In August 1861, Congress consolidated the police forces of Washington, Georgetown, and Washington County into the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department, along the model that New York City had adopted in 1845. In 1861 Alabama seceded from the Union and joined the Confederate States of America, which established its first capital in Montgomery. First Capital: Montgomery, Alabama The Capitol Building in Richmond, Virginia (Library of Congress) Founded in 1819, on the high bluffs above the Alabama River and 330 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, Montgomery, Alabama quickly became the heart of the state's plantation economy. The state acquired international significance as the site of such noteworthy civil rights actions as the bus boycott of 195556 in Montgomery, which introduced Martin Luther King, Jr., to the country; the Freedom Rides of 1961; street demonstrations in Birmingham in 1963 in which commissioner of public safety Eugene (Bull) Connor turned fire hoses and police dogs on Black protesters; Gov. After the war, Richmond erected many markers and monuments commemorating the Confederate soldiers and generals who fought in the waronthe famous Monument Avenue. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Coal and iron from forges in the Shenandoah Valley were critical to the Tredegars operations, but Union cavalry raids in 1863 and 1864 proved disastrous to those operations and further crippled the works ability to supply Confederate armies. During the war, Richmond morphed into an anarchic city thatwas riddledwith crime. President Lincoln and his wife Mary visited the hospitals frequently, extending both personal and symbolic comfort to the wounded. Rioters took to the streets lootingfor two hours until the Confederate military threatened action against them. To buffer the department from local political influence, the Board of Police comprised five commissioners nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. One resident, Mary Fontaine, wrote, I saw them unfurl a tiny flag, and I sank on my knees, and the bitter, bitter tears came in a torrent. Another observer wrote that as the Federals rode in, the citys black residents were completely crazed, they danced and shouted, men hugged each other, and women kissed. Among the first forces into the capital were black troopers from the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry, and the next day President Abraham Lincoln visited the city. In 1800, about one-fourth of Washingtons residents were slaves, but that proportion fell to twelve percent by 1830. It was home to the United States Government and served as a base of operations for the Union Army throughout the war. Sandwiched between the Confederate state of Virginia to the west and the border slave state of Maryland to the east, Washington sat astride the Civil Wars most critical and active military front, the Eastern Theater. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. The Bread Riotincreased the citys awareness of how desperate the city had become fornecessities andtried to make amends withstarvingRichmonders. Early and his men made a few probing runs at the fort, but quickly realized that even with their superior numbers, victory was impossible. During the antebellum period, the citys enslaved men and women often had enjoyed freedoms common to urban slaves, including the freedom to live independently and hire their own time, or choose their own employers, make their own work arrangements, and pay their masters a set annual fee in exchange for these privileges. Dubbedthe Siege of Petersburg, the siege itself was a multitude ofbrutal trench warfare battles fought along a line outside of Petersburg, stretching north toward Richmond, and lasting for 292 days. During the war, forty thousand fugitive slaves fled to the nations capital, hoping to secure their own freedom and hasten emancipation for those they left behind. ConfederateVicePresidentAlexander Stephens believed moving the capital would provide Virginians with an incentive to fight for the Confederacy. But following on the heels of that battle came twin Confederate debacles at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Even before secession, the idea had been suggested by Confederate vice president Alexander Stephens of Georgia as a way of luring hesitating Virginians into the Confederacy. For the residents of Richmond, these were symbols of a world turned upside down. Male slaves with industrial skills found their labor in particularly high demand, and could often command relatively high wages. On election night, a militia composed of southern sympathizers stormed and ransacked the Republican Partys headquarters in Washington. In the absence of modern water and sewage systems, infectious diseases were endemic in antebellum Washington. Theyworked in the industrial sector inTredegarIronworks as more white workerswere neededbythe Confederate army. Worried that Lincoln would interfere with slavery and citing states' rights as a justification, Southern leaders established the Confederate States of America with . Confederate and city officials, however, worried that such destruction could not be contained and that it might spread to residential areas and endanger civilians. Police officers took an oath of loyalty to the Union, were prevented from intervening in elections, and could not accept fines, fees, or other emoluments. Throughout the period, however, some Black citizens worked diligently to stimulate political activity, to enlighten and influence the white community, and to encourage the state and federal governments to guarantee political and social rights to those of African ancestry. Thousands of Washingtons fugitive slaves joined the Union army after Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation allowed them to enlist beginning in January 1863. 1865 Confederate capital of Richmond is captured The Rebel capital of Richmond, Virginia, falls to the Union, the most significant sign that the Confederacy is nearing its final days. Virginia Humanities acknowledges the Monacan Nation, the original people of the land and waters of our home in Charlottesville, Virginia. When Grant was appointed general-in-chief of Union armies after Gettysburg, he determined to follow Lincolns directions to target Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia and not the Confederate capital. Their campaign for equality initially focused on equal access to public transportation. Job opportunities in some professions and in government have improved markedly for African Americans, though poverty in the state is still disproportionately high in Black communities. Federal relief programs alleviated some problems, and the Tennessee Valley Authority created new economic activity in northern Alabama. Adding to the citys burdens was the constant arrival of sick and wounded soldiers. In April 1862, Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act, which freed the District of Columbias three thousand slaves. During major engagements, he spent many a night sitting in the telegraph office waiting for the latest dispatches to arrive. Not only the War Department but also the Navy Department, the Union Army Headquarters, the Army of the Potomac Headquarters, and the Headquarters Defenses of Washington all sprang up within walking distance of the White House. Freedmans Village was designed to ease the transition from slavery to freedom by allowing its one thousand residents to feed themselves by farming abandoned land. Progress has been sometimes slow and incomplete but nevertheless significant. The only effective way to defend all sides of the capital from attack, Barnard decided, was to establish a circle of fortifications surrounding the city. The election of Abraham Lincoln as U.S. president in November 1860 was not provocation enough, especially since Republicans failed to gain either house of the U.S. Congress. Nonetheless, they commanded high rents; it was not unusual to see several families living in cramped, unheated spaces. The American Battlefield Trust and our members have saved more than 57,000 acres in 25 states! It boasted a diversified economy that included grain milling and iron manufacturing, with the keystone of the local economy being the massive Tredegar ironworks. Crenshaw Mills burn, causing destruction to portions of the Tredegar ironworks. Among white Alabamians, a struggle ensued between those who defied the notion of Black people having political rights and power and those willing to cooperate with the Black community and its Northern allies. Overall, the Civil War took an extraordinary toll on Washingtons permanent and temporary residents, but their struggles and sacrifices helped to win the war, preserve the Union, end slavery, and transform the city into a larger and more modern national capital. Those who died were buried in pine coffins, at a cost of $4.99, in the Soldiers Home National Cemetery. Richmond became the capital of the Confederacy for four primary reasons. Birminghams industrial economy almost came to a standstill. Kurtz, Michael J. Overall, Abraham Lincoln spent about one-fourth of his time in the presidency sleeping in the Soldiers Home and commuting daily to the White House. True. The Compromise of 1850, which outlawed the slave trade in the District of Columbia, accelerated the decline of slavery in Washington. After Lee made a desperate attack against Fort Stedman along the Union line on March 25, Grant prepared for a major offensive. Along with preservation of the Union, the centerpiece of the Lincoln administrations war effort was of course freedom for Americas four million slaves. As the Potomac regions agricultural base shifted from cotton to wheat, Washington became a major entrepot in the interregional slave trade that sent slaves from the Upper South to the expanding cotton belt of the Southwest, focused on the emerging slave markets in New Orleans. On one occasion, he gained personal insight into the sacrifices the war entailed by witnessing firsthand the burial of the dead on the battlefield. Slaves and free African Americans performed the bulk of the citys physical labor, most of it menial in character. The mechanization of agriculture in the 1940s and 50s completed the revolution in the states agricultural economy. On April 4th, President Abraham Lincoln visited Richmond and the former Confederate White House, along with the Virginia State Capital. Reveille in Washington, 1860-1865. Washington Capital of the Union Resources, Washington Capital of the Union Author's Biography. This is a very precarious position, says Winkle, adding that Washington, D.C.s other border was with Maryland, a slave state whose loyalty to the Union was shaky at best. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. There were torchlight parades, fulsome speeches, and the mobilization of local guard units. Encyclopedia Virginia946 Grady Ave. Ste. After reaching the White House, the new president looked out the window and saw a Confederate flag waving just across the Potomac River in Alexandria, Virginia. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 finally ended segregation in public accommodations and provided protection against some forms of employment discrimination. he wanted to learn from his mistakes. Lincolns Other White House: The Untold Story of the Man and His Presidency. Lincoln wanted Washington, D.C. to be continuously defended by at least 30,000 regular infantry, but that wasnt possible in the summer of 1864 when General Ulysses S. Grant desperately needed reinforcements in Virginia. The Civil War not only expanded the scope and power of the federal government but also the size of its capital. In the Seven Days' Battles near Richmond, Robert E. Lee defeats George B. McClellan in a series of fierce engagements. To accomplish that feat, the government hastily created more than one hundred military hospitals and recruited thousands of surgeons and nurses to staff them. Just weeks after the firing on Fort Sumter, the government corral in Washington stabled two thousand horses. Hollywood Cemeteryhousesthe remains of thousands of Confederate soldiers, as well as a large stone pyramid dedicated to 18,000 unknown Confederate soldiers. On the evening of April 2, the Confederate government fled the city with the army right behind. Although the Black contingent participated in the constitutional conventions and in the state legislatures, its political power was not as strong as that of its counterparts in South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana. More than one out of every four Union . A riot broke out in which four Union soldiers were killed and thirty-six wounded. On a more practical level, Richmond was the Souths leading industrial city, an important transportation hub, and source of agricultural resources. Like most Southern cities, Richmond opposed secession on economic grounds. False. Petersburg, Virginia, was a vital rail center that brought critical supplies to nearby Richmond, the capital of The Confederacy. Progress was nevertheless slow and bitter. The Great Depression of the 1930s made suffering virtually universal in the state. Following the crushing defeat at the Siege of Petersburg, the Confederate government began to evacuate from Richmond. Midway through the war, more sanitary, open-air hospitals, about thirty of them, each with ten or twelve wards housing 600 patients, dotted the city. Leech, Margaret. From its inception, Richmond bore the imprimatur of revolution: Patrick Henry thundered Give me liberty or give me death! at Saint Johns Church, and Thomas Jefferson designed the Capitol building. Before the war, smallpox was endemic in eastern cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, but rare in Washington. It also served as the capital of Virginia, although when the city was about to fall to Union armies in April 1865, the state government, including the governor and General Assembly, moved to Lynchburg for five days. Not all of Richmonds women were as dedicated to the Confederacy. Indeed, Lee drove Major General George B. McClellans army all the way to the outskirts of Washington, allowing Richmonds industry the room to thrive. Washington was never seriously threatened by Southern forces, but Richmond experienced more than its share of alarms and battles. But it was the Union Armys shocking defeat in July 1861 at the first Battle of Bull Runfought just 30 miles from Washington, D.C. in Manassas, Virginiathat convinced President Abraham Lincoln and Congress that the capital needed to be defended at all cost. Women sewed uniforms, made percussion caps, and signed currency, all for wages and in support of the Confederate cause. They passed new ordinances prohibiting slaves from living independently of their masters, shut down many of the citys informal hiring markets, and instituted a stringent pass system to restrict slaves movements around the city. In 1853, after a fire consumed the Library of Congress, the federal government initiated a ten-year project to build a serpentine, twelve-mile-long aqueduct to carry fifty million gallons a day from the fresher Potomac water above the Great Falls, for both drinking and fire-fighting. [7] After slavery ended in the District of Columbia in April 1862, Washingtons African Americans insisted on legal equality as another unanticipated but imperative consequence of the war. On April 2nd, 1863, the Richmond Bread Riot took placedue to the rising cost of food and other necessities. Lincoln ignored Taneys writ, upheld his suspension of habeas corpus, and maintained a strong military presence in Maryland throughout the war. Seceded from the Union: 1861 Readmitted to the Union: 1870. Abraham and Mary Lincoln cherished their boys, Willie and Tad, beyond measure and gave them the run of the White House, often to the consternation of the presidents secretaries and other officials. To restore and protect the railroad line between Washington and Baltimore, Lincoln authorized his first suspension of habeas corpus. For ten months, General Ulysses S. Grant had tried unsuccessfully to infiltrate the city. They took part in Shermans march through North Carolina, which culminated in General Joseph Eggleston Johnstons surrender in April 1865. Beyond the positive impact of emancipation on their own lives and those of their family members, the greatest legacy of this first emancipation as it is known was to set an example of how the government could provide for the blanket freedom of an entire group of slaves as an act of justice, as Lincoln put it in the Emancipation Proclamation that followed eight months later. Elizabeth Van Lew and her mother were staunch Unionists. Delegates at the Virginia Convention in Richmond pass an Ordinance of Secession by a vote of 88 to 55. Later, whole armies, composed of volunteers and draftees from across the North, moved continually through the city, up to 140,000 at a time. The American Battlefield Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Enslaved individualswere putto work at the Chimborazo Field Hospital as nurses and cooks. Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and Letters of John Hay. We invite you to learn more about Indians in Virginia in our Encyclopedia Virginia. For the second straight day, a group of Richmonders gathers to protest food shortages, but is discouraged from rioting. Originally, Washingtonians obtained drinking water from public wells and natural springs. Keeping the southern border states in the Union was essential to its winning the war, and Lincoln reportedly said, "I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky". Library of Congress Balloon View of Washington DC in May, 1861 Library of Congress Washington, D.C., was the Union capital during the Civil War. There was also talk of moving the Confederate capital, then in Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond. Throughout the war, the Lincoln administration took unprecedented actions to secure the capital against Confederate attack and suppress internal subversion at the hands of secessionist sympathizers. Rearing Wolves to Our Own Destruction: Slavery in Richmond, Virginia, 1782-1865: By Midori Takagi, The Richmond Slave Trade: The Economic Backbone of the Old Dominion: By Jack Trammell. Servants and Slaves in the White House of the Confederacy. On April 2, the Yankees struck all along the Petersburg line, and the Confederates collapsed. This was remarkable considering that in 1860, the future states of the Confederacy had accounted for only 16 percent of the nations capital invested in manufacturing. Food and fuel became scarce, especially as the armies battled on prime farmland in the Virginia Piedmont and the Shenandoah Valley. Shortages of consumer goods and a worthless paper currency created unheard-of levels of inflation. Lincoln frequented them personally, making the rounds in his effort to oversee a coordinated war effort. The road to secession George Washington; slavery Cheerful, one might say, the diarist Mary Boykin Chesnut wrote. Grant hoped to break a stalemate between the Union and the Confederacy by taking the fight directly toRobert E. Lees army. American Civil War, also called War Between the States, four-year war (1861-65) between the United States and 11 Southern states that seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America.. Prelude to war. Indeed, by 1863, prices in Richmond were 700 percent higher than they had been in 1861.
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