The National tribune., 1900-07-12
FALL Of RICHMOND.
Evacuation of the Capital of the
Confederacy as Seen by Boy.
By j. w. NJ.

Although a boy OF only II years when
Richmond was evacuated by the Confed-
crates and entered by the victorious
Union forces, the stirring. and at times ex'
citing. scenes enacted on that eventful
morning in the Capital of the Confeder-
acy. are still vivid in my memory. They
were photographed on my youthful mind
so indelibly that the - years which have
since elapsed have not dimmcd those
wierd scenes which marked the closing
days of the great and grim panorama of
the civil war.
Throughout Sunday. April l. 1860, "All
Fools Day there We're many rumors
and reports in circulation. On street cor
ners. in churches and elsewhere, people
congregated and with bated breath de
clared The Yankees are coming. Such
rumors had been current so often before
that they did not cause much stir on that
quiet Sabbath day In fact. many per
sons regarded them as simple April fool
jokes. During the evening these reports
became more persistent, and mounted
cpuricrs i'll Confederate gray dashed hither
and thithcr about the city. One of these.
with clanking spurs and saher, dis
mounted quickly in front of old st. John g
Protestant Episcopal Church during the
evening service, and passing rapidly along
an aisle to the pulpit, whispered few
words to the venerable rector. The min
lister then addressed the members of his
congregation, informing them that the city
was in grave danger from the enemy. He
concluded by requesting all men and boys
capable Of hearing arms to repair forth
with to the square sur rounding the Capitol
building, where an Organization would be
formed Ito resist the invaders"
After leaving st. Johns, the courier
proceeded to Il nearby Catholic Church,
where he repeated his performance.
Within few minutes aged men and strip
engaged in holy worship, could be seen
hurrying along the .dimly lighted streets
towards Capitol Square. There they were.
armed and organized as minute men. This
motley force Of militia, after remaining
under arms for about two hours, were dis
missed for the night only to awake on the
following morning 10 lind the Yankees
in full possession of their city. q
DEsTITUTION OF POORER CLASSES.
Continued hunger, almost to the point Of
starvation, had made many of the mid
die and poorer classes of the population
Indifferent. Some Of them reasoned and
wisely, too, that the incoming of Uncle
Sans men in blue would mean food for
the hungry, if nothing more. Our fam
lily, for instance. had existed more than
ten days on black-eyed peas alone, without
salt. pepper or meat to flavor them. The
sameness of this diet irad become awful,
until each individual pen seemed in my ex-
aggcrated vision as large as an orange
The bill of fare in ourlhOme had becoms
Drowned peas for breakfast; boiled peas
for dinner, and cold peas for supper
and never biteIO of bread to break the
dietary monotOny.
Richmond became as quiet as a grave.
yard after midnight, and until 4 o'clock
on the morning OF EpItil 2, 1865, naught
disturbed the stiffness, save the occasional
baying of lanky, half-starved dogs. This
quietness was Ominous to the fast fading
Confederacy. Our family occupied a
dwelling on Grace street, Church Hill.
overlooking the James River at Rockets,
where the principal piers and wharfage
were located. Lying ut those wharfs on
Sunday afternoon were number of Gov
ernment tugboats and the ancient side
wheeled gunboat Patrick Henry. Several
thousand yards west of Rockets were two
magazines containing tons OF gunpowder
1t was the explosion of these which sud
denly awakened the Confederate Capital
from its slumbers and brought scene OF