"The Yankees are coming!"

After the Confederate States of America initiated the U.S. Civil War in April 1861 by firing upon Fort Sumter, Virginia -- the largest slaveholding state -- left the Union and Richmond replaced Montgomery, Alabama as the capital of the Confederacy. This placed the capital cities of the Union and the Confederacy less than 100 miles apart, causing much of the fighting in the Eastern Theatre of the Civil War to be focused  between these two cities.

Photo: citadel.edu

Throughout the war, both sides continuously attempted to invade and capture the capital of the other side. Generally, Washington, DC was safe from invasion but the citizens of Richmond saw a lot of fighting and even became used to the threat of capture by the Union. They had great faith that the Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, Robert E. Lee, would prevent this.

Photo: publications.usa.gov

However, in 1865 Lee was facing a dilemma. After a 10 month seige at Petersburg, his troops were greatly depleted. Lee was considering allowing Petersburg and Richmond to fall so that he and his troops could regroup in the Carolinas with other Confederate forces. On April 1, Union troops defeated the Confederates at Five Forks and Lee made the decision to abandon Richmond.

Photo: civil war.org

Richmond resident Sallie Putnam wrote, "As the sun rose on Richmond [on April 3, 1865], such a spectacle was presented as can never be forgotten by those who witnessed it... All the horrors of the final conflagration, when the earth shall be wrapped in 'flames and melt with fervent heat, were, it seemed to us, prefigured in our capital. The roaring, crackling and hissing of the flames, the bursting of shells at the Confederate Arsenal, the sounds of the Instruments of martial music, the neighing of the horses, the shoutings of the multitudes... gave an idea of all the horrors of Pandemonium. Above all this scene of terror, hung a black shroud of smoke through which the sun shone with a lurid angry glare like an immense ball of blood that emitted sullen rays of light, as if loath to shine over a scene so appalling. ... [Then] a cry was raised: 'The Yankees! The Yankees are coming!'"(http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/warfare-and-logistics/warfare/richmond.html)

Photo: richmondthenandnow.com

As the city was evacuated, the Confederates set the city on fire to prevent the Union from plundering the capital. The city was mostly empty when the fires were started and most of the city was destroyed. On April 3, the remaining citizens and the mayor surrendered to the Union troops to the east of the city. With the surrender, the Union troops entered the city and put out the fire, which had earned the name of Evacuation Fire of 1865. Some of the first troops in the city were men in the U.S. Colored Troops and they were met by an enslaved population that was ecstatic to see them as well as the end of Richmond's slave trade. 

Photo: examiner.com