Lincoln's Last Days: April 3, 1865
On April 3, 1865, (150 years ago today) the city of Richmond, Virginia, the capital city of the Confederate States of America, fell to Union forces, led by General Godfrey Wetzel. The night before, Lincoln had been informed that Weitzel's forces were in the city and Jefferson Davis and his cabinet had fled the city. At 8:15 a.m. on the morning of Monday April 3rd, Weitzel took possession of the city. Fifteen minutes earlier, Lincoln left for Petersburg to meet with Lieutenant General Ulysses Grant. A train took the Presidential party to Patrick Station, about a mile from Petersburg. From there, the President and his son Tad travelled in an ambulance to meet with Grant at a small house in Petersburg where the President and his leading general met for about an hour and a half. It was in the course of that meeting that Lincoln officially learned of Richmond's capture. He later telegraphed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and said:
"I have already been to Petersburg, staid with Gen. Grant an hour & a half and returned here. It is certain now that Richmond is in our hands, and I think I will go there to-morrow. I will take care of myself."
After meeting with Grant at Petersburg, Lincoln returned to City Point. At 5 P. M., from City Point, Lincoln wrote a letter to his wife, Mary. In the letter he reported on the war's progress and on a visit he had with their oldest son Robert. Lincoln told Mary in the letter: "Petersburg & Richmond are both in our hands; and Tad & I have been to the former & been with Bob four or five hours. He is well & in good spirits. Come down as you proposed."
The news of the fall of Richmond was joyously received in Washington. Doris Kearns Goodwin write, in Team of Rivals, at page 717:
The news of Richmond's capture on April 3, 1865, reached the War Department in Washington shortly before noon. When over the wire came the words "Here is the first message for you in four years from Richmond," the telegraph operator leaped from his seat and shouted from the window, "Richmond has fallen!" The news quickly "spread by a thousand mouths," and "almost by magic, the streets were crowded with hosts of people, talking, laughing, hurrahing, and shouting in the fullness of their joy." A Herald reporter noted that many "wept as children" while "men embraced and kissed each other upon the streets; friends who had been estranged for years shook hands and renewed their vows of friendship."
Gathering at the War Department, the crowd called for Stanton, who had not left his post for several nights. "As he stood upon the steps to speak," recalled his aide A. F. Johnson, "he trembled like a leaf, and his voice showed his emotion." He began by expressing "gratitude to Almighty God for his deliverance of the nation," then called for thanks "to the President, to the Army and Navy, to the great commanders by sea and land, to the gallant officers and men who have periled their lives upon the battlefield and drenched the soil with their blood." Stanton was "so overcome by emotion that he could not speak continuously," but when he finished, the crowd roared its approval.
[Secretary of State William] Seward, who had been at the War Department awaiting news of Richmond's fall, was urged to speak next. Clearly understanding that the moment belonged to Stanton, he kept his remarks short and humorous. He was beginning to think it was time for a change in the cabinet, he began. "Why I started to go to the front the other day, and when I got to City Point, they told me it was at Hatchet's run, and when I got there I was told it was not there but somewhere else, and when I get back, I am told by the Secretary that it is in Petersburg; but before I can realize that, I am told it is in Richmond, and west of that. Now I leave you to judge what I ought to think of such a Secretary of War as this." The crowd erupted in "loud and lusty" cheers, and a "beaming" Stanton led them in a chorus of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
"I have already been to Petersburg, staid with Gen. Grant an hour & a half and returned here. It is certain now that Richmond is in our hands, and I think I will go there to-morrow. I will take care of myself."
After meeting with Grant at Petersburg, Lincoln returned to City Point. At 5 P. M., from City Point, Lincoln wrote a letter to his wife, Mary. In the letter he reported on the war's progress and on a visit he had with their oldest son Robert. Lincoln told Mary in the letter: "Petersburg & Richmond are both in our hands; and Tad & I have been to the former & been with Bob four or five hours. He is well & in good spirits. Come down as you proposed."
The news of the fall of Richmond was joyously received in Washington. Doris Kearns Goodwin write, in Team of Rivals, at page 717:
The news of Richmond's capture on April 3, 1865, reached the War Department in Washington shortly before noon. When over the wire came the words "Here is the first message for you in four years from Richmond," the telegraph operator leaped from his seat and shouted from the window, "Richmond has fallen!" The news quickly "spread by a thousand mouths," and "almost by magic, the streets were crowded with hosts of people, talking, laughing, hurrahing, and shouting in the fullness of their joy." A Herald reporter noted that many "wept as children" while "men embraced and kissed each other upon the streets; friends who had been estranged for years shook hands and renewed their vows of friendship."
Gathering at the War Department, the crowd called for Stanton, who had not left his post for several nights. "As he stood upon the steps to speak," recalled his aide A. F. Johnson, "he trembled like a leaf, and his voice showed his emotion." He began by expressing "gratitude to Almighty God for his deliverance of the nation," then called for thanks "to the President, to the Army and Navy, to the great commanders by sea and land, to the gallant officers and men who have periled their lives upon the battlefield and drenched the soil with their blood." Stanton was "so overcome by emotion that he could not speak continuously," but when he finished, the crowd roared its approval.
[Secretary of State William] Seward, who had been at the War Department awaiting news of Richmond's fall, was urged to speak next. Clearly understanding that the moment belonged to Stanton, he kept his remarks short and humorous. He was beginning to think it was time for a change in the cabinet, he began. "Why I started to go to the front the other day, and when I got to City Point, they told me it was at Hatchet's run, and when I got there I was told it was not there but somewhere else, and when I get back, I am told by the Secretary that it is in Petersburg; but before I can realize that, I am told it is in Richmond, and west of that. Now I leave you to judge what I ought to think of such a Secretary of War as this." The crowd erupted in "loud and lusty" cheers, and a "beaming" Stanton led them in a chorus of "The Star-Spangled Banner."