Richmond, Virginia
As Union battlefield victories and strategic advances grow, unrest in the Confederate capital is also on the rise. Writing from Richmond, Baptist Abby Gwathney conveys to the her parents the unease which pervades the city and state, the former now under martial law. She notes (excerpted):
We are expecting a battle daily on the Peninsula. There is a very large force down there, and I think the miserable Yankees will be badly whipped. If they don’t look out, they will find that there are a few more Southern gentlemen chasing them, as they did last year at Bethel. Some persons seem to be very much afraid that Richmond will be taken, but I do not feel the least alarmed about it. The Yankees will have to fight much harder than they ever did before, if they expect to come to Richmond. They will find that it is rather harder to take their stand in Dixie Land, than they thought-for.
Gwathney is right, for now: Richmond will remain in Confederate hands for three more tense years.
During the war, letters to family members are a primary way that memories of the war are preserved. Many are lost in the years following, yet many others endure.
Source: Abby Gwathney letter to parents, April 14, 1862 (Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives)
