Personal
Recollections of the Triumphal Entry of Union Troops into the rebel Capital.
By HIRAM T.
PECK.
An inspiring feature of the first evening of our occupation
of the city was the music of our military bands, discoursing such patriotic airs
as "Yankee Doodle," "Hail Columbia," "The Star Spangled Banner," etc. - airs
that must have fallen rather oddly on the ears of the citizens, after having
listened four years to the music of treason.
Brig.-Gen. G. F. Shipley, Chief of Staff to Gen. Weitzel,
was the Military Governor, and Lieut.-Col. F. L. Mannins,
Provost-Marshal-General of the Army f the James, was the Provost-Marshal of the
city.
CITY VISITED BY
PRESIDENT LINCOLN.
On the afternoon of the following day, April 4, President
Lincoln arrived in the city; coming up the river from Petersburg, the vessel he
was on encountered many obstructions in the river, just below Richmond, in the
shape of the sunken ironclads and other craft. It was the first and only
opportunity that I ever had of seeing Abraham Lincoln, whose tragic death at the
hands of an assassin only 10 days subsequent gave him the title of "the martyr
President." When I saw him he was on foot, leading little "Tad" by the hand, on
his way from Rocketts Landing to the Jeff. Davis Mansion, which was then the
headquarters of Gen. Weitzel A National salute was fired in his honor, and the
most enthusiastic cheering took place.
The "contraband," of which there were a large number in the
city, exhibited the wildest excitement, bursting into all sorts of
characteristic ejaculations, throwing up their hands and dancing about, as if
the Savior of mankind Himself had made his second advent on earth. Such
expressions as "God bress massa Lincum!" "De dear old man!" etc., were upon
every colored lip. Even some of the young ladies of the city caught the general
spirit of enthusiasm and were observed to wave their 'kerchiefs as the President
passed along.
After remaining awhile at headquarters he proceeded to the
Capitol, followed by the same excited crowd of admirers. Here, as he ascended
the steps, while the Star Spangled Banner was waving gaily above the roof, was
presented a scene which artists and newspaper correspondents might well portray
in colors and in language befitting the glorious nature of the event.
REBELS APPLY THE
TORCH.
An edition of 1,500 copies of the Richmond Whig,
then a loyal paper, was issued in the afternoon. It was printed on a half-sheet
of the same complexion of the Sentinel, but smaller in size, and was said
to be the work of the same compositors who were employed on the disloyal sheet.
The editorial management, however, had suffered a great change, the former rapid
editor having taken his departure southward, leaving the original proprietor to
"run the machine" without his assistance. It contained the commencement of the
evacuation of Richmond by the Confederates and the particulars of the subsequent
conflagration which devastated the city. From the account published I obtained
the following additional information, which may be regarded as authentic:
The city was fired at several points, the tobacco
warehouses, by reason of their combustible character, being the structures
selected by the military authorities for the application of the torch. The fire,
which raged, as I have before stated, until 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and
then, in a measure, died out for want of material to feed upon, destroyed, it
was estimated, from 600 to 800 buildings, the loss amounting to hundreds of
thousands of dollars. The total number of lives lost could not, of course, be
ascertained; but it was known that quite a number were killed early in the
morning, and the occasion of the blowing up of the powder magazine in the
suburbs of the city, which produced a most terrific shock, extinguishing the gas
and breaking a great quantity of glass in the dwellings. I saw one dead body of
a man in one of the streets of the burned district, among the smoking ruins, but
how he met his death was not known.
The course pursued by the rebel military authorities in
firing a city containing thousands of helpless women and children of their own
kindred was such as we could not believe the most brutal and barbarous people on
the face of the earth would be guilty of. Regardless of the remonstrances of the
civil authorities and instigated by the frenzy of despair itself, the General in
command sent forth the order for the torch to be applied, and that portion of
the city where the greatest activity prevailed soon presented nothing but a
desolate scene of toppling brick walls and piles of rubbish, fit monuments of
the rash cause which the military despots of the rebellion had espoused. This
deed served to give the people of Richmond a good idea of the character of the
rulers under whom they had long suffered; and those who had been the most ardent
advocates of the cause of secession then saw wherein their confidence had been
woefully misplaced. But a happier day for Richmond had already dawned. The iron
rule of Jeff. Davis was at an end, and no longer would the armed enemies of the
Union march through its beautiful street
FEEDING
RICHMOND'S DESTITUTE.
Our occupation of the city soon had a reviving effect on
business, and many of the shops and markets that escaped destruction were
striving to accumulate as many greenbacks as possible. Commissary stores were
being brought up the river in large quantities, and ere long provisions in
plenty were obtainable by the inhabitants. It required a vast amount of extra
stores to fed the thousands of hungry mouths which our occupation of the city
had rendered us under obligations to supply with food, as the great majority of
the population were entirely destitute of the means of subsistence and had no
employment by which to earn their daily bread. This class had to be supported
wholly by charity until suitable work could be provided for them.
So very peculiar was the situation of the people that even
they who were considered as the aristocracy found it difficult to accommodate
our officers with board, if such was desired, for the reason that their stock of
provisions was anything but large, and the "currency" then held by them was
currency no longer in Richmond, being Confederate scrip, which was not worth its
weight in paper-rags. A large amount of this trash was destroyed, we were told,
before their army left, and a large amount still remained in the hands of the
citizens. All the specie vaults of the city were emptied of their treasure, and
it was hurriedly placed on board the Danville cars and conveyed south. One of
those vaults was under the monument erected to the memory of Washington,
Jefferson, Patrick Henry and Mason, in the Capitol Square, and contained a large
amount of specie.
OPENING OF THE
RICHMOND THEATER.
The grand reopening of the New Richmond Theater took place
Wednesday evening, April 5. Members of the old troupe which had been playing
there during the preceding Winter under the management of R. D'Orsey Ogden were
the actors. The plays were "Don Caesar de Bazan" and a burlesque of the grand
opera of "Norma," the program being interspersed with songs and dances. The
house was crowded, and everything passed off to the satisfaction of the
audience. A large Union flag was suspended over the stage, and the orchestra
regaled us with a medley of National airs, commencing with "Hail, Columbia," and
ending with "Yankee Doodle" struck up the audience manifested the wildest
enthusiasm. Someone in the gallery cried out, "Give us the Johnnies' March!"
Others shouted, "Give us Fort Fisher" and "Sherman's Grand March!" which caused
considerable amusement Owing to the damage done to the gas pipes by the fire it
was necessary to use candles I lighting the theater.
All the bridges having been burned, a thoroughfare was
opened between the city and Manchester, on the other side of the river, by
laying a pontoon bridge; and the cars were soon running to the station on the
north bank of the Appomattox River, opposite Petersburg, the bridges at that
point also having been destroyed. Laborers were soon set to work repairing the
road between Richmond and Washington.
The Whig soon increased in size and was greatly
improved in appearance by the use of better paper. Its tone was decidedly loyal.
Its editor, William Ira Smith, boasted that the last Union banner that waved
over Richmond after the firing on Fort Sumter was that on the flag-staff of the
Whig office, which the excited street mob demanded that the proprietor
haul down, and which demand was finally reluctantly obeyed. The following
complimentary item, copied from that paper, is self-explanatory:
"So far as we can learn everybody is highly gratified at
the deportment of the troops who entered the city Monday. There have been no
acts of violence or disorder committed, as some persons apprehended, but, on the
contrary, the soldiers have conducted themselves with marked propriety and
decorum."
Our occupation of Richmond had a tendency to dissipate much
of the prejudice that formerly existed against us. When held by the rebel army
street fights, robberies, and all sorts of outrages were said to have been
prevalent; but no instance of the kind, to my knowledge, occurred after our
troops entered the place. On the contrary, the best of order was preserved, and
the best of protection was afforded the inhabitants. They came out on the
streets and freely mingled with our soldiers, and general good feeling, on both
sides, seemed to exist. I know it to be true that there is such a thing as
"making a virtue of necessity," and yet I could not believe that the people of
Richmond were practicing dissimulation when they showed evidence of being well
pleased at our presence. The fact was, the sensible portion of those people had
long regarded the rebellion as a big failure; they saw wherein they had been
cruelly deceived by their leaders; and that after all that had been said
derogatory to our character by their journals we were not so bad a people as we
had been represented.
In the continued account of the Confederate evacuation of
Richmond, in the Whig of April 6, the following was given as the Mayor's
letter of surrender to the Federal troops. The letter was taken by the Mayor
himself, accompanied by a deputation of prominent citizens, under flag of truce
to the intermediate line of fortifications, the party starting before daylight
and meeting the Union military authorities near a point called Tree Hill, at the
junction of the Osborne turnpike and New-Market road:
"Richmond, Monday,
April 3d, 1865.
"To the General Commanding the United States Army in Front
of Richmond.:
"General: The Army of the Confederate Government having
abandoned the city of Richmond, I respectfully request that you will take
possession of it with an organized force, to preserve order and protect the
women and children and property.
"Respectfully, etc.,
"JOSEPH MAYO, Mayor."
Concerning the "Flight of the Confederates" the Whig
published this item:
"Two divisions - Kershaw's and Custis Lee’s - with several
light batteries, were holding the lines below the city. Gradually during the
night these troops were withdrawn by brigades. The first movements were orderly
enough, but toward morning the retreat became a wild flight. It was one of the
ghostliest sights of this awful night to see long lines of men, flitting like
unholy shades through the crowded streets, their forms made hideous by the glare
of the incendiary fires that already began to glow. This train of fugitives
poured on unbroken up Main street, down Fourteenth street, until broad daylight
broke upon the scene."
One of the most terrifying incidents of that awful morning
was the burning of the Arsenal, in which were stored no less than 100,000
shells, which for three or four hours kept up a continual bombardment, the
fragments flying all over the city, and adding greatly to the consternation of
the inhabitants. Strange to relate, no one, so far as ascertained, was killed by
these missiles, though several were seriously wounded. We heard this bombardment
when we were on the road to the city, and the natural suppostion was that an
engagement between our troops in the advance and the rear columns of the enemy
was in progress. The arsenal, being located under a hill, may account for the
small list of casualties. Many fragments of shells, weighing several pounds
each, fell in the Capitol Square.
Another incident was the escape of over 350 convicts from
the State Penitentiary, the guard of that institution having become alarmed at
the demonstrations of the culprits and fled, leaving the keeper and his
assistants in sole charge, a task to which they were by no means equal. Over 100
of these convicts were subsequently recaptured and returned to prison. The
inmates of the jail also made a strike for freedom, under similar circumstances,
and would have succeeded in their endeavors had not a "stay of proceedings" been
executed, just in the nick of time, by the military arm of the Federal power.
The following item afforded very gratifying as well as
interesting reading:
ARRESTS BY THE MILITARY AUTHORITIES. - Four of the
detective officers of the Confederate Government who resigned and remained
behind when the Government "changed its base" have been arrested and committed
to the Libby Prison. Their names are Charles, Jones, Sledd and Williams. Wiley,
the turnkey of Castle Thunder under the Confederate regime, and Frederick
Shaffer, the Confederate Bread Commissary of Union Prisons, were also arrested
and committed to the Libby yesterday.
And thus the whirligig of time brings round its sure
revenges; and the brave fellows who had survived the abuses and horrors of those
same prison-pens of Richmond could then look back with the eye of memory to the
scenes and sufferings there experienced, and find a sensation of pleasure in the
contemplation of the thought that the ends of justice, in their own individual
cases, had at length been subserved.
Another item worthy of historic record in this connection
was the following:
An immense number of Confederate coupon bonds, with all the
coupons all registered and signed, were thrown in to the streets of Richmond
during the recent evacuation. They were picked up by everybody who had any
inclination to subject themselves to that trouble, and can be purchased from the
boys for a very insignificant sum. If Mr. Trenholm can sustain Confederate
credit under existing circumstances he can turn wine into water or perform some
other miracle; but he cannot do it.
One of the most ludicrous episodes in the whole history of
the war was the issue by Jeff. Davis, on April 4, at Danville, of a proclamation
declaring that the rebel cause was not hopeless, and urging continued resistance
to the Federal arms. Coming, as it did, from a man who had occupied the lofty
position of Chief Magistrate of the Confederacy, but who then, from the force of
circumstances, was only a fugitive from justice, fleeing for his life before the
victorious march of the Union troops; while Lee's demoralized army, his main
dependence, was on the very verge of surrender - such counsel, I repeat, at such
a time and from such a source, was so perfectly ridiculous that the vagaries of
a mythic Don Quixote at once sound probable in the light of the prominent modern
example thus afforded.
A grand review of the Twenty-fourth Corps took place on
Saturday, April 8. The column moved through some of the principal streets of the
city, and the citizens appeared to be very interested spectators of the pageant.
On Sunday evening a telegram was received from Gen. Weitzel stating that Gen.
Lee had made a formal surrender f the Army of Northern Virginia to Lieut.-Gen.
Grant, the capitulation having taken place the day before. Gen. Weitzel
accordingly ordered a salute of 100 guns to be fired in honor of the event.
Another salute was fired early in the morning by our navy, down the river, and
still another, at 10 o'clock, by a battery placed in position on the Capitol
Square. The war was the virtually at an end, although Gen. Johnson had not yet
surrendered; and smiling faces were everywhere seen, even among the citizens,
who, although formerly in strong sympathy with the sinking cause of secession,
were then happy in the thought that after four years of bloody conflict the day
of peace was at hand.
During our stay in Richmond I paid a visit to Hollywood
Cemetery, a beautiful place of burial on the high bank of the James River,
overlooking Belle Island. There I came across the monument of Thomas Ritchie,
the founder of the Richmond Enquirer, and for more than 40 years the
controlling spirit of that journal, on which was the following inscription:
"It may be said of him with truth, in his own words, 'He
never turned his back upon his country, was always devoted to his friends, and
never dreaded his enemies.'"
How pregnant with meaning is the phrase "He never turned
his back upon his country!" What striking moral for the people late in
rebellion, and especially for the later managers of the Richmond Enquirer
is embraced in the few words here quoted from the tombstone of that journal's
founder! And yet - such is force of popular enthusiasm - had Thomas Ritchie
lived to see the rebellion inaugurated no doubt he would have been quite as
likely to accept the secession dogma and to advocate revolution as the majority
of his fellow-men of the Southern States. Then, at his demise, no such epitaph
could justly have been placed on his tombstone; now the memory of Thomas Ritchie
can well be cherished as one who "never turned his back upon his country."
The monument of one of the early Presidents of the United
States - James Monroe - was also noticed; and many Confederate dead are there
buried.
The troops of the Corps d'Afrique, after a sojourn of 10
days in Richmond, took up their line of march southward early on the morning of
April 13. Owing to considerable delay in procuring an ambulance the writer and
his office associates did not get ready to start until 4 o'clock in the
afternoon. Crossing the pontoons leading to Manchester, we took the Petersburg
turnpike, down which we moved at a regular funeral pace, bringing up the rear of
the long military procession, the head of which was several hours in advance of
us, and nearer our destination be several miles. Passing four different lines of
formidable earthworks commanding the approaches to Richmond on the south side,
moving past Fort Darling and the fine old mansion of the Drewry family, after
whom the high bluff at that point of the river had received its name, we were
overtaken by the somber shades of evening just as we reached the Halfway House -
historic locality of some of our operation the previous May and June. Continuing
our journey about two miles further it was quite dark when we turned into a
field not far from clover Hill Junction and made preparations to bivouac for the
night. There were three of us as passengers, and it became very evident, after
we had taken an attitude of repose in our military vehicle, that there was not
much room to spare; but all thoughts of our close packing were soon dispelled by
the drowsy influence of Somnus, the mythical god of sleep.
[remainder of article relates the author's stay in
Petersburg, subsequent move to "Camp Lincoln" at Jordan's Point, and discharge
from the army at City Point on June 3. The author accompanied the XXV Corps to
Texas as a civilian. This was not transcribed.]
