Richmond Burning: The Last Days of the Confederate Capital

by Nelson D. Lankford

Nelson Lankford draws upon Civil War-era diaries, letters, memoirs, and newspaper reports to vividly recapture the experiences of the men and women, both black and white, who witnessed the tumultuous fall of Richmond. In April 1865 General Robert E. Lee realized that his army must retreat from the Confederate capital and that Jefferson Davis's government must flee. As the Southern soldiers moved out they set the city on fire, leaving a blazing ruin to greet the entering Union troops. The city's fall ushered in the birth of the modern United States. Lankford's exploration of this pivotal event is at once an authoritative work of history and a stunning piece of dramatic prose.

Genres: Civil War, History, American Civil War, Nonfiction, Civil War History, Civil War Eastern Theater

336 pages, Paperback

First published August 5, 2002

Reviews

[Nick Doss · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really good book if you interested in the fall of Richmond. Nelson Lankford does a great job making you feel like you were there for the event.

[Katherine Addison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book about the fall of Richmond. It's frankly better than I thought it was going to be after the first few pages. Lankford writes about the fire (the Burning in Richmond Burning) both clearly and vividly, so that I understand both WHAT happened and as much as I can of what it meant to the people it happened to.

Lankford has combed exhaustively through the primary sources, and he's interested in EVERYONE's point of view: women, men, white, Black, North, South, officers, enlisted---and he's alert to the differences between the Unionist residents of Richmond and the Confederates. Not everybody saw the entry of the Union troops into the city as a good thing, and "good" was itself very much up for grabs. The Yankees restored order and fought the fire (set by Confederate soldiers) that was destroying Richmond's business district, and some Confederates recognized that as "good" and some couldn't recognize ANYTHING the Yankees did as "good." And Lankford is keenly aware of the ways in which the Civil War didn't end with the fall of Richmond, or with Appomattox, and the ways in which the (incredibly toxic) relationship between white Southerners and Black Southerners was destroyed by the Emancipation Proclamation without having anything to put in its place. (This is not saying slavery was a good relationship to have, only that it was familiar, and that its destruction, while morally and ethically necessary, merely tore things apart without reconfiguring them into a new pattern. This, of course, is one of the places where Reconstruction should have happened and didn't.) It is very frustrating to watch white Richmonders fail to have any theory of mind or any ability to see the conflict in anything but starkest Manichean dichotomies (with themselves, of course, always as the "good" people). It's almost equally frustrating (though of course, not quite, because I don't think they're as manifestly wrong as the white people who can't understand why the enslaved people of Richmond are so happy not to be enslaved anymore) to watch the Northerners do the same thing, to fail to live up to Lincoln's Second Inaugural. (One of the amazing things that occurs in Richmond Burning is the visit of President Lincoln to Richmond, which is so surreal it's hard to believe it happened.)

Lankford is also very much aware of the potential unreliability of his sources, of how much, for example, Northerners wanted to see the white people of Richmond as either resigned to their defeat or actually relieved, when in fact, while that was true in some cases, it was not true in all or even most. White Richmonders, like white Southerners across the South, were not resigned to their defeat at all. So Lankford, while writing only five years after Klein (Days of Defiance), is much more alive to the schisms that the Civil War manifested---or caused---but could not mend.

[Sarah Bierle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellently written. Using an abundance of primary sources, the author gives a wonderful overview of the entire situation in Richmond. The historical account reads very well, almost novel-like. I thought some parts were a little to harsh on the Davis family, but at the same time I suppose those feelings may have been what the general populace of Richmond was thinking. Overall, a very good book and I'd recommend it for those interested in the ending the American Civil War or seeking to understand post-war Richmond.

[Marian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really excellent book, and offers such an insight to even present-day Richmond. I swear I've met a few of the racist, snobbish white ladies in this book. Is it possible they lived 150 years?

I am not even close to a Civil War buff, but now I'm kind of embarrassed about how ignorant I was of this pivotal moment in my hometown's history. What a sad chapter ...

[Charlie Creech · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author (who lives in Richmond) gives a chronological narrative of events before, during and after the burning of Richmond.
I have a certain bias to this book because I lived my whole life around Richmond. The records of my early ancestors burned in this fire. I wanted to know what happened (some say the Union caused the fire,some say the confederates). The author sets the record straight and now I know why those records burned. So if you have no vested interest in the burning of Richmond I can not assure your engagement in the narrative even though it is really well written. There were three things that stood out to me about this narrative:
It drew upon original sources. All to often when history is presented to us we are given some facts that sound reasonable and then the author spins the moral. Not so here. A well balanced narrative from the people who experienced the events. The author merely helps explain who the people were and the events that were forming their comments.
The pictures were tremendous. It would have really been great to see each picture as a full page. Having grown up my whole life around Richmond it really brought the devastation home.
It is an extremely easy read, but read it slowly and take in the actual events. The author, to his credit, does not try to relate this event, or the war, to modern day events. He leaves that to us. For me, so many events in the book, parallel in today's world.
A narrative, and a time worth learning.

[Billy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Couldn't get into it, need to read again

[Tom Darrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It is well researched, well written and moves at a good pace. I've read several books recently about the end of the Civil War, but this one was a nice twist. Leaving out most of the normal military campaign coverage, it covers the lives of people in Richmond throughout 1865, with special focus on April and May. One of the great things about this book is the large cast of characters - freedmen, diehard Confederates, Unionists, Union occupiers, occupied civilians, etc. How this book differs from many others, though, is that Lankford does a good job at reminding the reader who previously mentioned people are without repeating himself too much.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great book. It covers the month of April 1865 and Richmond's transition from a grand Confederate capital to a destroyed Union-occupied city. Lankford pays closest attention to the experiences of everyday Richmonders, while still covering seminal events like Lincoln's arrival via the mine-infested James River and Jefferson Davis's hasty evacuation from the city.

[Zachary Mezz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written account of the brief but intense period when Richmond fell to the Union, the city burned, and Lincoln was assassinated. The journal entries of Southerners that Lankford sourced were very interesting.

[The History Mom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A meticulously researched look at the fall of Richmond in April 1865 from the viewpoints of all citizens. It is so unbelievable that it reads like a novel!

[Glenn Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pure chaos for all involved in Richmond the last week of the life of the city during the Civil War. Imagine a city surrounded by battles that held the national government, the state government and the city government all of which were trying to flee to different points and each had different priorities. When General Lee began the retreat, the dominoes fell and fell fast. The national government fled under the thought of regrouping and fighting. The State government fled to save itself from the North and rule from Lynchburg. The City government, well, they had meetings and did not really decide what to do until the Union troops had arrived.

The citizens tired to flee and a slave trader even tried to take 50 slaves with him (he was turned back from the retreat route and had to bring his group back tot eh holding cell until they were freed 6 hour later).

Secretary of War, John Breckenridge (the VP of the US under James Buchanan) had ordered that three tobacco warehouses be burned so that the North could not get the tobacco. People pleaded to not let this happen, but officers fulfilled the order and as a result over 1000 buildings were burned.

A crazy week that started with the fall of Richmond and ended with the death of Lincoln.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because I'm a huge nerd, I read this book for fun and on a whim. It's one of the better texts I've read on the Civil War and one of only a handful that I know off that tell of the ending days of the war, with more than Richmond's final days as the focus.

Engaging, well-researched, and well-written. Recommended for anyone who has studied the Civil War in depth and wants to go further than the bullshit that's laid out by average or subpar textbooks in high school classrooms.

[Todd Van Meter · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and engaging book about the last days of Richmond as the Confederate capital and the fire that consumed much of the city immediately before the Union occupation. The book contains information about a number of little known facts associated with the final defense of the city and the subsequent occupation and administration by Federal forces. Anyone with an interest in Virginia or Civil War history will find this book to be enjoyable.

[Milt · Rating 3 out of 5]

dbg

[Stephanie Schuster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting nonfiction about Richmond's history. Written a little too history book for me to love it. Mat bought it.

[Kitty Ball · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read for local, Civil War, history fans.

[Richard Kryder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting account of the last days of The Confederacy as it took place in Richmond. Well researched book!

[Kate Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think someone should make this into a movie.

[John Hively · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderfully researched book. And it's well written too! Highly recommended for civil war buffs, as well as general history fans, as well.

[Gregory Weatherford · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating and cinematic look at the last days of Richmond as the capitol of the Confederacy. Nelson Lankford is a brilliant researcher and a storyteller of tremendous talent.

[David Medders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lankford has given us a very poignant picture of the last days of Richmond's life as capital of the confederacy. With many insights from original sources he leads the reader through the inexorable collapse of the south's bid for independence and what the fall of this real and symbolic capital meant to its inhabitants and the world beyond. I appreciated the appropriate questions he raises about the motivations and leadership of the civil war and his careful balance of judgment. The rhetorical questions like this one quoted from original sources still ring in my heart, "For what?" This and so many other profound questions still echo across the years. Why did America solve these issues with such immeasurable bloodshed? Was not this and so many other wars unavoidable? What is it about our political DNA that makes us so inclined to lay upon the altar of our political ideals and leadership decisions, the priceless blood of our citizens? Richmond Burning is a sad but stunning commentary on the hell-born wickedness of it all.