Richmond Burning: The Last Days of the Confederate Capital

Richmond Burning: The Last Days of the Confederate Capital

The final days of Confederacy are chronicled in this richly rendered portrait of the buring of Richmond, with vivid scenes depicting the destruction of this proud Southern city and close-up profiles of the individuals who played a key role. 35.000 first printing. When conquering Union soldiers entered Richmond, Virginia, in the first days of April, 1865, they found a city afire, reduced to desperation, but still defiant. Virginia historian Nelson Lankford reconstructs the final hours of the Confederacy's heart in this vivid narrative, which draws on contemporary letters, diaries, and official reports that share both immediacy and a sense of awe at the terrible destruction. Just why the capital burned has long been a subject of speculation; by Lankford's account, much of the damage was due to the defenders' last-minute efforts to destroy war materiel, setting fires that soon spread. Lankford attends to other legends as well, including a reported call on Confederate general George Pickett's home by none other than Abraham Lincoln, while offering verifiable vignettes of such moments as Robert E. Lee's return to the capital and the celebrations of newly liberated slaves and Union prisoners. Lankford's narrative offers a view much different from what he calls "the warm sepia glow cast over our great national trauma by popular books and documentary films." It is a fine effort, and one that students of the Civil War should welcome. --Gregory McNamee In the first days of April 1865, Union military advances compelled Confederate forces protecting Richmond to abandon their positions, opening the capital city to capture, causing the government to flee, and throwing the citizenry into unprecedented chaos. Lankford, editor of Virginia Magazine of History and Biography and author of The Last American Aristocrat: The Biography of David K.E. Bruce, 1898-1977, explores the fall of an important city, which portended the loss of the war. Drawing from a rich selection of diaries and letters, newspaper reports, and other primary and secondary resources, he tells the story of this pivotal event from the viewpoints of the varied actors who played a part, from military and political leaders to invading soldiers and civilian inhabitants. This well-researched, beautifully written work provides a useful update to Rembert W. Patrick's classic Fall of Richmond and is recommended for larger public libraries. Theresa R. McDevitt, Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. Nelson Lankford edits The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, the quarterly journal of the Virginia Historical Society.