Richmond in the American Civil War
Besides its political status, it was a vital source of weapons and supplies for the war effort, as well as the terminus of five railroads; as such, it would have been defended by the Confederate States Army at all costs.
In the Peninsula Campaign of 1862, General George McClellan moved up the James River, almost to the suburbs of the city, but was beaten back by Robert E. Lee in the Seven Days Battles.
The retreating Confederates chose to burn military supplies rather than let them fall into Union hands; the resulting fire destroyed much of central Richmond.
After the Confederate Army fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, on April 12, 1861, beginning the Civil War, additional states seceded.
Richmond remained the capital of the Confederacy until April 2, 1865, at which point the government evacuated and was re-established, albeit briefly, in Danville, Virginia.
[5] Positioned on the Fall Line along the James River, the city had ready access to an ample supply of hydropower to run mills and factories.
The foundry made the 723 tons of armor plating that covered the CSS Virginia (the former USS Merrimack), which fought the first battle between ironclad warships in March 1862.
Numerous smaller factories in Richmond produced tents, uniforms, harnesses and leather goods, swords and bayonets, and other war materials.
McClellan, who had enjoyed early publicity from a series of successes in western Virginia, was assigned the task of seizing and occupying Richmond.
Stuart, and an unexpected appearance of General Stonewall Jackson's famous "foot cavalry" combined to unnerve the ever-cautious McClellan, and he initiated a Union retreat before Richmond.
Even as other portions of the South were already falling, the failure of the Peninsula Campaign to take Richmond led to almost three more years of warfare between the states.
On April 2, 1863, the city was beset by a large bread riot as housewives could no longer afford very high food prices and broke into stores.
Subsequent campaigning in the balance of the year failed to bring about a decisive battle, and Richmond residents settled down to the winter of 1863–64 mostly still optimistic about the Confederacy's fortunes.
This included exploding the Powder Magazine in the early morning of April 3, at the Shockoe Hill Burying Ground, where the Alms-house was also located.
The conflagration was not completely extinguished until the mayor and other civilians went to the Union lines east of Richmond on New Market Road (now State Route 5) and surrendered the city the next day.
Over 600 Union Prisoners of War had been originally interred in the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground, and removed in 1867 to the Richmond National Cemetery.
[11] The Richmond-based punk band Love Roses features an image of the famous Currier and Ives print of the city burning as the cover art for their album A New Reason for the Same Old Mistakes.
