There Went Richmond

                                 There went Richmond                                                                                                                                              April 17, 1861-April 2, 1865

                        My name is Bradley W., and I'm a Union soldier. I remember when General Ulysses S. Grant invited President Lincoln to join him in Petersburg,  the confederate capital of Richmond. I thought that was awesome and I wanted to meet him so bad. In the burning of Richmond, there were over 100 Confederate soldiers dying every day, and later on it went to over 50,000 Confederate soldiers. Our President Lincoln met Ulysses S. Grant in Petersburg before Grant left to lead the Union. Here’s the whole story. I’ll try to remember everything I can. First the state of Virginia seceded from the union. I thought they should have stayed in the Union, why would they want to leave the Union? Secession was approved by Virginia voters by a vote of 125,950 to 20,373. Then I remember The Confederate capital relocating from Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond.  Then, Bull Run was fought near Manassas Junction in Northern Virginia. Confederate troops under Joseph E. Johnston and Pierre G. T. Beauregard decisively defeated Union forces commanded by Irvin McDowell. Jefferson Davis was inaugurated on Capitol Square. Jefferson Davis was the President of the Confederate states of America. But why do we have him as a president, we should only have one president and that person is Aberham Lincoln. Robert E. Lee defeats George B. McClellan in a series of fierce engagements. I was so angry and I couldn’t believe that at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia defeated Union forces under John Pope. On Friday the 13th, an explosion at the Confederate States ordnance laboratory on Brown's Island killed more than sixty young women and children and briefly halted production. The Union Army of the Potomac laid siege to Petersburg. The siege was characterized by 30 miles of trenches stretching Confederate defenses thin, and occasional pitched battles, including the Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864, and the more-decisive Battle of Five Forks. After,-+ Union forces broke through Confederate lines around Petersburg at the Battle of Five Forks a day earlier, Richmond was evacuated. That’s about how I remember it. I’m so glad we won that war. And that’s the story of burning Richmond.

                          

Bradley W.