be erased, but that cannot be."
The next day, April 4, 1865, the President toured the city.
http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/50444/2000686086107769814_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000686086107769814)
Lincoln enters the city with son Tad to the adulation of the black population. Free at last!
http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/49684/2000696153998175488_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000696153998175488)
Lincoln was escorted by a detachment of US Navy personnel
Five days later after Richmond fell, on April 5, 1865, Lee surrendered what was left of his army at Appomattox, VA. The surrender terms were negotiated in the home of a farmer named Wilmer MacLean. Ironically, MacLean had moved to the remote community to escape the ravages of war in and around his farm at Manassas Junction where the first significant battle of the eastern theater of the war had been fought four years earlier in the spring of 1861.
http://aycu25.webshots.com/image/49464/2000690334755974711_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000690334755974711)
MacLean house where the surrender was concluded
http://aycu33.webshots.com/image/48792/2003899833610776601_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003899833610776601)
Lee and Grant hammer out the terms in farmer MacLean's living room
Ten days after that, on April 15, 1865, the President died of a pistol shot to the back of the head fired by an alcoholic Confederate sympathizing actor named Booth while Lincoln and his guests were enjoying a theaterical comedy in Washington.
http://aycu28.webshots.com/image/49187/2000658804722534394_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000658804722534394)
http://aycu19.webshots.com/image/50898/2000628552278403776_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000628552278403776)
Box at Washington's Ford's Theater where the President was shot. Still a functioning theater, you can catch a play there.
http://aycu09.webshots.com/image/48288/2003844706838539435_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003844706838539435)
143 years ago today, the slavocracy capital of Richmond, VA falls to the Armed Forces of the United States, the most significant sign that the Confederacy is nearing its final days.
For ten months, General Ulysses S. Grant had lain siege to the northern Virginia city. After Lee made a desperate attempt to break the siege by assaulting Fort Stedman and the Federal line on March 25, Grant prepared for a major counter-attack.
He struck at Five Forks on April 1, bagging the end of Lee's line southwest of Petersburg. On April 2, Grant ordered a coordinated series of thrusts all along the Petersburg line, and the Johnnies defending were overwhelmed and skedaddled.
On the evening of April 2, the Confederate government fled the city with the army right behind. Now, on the morning of April 3, US troops entered the rebel capital. Richmond was the holy grail of the United States war effort, the object of four years of campaigning. Tens of thousands of Federal soldiers' lives were lost trying to get it, and nearly as many Confederate lives lost trying to defend it.
http://aycu29.webshots.com/image/50868/2000636249759571037_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000636249759571037)
14 year old Confederate soldier lies dead in the Rebel trenches. The boy died defending his country. In so many ways, it was a "rich man's war but a poor boy's fight."
On this morning in 1865, the glorious and grand army of the Republic came to take possession of their prize. One resident, Mary Fontaine, wrote, "I saw them unfurl a tiny flag, and I sank on my knees, and the bitter, bitter tears came in a torrent."
http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/51484/2000698257220182193_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000698257220182193)
Many black folks took refuge in boats moored in the James River to escape the fires that raged in the Richmond on the night of April 2 set by the Rebel army as it evacuated.
http://aycu01.webshots.com/image/51480/2000683333832696917_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000683333832696917)
Now as then, soldiers love to have their photographs taken among the spoils of war
As the Federals rode in, another wrote that the city's black residents were "completely crazed, they danced and shouted, men hugged each other, and women kissed."
http://aycu21.webshots.com/image/49100/2000663606548008164_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000663606548008164)
Army of Freedom marches in
Among the first forces into the capital were black troopers from the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry, and the next day President Abraham Lincoln visited the city. For the residents of Richmond, these were symbols of a world turned upside down. It was, one reporter noted, "...too awful to remember, if it were possible to be erased, but that cannot be."
The next day, April 4, 1865, the President toured the city.
http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/50444/2000686086107769814_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000686086107769814)
Lincoln enters the city with son Tad to the adulation of the black population. Free at last!
http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/49684/2000696153998175488_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000696153998175488)
Lincoln was escorted by a detachment of US Navy personnel
Five days later after Richmond fell, on April 5, 1865, Lee surrendered what was left of his army at Appomattox, VA. The surrender terms were negotiated in the home of a farmer named Wilmer MacLean. Ironically, MacLean had moved to the remote community to escape the ravages of war in and around his farm at Manassas Junction where the first significant battle of the eastern theater of the war had been fought four years earlier in the spring of 1861.
http://aycu25.webshots.com/image/49464/2000690334755974711_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000690334755974711)
MacLean house where the surrender was concluded
http://aycu33.webshots.com/image/48792/2003899833610776601_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003899833610776601)
Lee and Grant hammer out the terms in farmer MacLean's living room
Ten days after that, on April 15, 1865, the President died of a pistol shot to the back of the head fired by an alcoholic Confederate sympathizing actor named Booth while Lincoln and his guests were enjoying a theaterical comedy in Washington.
http://aycu28.webshots.com/image/49187/2000658804722534394_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000658804722534394)
http://aycu19.webshots.com/image/50898/2000628552278403776_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000628552278403776)
Box at Washington's Ford's Theater where the President was shot. Still a functioning theater, you can catch a play there.