The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-04-03
Evacuation Day.

Evacuation Day. &
t,b;s Is lie Sd OF April and, therefore,
,s tho anniversary OF tho most niemora bic
dav IN the history 81 Richmond. Pr resi-
dent Davls and Ills Cabinet left the = city
for Dnnvillc on Sunday April y. 1862 a ana
on Monday, tho Sd, the last tine Con-
fedorate troops retired &ncross james
river Even ns they left tho tobacco
warehouses were being fired ana INC ~
suit vas the destruction Of great p ''re,
OF the town.
III il no doubt tr,io that the persons W ~
were engaged In looting the stores ' Wy
fnctories Of the city ul,intcht,onallygl'rr
a. norvy,se fired some Of the houses, 4 10
M evidence taken in later years proves
,hnt tne colossal damage done proceetlNd
from fires kindlcd by the. etrcattlii,s SOL t
l,crs under orders to destroy the gov ~
crnmcnt's stores and the tobacco wa re.
houses and bridges The Confederate gun
honts n the river were also fired and
mere thus blown to pieces, making a
successl on OF volcanic sounds which HIGH were
heard for miles and miles ground, 1s
3rhc area Of the burned district was IT..
regular. 1t included all the bridges across
Tho river. and nearly everything Except
rlaxall's mills) between the river and tho
email from Fifteenth STREET.-THE Fifth. SO
n,so most Of the territory between Canal
md Franklin Streets from Fourtfe TO
Eighth was swept. Here and there build
ings out Of the fire district wore Destroy ''-
ed some from sparks, as In tho case OF
Dr.. Reds Church, which stood on tho
northwest corner Of Franklin and Eighth
streets. This church was fired BY sparks
blown from the Gallego mills, and which
LIGHTED on tho church steeplc. The home
OF General r. f. Lee was nearly oppo-
site the church and twas fired, too But
the fire was cxting,ished.
Considering the tun1ult and panic Of
that heart breaking day, the wonder IS
not that Richmond suffered so greatly,
but that It did not fare worse. Most OF
the male population had quit the CITY,
with the retreating army, and those men
who were left behind were In dread lest
they would be seized as military prison.
crs, and some OF them were. Tho Libby
Prison, which had been empticd Ioi It's
inmates on Sunday afternoon--they nav
inr been put upon flag Of truce boats
and sent into the Federal llnes-was filled
with persons arrested sin Richmond, TO
whom the benefit Of a military parole
was not extended for the time being.
The city fire department then consist
ed Of two steam fire engines Quilt hero
IN Richmond by Etting"r and Edmond,
and several old-fashioned hand engines.
Tho force Of men was small, but mem-
bership In 1t gave exemption from active
military service and by some this was
considered MS no mean compensation.
1t appears that some Of the fire engines
responded, to the alarms, but others did
not. for tho simple reason that they could
NOT muster men. We are not prepared to
make this statement authoritatively, but
from what we have heard there must
have been time when the operations OF
the department were practically suspend
Cd. 1t was rather too much to expect
tho average fireman to continue at his
post when government had ceased and
the enemy we're pouring into the city
and. bombs were, exploding all around
from burning ordnance store houses.
One OF the steam engines was located
on Third Street and the other on Eish-
tenth, but 1t is said that neither was
brought out until brought out by the
Federal military. We dare say their
horses had been seized. Horses were
worth n thousand dollars apiece In gold
that day.
The fire Of evacuation day was arrest
ed at last, about 1 P NJ, chiefly through
the efforts Of the military forces. Tho
work the Federals did that day In this
respect put them on better footlns
With the people OF this community than
they would have beRn otherwise. They
not only suppressed tho fire. but kept
to n degree that had not been ex-
pected, and for which the people were
very grateful
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