Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1865-04-15


, burned we're the War Department Post 0
flee, Treasury Department., several churche
two banks, and three newspaper offices. A
attempt to fire the Capitol did not succeed
Ii was put out by the citizens
All the wharves at Rockets. the steam
boats and iron clads. were either burned O
blown up. in fact, in so briet time Their
must have been a large number engaged i
the wholesale destruction. In the easter
and western parts of Richmond there wer
| whole squares which have been burned. an,
| considerable portions of the business place.
on Main street have also been set on fire
Some were put out and Others burned up.
1t was not until between IL and | O'CLOCK
| Sunday night that it was believed at Welt
zel's headquarters, north of the James. thai
| Richmond was being evacuated. The firing
| towards Petersburg had ceased soon afteI
dark, and the rebel lines in front of Fort
| Harris were vociferous with shouts and mu
sic. We would have thought that they were
celebrating some great victory; but it was
simply game of deception, for, soon after
the music ceased, the sky was red over Rich
mond. Explosion after explosion followed In
rapid succession. and there was no doubt that
Richmond was evacuated.
Gen. WeitZel waited most impatiently till ;
Maj Manning, of the 9Th Massachusetts col
ored cavalry, on.a reconnaissance He soon
returned, and reported that the whole rebel
line in WeitzePs front had been abandoned
Nothing but debris of camp and garrison re-
manned. The advance into Richmond was
then Immediately commenced The three re-
naming divisions of the Gath and 18th corps
started on the old Osborne turnpike, the Will
liamsburg stage road, and the Darbytown
road. They all reached Richmond Monday
before o'clock.
Gen. Weitzel, on entering the city, on the
Osborne turnpike, which passes over Libby
hill, was met by some citizens-no officials
l believe-who surrendered the city to him
The march of the troops up Main street was
received in various places by demonstrations
of welcome. Some of the citizens cheered,
ladies waved their handkerchiefs, and in a
great many instances American flags were
displayed. The colored troops were the sub
ject of great attention to those who ventured
on the streets. Every place of business and
all residences were closed.
Gen. Weitzel established his headquarters
in the State capitol, lately occupied by the
Virginia house of delegates, and Immediately
instituted measures to restore order to the
town. Gen. Weitzel issued an order making
Gen. Shipley military governor. The latter
issued an order calling upon citizens to aid
in putting out the fire, and referring them to
the presidents proclamation for the DISPOSE
ton of rights and duties.
The Tribsme's special from Richmond the
Sd, gives an account of the occupation of that
city by the I'd brigade, Sd division, oath corps
"Gen. Ripley led the advance upon the town
Mai. Gen. Weitzel and staff heading the col
umn with a detachment of cavalry, to meet
the mayor, from whom Gen. w. received the
keys of the public buildings. The army of
the James then marched into the rebel CAPT
tai. 1t met no opposition whatever. Our
army was greeted with enthusiastic cheers by
the populace. Inspection of the rebel works
disclosed the fact of their having left in great
haste. Arms of every description were found
in prOfuson, clothing of every description,
and in some officers quarters were found their
private correspondence. The enemy had
planted torpedoes in front of Fort Gilmore,
and so thickly that it was found necessary to
march the column through the fort. They
had attached to every torpedo stick with a
piece of red webbing tied to it. This pre-
caution they had observed for the safety of
their own men,"
The HedIdS correspondence says: "The
works in front of Richmond consist of three
strong lines, wholly enveloping the city.
The outer ones are continuous; the inner
one consists of series of strong redoubts
and bastion forts. All these would, had they
been properly garrisoned, form an impregna-
BILE series of defences. To-pedoes we're
thickly strewn all over the ground, marked
with flags for the safety of the rebels, but
yhisb tB6g dR eaqtls 6tse sta GaHyys in thssg
of our men when marching into Richmond.
The second line was found equally as strong
as the first, excepting as to the abattis and
torpedoes. The third line is just outside OF
the edge of the town, situated on high
ground. These works, like the others, mount
baaN-v oups -