Richmond 150th Civil War Anniversary Events - see this site for more details.

Commemorating Richmond's journey from the end of slavery and Civil War to today

April 2, 1865
While in church at St. Paul's, Confederate President Jefferson Davis received a telegram from General Robert E. Lee stating that he could not hold his position any longer and recommending that the Confederate government evacuate the city. Fires begun amidst the evacuation confusion consumed portions of the city late that night.
Thursday, April 2, 2015 commemorative programs will include

Late morning program at St. Paul's Church exploring the story of the Confederate evacuation, featuring remarks by Nelson Lankford of the Virginia Historical Society, author of Richmond Burning.
Tours of the historic areas of Richmond exploring the Confederate government's evacuation of the city and what that meant for residents, both free and enslaved.
In the evening, an artistic illumination of areas of the city that were destroyed by the evacuation fires, along with guided lantern tours of the burned areas.

April 3, 1865
At the invitation of the mayor, Union army units, including a large contingent of Unites States Colored Troops, entered Richmond, assumed control of the Capitol and city, and helped to extinguish the devastating evacuation fires. With the arrival of Union troops, thousands of slaves in the city were emancipated and experienced their first day of freedom.
Friday, April 3, 2015 commemorative programs will include

Morning bus tours following the path of entry of Union army units into the city early on April 3, 1865.
Tours throughout the city exploring the arrival of Union forces and what that meant for residents, both free and enslaved.
A special evening program commemorating and celebrating the 150th anniversary of emancipation in Richmond.

April 4, 1865
President Lincoln visited Richmond, including the former Confederate White House and the Capitol. As he moved through the city, he was surrounded by a growing, jubilant crowd of former slaves eager to greet the man they regarded as the great emancipator.
On Saturday, April 4, 2015, a full day of programs will commemorate the immense changes that occurred in Richmond 150 years ago, and the reverberations of those events in our Region today.
At the Virginia State Capitol:

The day will open with the arrival of a procession of living history Union military units recreating the Union army's arrival in Richmond, including United States Colored Troops. A brief commemorative program will follow the arrival of the procession.
Throughout the day, Richmond's history and cultural institutions will collaborate to present programs, living history, and temporary exhibits exploring the story and meaning of the historic events. The Virginia HistoryMobile will be open nearby.
Staff and rangers from local history and cultural organizations will lead tours of the Capitol and surrounding area of the city to explore sites associated with the Confederate evacuation, the transfer of civic control to Union forces, the enslavement and emancipation of the city's African American population, and President Lincoln's visit to the city.

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Contributors:

Ray Bonis:

Ray worked at VCU Libraries' James Branch Cabell Library from 1989 until 2021. He is the co-author of Virginia Commonwealth University (2006) and Greetings from Richmond (2009) - an architectural history of the city.

Selden Richardson:

Architectural historian and author of Built By Blacks: African American Architecture and Neighborhoods in Richmond, Virginia (2006), The Tri-State Gang in Richmond: Murder and Robbery in the Great Depression. (2012), and Richmond Murder & Mayhem (2023)

On History:

"The dead were and are not. Their place knows them no more and is ours today...The poetry of history lies in the quasi-miraculous fact that once, on this earth, once, on this familiar spot of ground, walked other men and women, as actual as we are today, thinking their own thoughts, swayed by their own passions, but now all gone, one generation vanishing into another, gone as utterly as we ourselves shall shortly be gone, like ghosts at cockcrow."
-- G. M. Trevelyan (1876-1962) from his "Autobiography of an Historian," An Autobiography and Other Essays (1949).

Key Dates in Richmond History
(more to follow)

1737 – William Mayo laid out the original street plan for the town of Richmond on land provided by William Byrd II.

1742 – Chartered as a town

1780 – Virginia’s state capital moved from Williamsburg to Richmond.

1782 – Incorporated as a city.

1788 - Virginia State Capitol building completed.

1860-1865 – Serves as capital of the Confederate States of America.

1910 - Manchester, the city located just south of the James, is consolidated with Richmond.

1949 - Oliver Hill (1907-2007) elected to City Council, first African American since Reconstruction.

1968 - Virginia Commonwealth University created by the merger of the Medical College of Virginia and Richmond Professional Institute.

1977 - Henry Marsh elected as first African American mayor of Richmond.

2009 – Shockoe Examiner founded.