The people of Richmond knew far less of what was happening at the Petersburg lines than Davis, and they went about their business on Saturday ignorant of their impending fate. Despite these precautions, Davis still believed Lee could stave off disaster. So when General Philip Sheridan's troops overran Confederate defenses at Five Forks on Saturday April 1, Lee made the decision to abandon the Petersburg defenses and, in doing so, to abandon Richmond.Ĭonfederate President Jefferson Davis had discussed the probability of quitting Richmond with Lee a month earlier, and he had already sent his wife and family out of the city. But abandoning it, he knew he could move more freely. Lee had always felt constrained by the duty to defend the Confederate capital. Since the war began he had been forced to let the enemy make strategic plans for him, because he had to defend the capital, but "when Richmond falls I shall be able to make them for myself." From a "moral and political" viewpoint, Richmond's fall would be "a serious calamity," Lee.conceded, but once it happened, he could prolong the war for two more years on Virginia soil. Johnston's army in the Carolinas where their combined forces could concentrate on defeating the Union army under General William T. If the terms were not acceptable, Gordon argued, the army should leave Richmond and Petersburg and retreat south to join Gen. Gordon advised that the Confederacy should seek peace terms. Gordon for his opinion as to the Confederate Army's next steps. Finally, he came to believe that he could best serve the Confederate cause by abandoning its capital. He had been able to hold back the Union forces for almost 10 months at Petersburg until his depleted forces were worn out and his supplies dwindled to nothing. Lee was so complete that they knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that he would never allow Richmond to be taken.īut the time had come for General Lee to consider just such a necessity. Richmond had endured some frighteningly close chances, and its inhabitants had grown accustomed to the sound of artillery fire from just ten miles outside the city. Washington was never seriously threatened by Southern forces, but Richmond experienced more than its share of alarms and battles.īy early spring 1865 the citizens of Richmond had become used to the threat of capture by the Federal army whose soldiers the Richmond newspapers described with great imagination as the vilest of humanity. Since the Union capital-Washington D.C.-and the Confederate capital-Richmond-were located a mere 100 miles apart, much of the fighting raged between these two cities. In fact, the effort for both the Union and the Confederate armies during much of the Civil War in the east focused on capturing or threatening the enemy's capital city. When the Confederate government moved from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond, Virginia, the quiet, prosperous Virginia state capital was transformed into a noisy, crowded metropolis that, as Furgurson notes, was capital, military headquarters, transportation hub, industrial heart, prison, and hospital center of the Confederacy. On May 20, the Confederate Congress voted to move the government to Richmond.With that, Virginia's capital had become the very symbol of the Confederacy, and the ultimate prize in a bloody war. General view of the burned district of Richmond Saved Land Browse Interactive Map View active campaigns.Send Students on School Field Trips to Battlefields – Your Gift Tripled!.Preserve 128 Sacred Acres at Antietam and Shepherdstown.For Sale: Three Battlefield Tracts Spanning Three Wars.An Unparalleled Preservation Opportunity at Gettysburg Battlefield.Phase Three of Gaines’ Mill-Cold Harbor Saved Forever Campaign.Save 42 Historic Acres at the Battle of Chancellorsville.Virtual Tours View All See Antietam now!.National Teacher Institute July 13 - 16, 2023 Learn More.USS Constitution In 4 Minutes Watch Video.African Americans During the Revolutionary War. The First American President: Setting the Precedent.
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