Richmond is fallen, the Confederate capital is no more. Fires smolder. Destruction is everywhere. Federal soldiers and freedmen roam the ruins of the city while many remaining white families are barricaded behind closed doors. A jubilant U.S. President Abraham Lincoln arrives today with his son Tad to visit the former Confederate capital for himself. Recognizing…
Freedom comes to the Confederate capital this day, although many of the white citizens yet remaining in the city see anything but freedom. As the sun dawns, vast destruction stretches as far as the eye can see. Worse yet, soldiers in blue are approaching the city. As one eyewitness, white Richmond resident Sallie Putnam, observes:…
Following yesterday’s victory in the Battle of Five Forks at Petersburg, Grant determines to make a frontal offensive on Lee‘s defenses. In the predawn hours of a Sunday morning, Gen. Horatio Wright’s Sixth corps emerge from their trenches and break through the Rebel lines, followed by offensives on the part of the Second and Ninth…