Rock Island daily Argus., 1892-07-20
EVACUATION DAY.
AN ANNIVERSARY THAT RECALLS
MUCH IN RECENT HISTORY.

Thirty Years Ago-How the City Has
Grown Since Its Surrender.
The most eventful day in the history of
Richmond-one of the most eventful in the
history of this country-was Monday,
April 3, 1865, when the Confederates evac-
uated this city and it was occupied by the
Federal army.
Richmond and Petersburg fell stimuli
taneously and the surrender at Appomat-
tox occurred six days later. Thus the four
years war ended and slavery was abolished
and the relation of the states to the Fed
eral Union was vastly changed.
Twice during the. progress of that bloody
war the two armN; lay before Richmond
for long periods, and often the city was
threatened by the presence of the raiders
of the Federal army. Once one of these
parties reached Ben Green's farm, on the
Westham Gary street, turnpike, and was
there met and turned back by the youths
of the city, who had been formed into local
self defense companies. At another time
they came to Westbrook, which is now the
residence of Major Lewis Ginter, and plant
ed their guns in the plain which is between
Westbrook and Mr.. Bryan's farm, Labur-
sum. Their guns We're light fieldpieces
horse artillery-and their shots only
reached as far down the road as the upper
end of Harvey's old nursery. Being assail-
ed in the rear by some small bodies of Con-
federate cavalrymen and confronted by
force of infantrymen, these raiders, too,
drew off, though had they known it and
been sufficiently bold they might have
ridden through our thin lines and rescued
all of their comrades who We're imprisoned
on Belle isle and in the Libby.
These were mere forays. They were
made by bodies of splendidly mounted cav
alrymen sent out when it was known that
Lees army in some other section of
the state, and We're intended to devaState
the country and carry off the negroes and
the horses, mules, etc, and the foragers
always hoped to find Richmond so unpro-
tected that they could ride in and take
possession. When it was known here that
the raiders We're coming the bell in the
Capitol square tower was tolled incessant-
ly, and forthwith there assembled on the
square the battalions of operatives from the
Tredegar works and from the government
shops and those composed of the clerks in
the Confederate government offices and
also the Virginia militia-the boys between
sixteen and eighteen and the men between
forty-five and fifty-five. All other able,
bodied men We're with Lees army. Often
and often, sometimes in moments of great
danger. these local defense troops" We're
thus assembled at the tap of the bell
And they never failed to go to the front
and hold our line of intrenchments until
regular troops could be dispatched by Lee
to defend the city.
Those We're exciting though but brief
glimpses of war. More protracted and
more sanguinary was the scene here in the
summer of 1862, when johnson first and
Lee afterward faced Mcclellan in sight of
the city. The first engagement was at
Drewry's Bluff May 16. On June % began
the seven days battles, after which Nc
Clellan changed his base"-i. e., retreated
,D No. IN
the flashing of the guns could always be
seen from our hills. At Mechanicsville the
field of battle was only about five miles
from the city. The dead and wounded
Were brought here from all the fields by
thousands
The siege began with the second battle of
Cold Harbor, June 3. 1864, and ended with
the evacuation. This was real war. Now
Grant opposed Lee. The lines of the two
armies stretched from Richmond to Peters
burg, and also covered the hanks of both
cities.
The Federal raiders 'cut" our railroads
and broke our communications in many
directions. Food and clothing grew scarcer
day by day. Recruits for the army We're
not to be had. When we lost man his
place in the trenches remained vacant
Not so with the enemy. As we grew weak
they grew strong. Our despair gave them
hope At last Grant made movement
which threatened to break Lees commu-
nication with Lynchburg, and Lee had no
other alternative than to withdraw from
Petersburg and Richmond. The retreat
ended in the surrender at AppomattoX
Court House.
The Confederates, being unwilling that
the victorious army should have spoils
of war the tobacco stored in the govern
ment warehouses here, set them on fire.
They also fired the bridges across the
james after the last of our troops had
passed over them. The wind spread these
flames far and wide. and thus, roughly
stated, a space was burned out of our bus-
ness center which extended northward to
Main street, southwark to the river, east
ward to Fourteenth street and westward
to Eighth.
Richmonds cup of misery was now over
flowing. She had to appeal to the enemy
to stay the flames, and this they did. With
the Confederacy, her currency went up in
smoke. Bridges, banks, depots, ware
houses, etc, all were gone. Worse than
| all the flower of her youth had been sacri-
| feed upon the battlefields, and those
/ whom the fortunes of war spared returned
to civil life to face new condition of
| things and to struggle under loads of old
debts. And yet n vineyard has ripened
| vintage above these cinders," and clusters
! were found growing ON the lava of i'll
luck"
| And here we are now rebuilt more solid
| Iy and stately than ever, and the war is so
| far back of us--though but twenty-seven
| wears have passed-tLat these retrospec-
| tions and moralizings will he news" to
many of the present inhabitants of Rich
mond.-Richmond Dispatch.
sla Ion