THIS DAY IN HISTORY – Confederate capital of Richmond is captured – 1865

History.com

The Rebel capital of Richmond, Virginia, falls to the Union, the most significant sign that the Confederacy is nearing its final days.

For ten months, General Ulysses S. Grant had tried unsuccessfully to infiltrate the city. After Lee made a desperate attack against Fort Stedman along the Union line on March 25, Grant prepared for a major offensive. He struck at Five Forks on April 1, crushing the end of Lee’s line southwest of Petersburg. On April 2, the Yankees struck all along the Petersburg line, and the Confederates collapsed.

On the evening of April 2, the Confederate government fled the city with the army right behind. Now, on the morning of April 3, blue-coated troops entered the capital. Richmond was the holy grail of the Union war effort, the object of four years of campaigning. Tens of thousands of Yankee lives were lost trying to get it, and nearly as many Confederate lives lost trying to defend it.

Now, the Yankees 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.” Another observer wrote that as the Federals rode in, the city’s black residents were “completely crazed, they danced and shouted, men hugged each other, and women kissed.” 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.”

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6 Comments
Mary Christine
Mary Christine
April 3, 2024 8:11 am

Kinda looks like Gaza

Knothing
Knothing
  Mary Christine
April 3, 2024 11:42 am

A never-ending humiliation ritual by monied elites.

T4C
T4C
April 3, 2024 8:59 am

THIS DAY IN HISTORY – The Left capture the capital of Richmond – 2020

comment image

James
James
  T4C
April 3, 2024 12:13 pm

That tis a target rich/immensely satisfying group to purge.

Gaping sphincter
Gaping sphincter
April 3, 2024 2:28 pm

The USSA is a true nigger paradise now.

The Central Scrutinizer
The Central Scrutinizer
April 4, 2024 10:10 am

The things we do to ourselves…smh.