What day in American History would you have witnesed?
Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 7:42 pm
Last year on July 4th I asked this question: What date or event in American History would you have liked to witness?
This year I would like to post my own answer: I would have like to have been in Richmond, Virginia on April 4, 1865.
The battle of Petersburg-Richmond, started in June of 1864 and ended in April of 1865, when General Lee abandoned both cities (so that his army would not become encircled).
Richmond had been bombarded and burned. The Tredeger Iron Works, the largest armaments factory of the Confederacy, had caught fire, and burned unchecked, along with large areas of the city.
On entering the city:
On April 4th, Lincoln and his son Tad visited the city.
The Union General in charge of the city:
For me the scene was full of everything the United States was and what the United States would be.
The struggle to form 'a more perfect union' continues.
This year I would like to post my own answer: I would have like to have been in Richmond, Virginia on April 4, 1865.
The battle of Petersburg-Richmond, started in June of 1864 and ended in April of 1865, when General Lee abandoned both cities (so that his army would not become encircled).
Richmond had been bombarded and burned. The Tredeger Iron Works, the largest armaments factory of the Confederacy, had caught fire, and burned unchecked, along with large areas of the city.
On entering the city:
Major Emmons E. Graves wrote:As white Richmond retreated behind shutters and blinds, black Richmond spontaneously took to the streets. From the moment Union troops entered the city - 'Richmond at last!' Black Union cavalrymen shouted - crowds, the skilled and the unskilled, household servants and household cooks, rented maids and hired millworkers, jammed the sidewalks to catch a glimpse of the spectacle. No longer enslaved, they thrust out their hands to be shaken or presented the soldiers with offerings: gifts of fruit, flowers, even jugs of whiskey. Federal officers riding alongside promptly reached for the liquor bottles and smashed them with their swords. But the crowd was undaunted. Just a day earlier, they had been prohibited from smoking, publicly swearing, carrying canes, purchasing weapons, or procuring 'ardent spirits.' Yet now, to the sounds of 'John Brown's Body,' they jubilantly waved makeshift rag banners; to the tune of the 'Battle Hymn of the Republic,' they enthusiastically hugged and kissed the bluecoats. For hours, ignoring the furnacelike heat and the smoke-choked air, they lingered in the dusty streets as Federal soldiers passed, bowing and giving thanks ('de Yankees at last has gone and cum!'). In the late morning, when black troops marched in lockstep ('majestically and proudly defiant,' in the words of an onlooker), the danced with unimpeded joy. And most of all, they praised God, shouting 'hallelujah.' Recalled on Connecticut soldier, 'Our reception was grander and more exultant than even a Roman emperor...could ever know.'"4
On April 4th, Lincoln and his son Tad visited the city.
New York Times wrote:Mr. LINCOLN, accompanied by his young son and Admiral PORTER, arrived at the Rocketts at 2 P. M., in the Malvern, and proceeded at once to the mansion of Ex-President DAVIS, now the headquarters of Maj.–Gen. WEITZEL.
The arrival of the President soon got noised abroad, and the colored population turned out in great force, and for a time blockaded the quarters of the president, cheering vociferously.
It was to be expected, that a population that three days since were in slavery, should evince a strong desire to look upon the man whose edict had struck forever the manacles from their limbs. A considerable number of the white population cheered the President heartily, and but for the order of the Provost-Marshal, issued yesterday, ordering them to remain within their homes quietly for a few days, without doubt there would have been a large addition to the numbers present.
The Union General in charge of the city:
"The great event after the capture of the city was the arrival of President Lincoln in it. He came up to Rocket's wharf in one of Admiral Porter's vessels of war, and, with a file of sailors for a guard of honor, he walked up to Jeff Davis' house, the headquarters of General Weitzel. As soon as he landed the news sped, as if upon the wings of lightning, that 'Old Abe,' for it was treason in this city to give him a more respectful address, had come. Some of the negroes, feeling themselves free to act like men, shouted that the President had arrived. This name having always been applied to Jeff, the inhabitants, coupling it with the prevailing rumor that he had been captured, reported that the arch-traitor was being brought into the city. As the people pressed near they cried 'Hang him!' 'Hang him!' 'Show him no quarter!' and other similar expressions, which indicated their sentiments as to what should be his fate. But when they learned that it was President Lincoln their joy knew no bounds. By the time he reached General Weitzel's headquarters, thousands of persons had followed him to catch a sight of the Chief Magistrate of the United States. When he ascended the steps he faced the crowd and bowed his thanks for the prolonged exultation which was going up from that great concourse. The people seemed inspired by this acknowledgment, and with renewed vigor shouted louder and louder, until it seemed as if the echoes would reach the abode of those patriot spirits who had died without witnessing the sight."14
For me the scene was full of everything the United States was and what the United States would be.
The struggle to form 'a more perfect union' continues.