The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1892-11-26
EVA( UATION DAY.
AN ANNIVERSARY THAT RECALLS
MUCH IN RECENT HISTORY.

Day in Richmond That Meant "A Greas |
Deal to Millions of People Less Than
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 g. 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 armies 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.. Bryans farm, Labur-
mum. Their guns were light fieldpieces
horse artilery-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 a
force of infantrymen, these raiders, too,
drew off, though had they known it and
been sufficiently bold they might have
- 81 nj Cd
all of their comrades who were 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 was in some other section of
the state and were 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 il was known here that
the raiders were 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 ffty-fve All other able,
bodied men were with Lees army. Often
and often, sometimes i'm moments of great
danger, these local defense troops" were
thus assembled at the tap of the bell.
J And they never failed to go to the front
J and hold our line of intrenchmenCs until
regular troops could be dispatched by Lee
to defend the city.
Those were exciting though but brief
glimpses of war. More protracted and
more sanguinary was the scene here in the
Z summer of 1862, when johnson first and
2 Lee afterward faced Mcclellan in sight OF
, the city The first engagement was al
Drewry's Bluff May 10. On June 25 began
the seven days battles, after which Nc
Clellan changed his basel. e., reiterated
to Harrison's Landing. In this compaigT
the flashing of the guns could always bt
] seen from our hills At Mechancsville the
3 field of battle was only about five mile:
( from the city The dead and wounded
\ were brought here from all the fields by
a thousands.
S The siege began with the second battle o
t Cold Harbor June B. 1864, and ended will
e the evacuation. This was real war. Now
y Grant opposed Lee. The lines of the TIVE
b armies stretched from Richmond to Peters
t burg, and also covered the TANKS of botl
d cities
:, The Federal raiders cut" our railroad
and broke our communications in man.
r directions. Food and clothing grew scarce
d day by day. Recruits for the army wer
r not TO be had. When we lost a man hi
e place in the trenches remained vacant
r Not so with the enemy. As we grew veal
o they grew strong. Our despair gave then
t hope At last Grant made a mOvemen
h which threatened to break Lees commu
o nicatiOn with Lynchburg, and Lee had n
IS other alternative than TO withdraw from
e Petersburg and Richmond The retrea
a ended in the surrender at Appomatto
n Court House.
is The COnfederates, being unwilling tina
the victorious army should have as spoil
IS of war the tobacco stored in the govern
ment warehouses here, set them on fir,
C. They also fred the bridges across til
d James after the last of our troops ha
t, passed over them. The wind spread thes
N flames far and wide, and thus, roughl
ct stated, space was burned out of our bus
r ness center which extended northward I
c. Main street, southwark to the river, cas-
Il ward to Fourteenth street and westwar
j. to Eighth.
n RichmOnds cup of misery was now owe
re flowing. She had to appeal to the enem
D. to stay the flames, and this they did. Wit
le the Confederacy, her currency went up
ly smoke. Bridges, banks, depots, war
it houses, etc, ali were gone. Worse tina
SO all, the flower of her youth had been sacI
g feed upon the battlefields, and thoi
whom the fortunes of war spared returne
to civil life to face a new condition
:. things and to struggle under loads of o.