On the afternoon of April 2, 1865, while seated for services at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was informed that the capital of Richmond, VA must be evacuated before the arrival of Federal forces.

 On the afternoon of April 2, 1865, while seated for services at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was informed that the capital of Richmond, VA must be evacuated before the arrival of Federal forces.

 Within minutes, records, treasury notes, and official papers were set alight in the streets of Richmond. City officials including Mayor Joseph Mayo ordered that all liquor be destroyed in hopes of preventing a chaotic situation from growing worse.

 The scenes of desperation and the realization of the end saw the town’s civilian population rushing to the outskirts of Richmond, crowding the streets with hastily packed luggage, and slave trader Robert Lumpkin ushering fifty shackled slaves through the streets attempting to evacuate the city by rail. 

The trains were to be used by the government and other Confederate officials, however, meaning Lumpkin and others had to find another way out.

At the railroad depot, Confederate officials from the government and the treasury loaded the train with their necessary baggage and awaited the arrival of Davis and other cabinet members.

 That night Davis and the Confederate government departed Richmond for the last time during the war bound for Danville, VA. Throughout the night of April 2, and into the morning of April 3, the chaos city officials hoped to avoid took hold of the streets.

 Mobs looted abandoned stores and government offices, the liquor that had been poured into the streets was soon scooped up by the cup full and disorder reached a fever pitch.

 Commanding Richmond’s defenses, Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell ordered the tobacco store houses set aflame to keep them from falling into Federal hands but soon the fire became rampant and spread along the banks of the James River. By dawn on the morning of April 3, 1865, the Confederate capital was no longer. The fire claimed more than 800 buildings and the left the city, once the beating heart of the Confederacy, in ashes.