Stories

A collage of images featuring wooded battlefields, brick factory buildings, a neoclassical capitol building, and Civil War soldiers
Explore the stories of Civil War Richmond.
 
a 19th-century postcard depicts Abraham Lincoln in a crowded city street.
Abraham Lincoln Visits Richmond

On April 4, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln visited the former Confederate capital.

a black and white photograph of a group of uniformed African American Civil War soldiers.
USCTs at New Market Heights

On September 29, 1864, African American soldiers of the United States Colored Troops attacked Confederate defenses at New Market Heights.

a photograph of a red brick and a gray brick warehouse building on a city street.
Arming the Enslaved? March 13, 1865

In a last ditch effort, Confederates authorized arming two companies of enslaved African Americans in the closing weeks of the war.

 
a black and white photograph of a group of uniformed African American Civil War soldiers.
Prisoner Exchanges Halted

On April 17, 1864, Ulysses Grant continued a policy of halting POW exchanges unless African American soldiers were treated equally.

a collage of eight men in 19th-century U.S. Army uniforms.
Robert E. Lee Resigns

On April 20, 1861, Robert E. Lee resigned from the U.S. Army and became the only prewar Virginian colonel to serve in the Confederacy.

an engraving depicts a crowded 19th-century courtroom.
The Trial of Jefferson Davis Cancelled

On February 15, 1869, federal prosecutors decided to end the attempt to prosecute Jefferson Davis for treason.

 

An Introduction to the 1862 Peninsula Campaign
A series of engagements, known collectively as the Seven Days’ Battles, profoundly influenced on the course of the Civil War. In the spring of 1862 General George B. McClellan’s army of more than 100,000 Union soldiers landed at Fort Monroe and fought its way up the peninsula. By mid-may the Army of the Potomac lay on the outskirts of Richmond. McClellan planned to capture the capital of the Confederacy and perhaps end the war. If his strategy succeeded the nation might be reunited, but without the abolition of slavery.

Chimborazo Hospital
Thousands of patients received care at one of the Confederacy's largest military hospitals, which was also a postwar Freedmen's Bureau site.

Last updated: August 21, 2023

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