Richmond. Robert e lees army, safety 5000 men, holding the siege line 65,000 men, holding the seas lines. Siege lines. They face the army of the potomac, and an army level headquarters of the shenandoah under philip sheridan. Years, hasor four had a target on its back. It has been a primary or a secondary objective of u. S. Forces in the Eastern Theater since the wars beginning in 1861. It has had more military resources devoted to its capture than any objective the American Forces have her try to capture up to this point in history of the country. The largest army the u. S. Has ever fielded, the army of the potomac, has its objective at richmond. The people of richmond know they have been living with a target on the back. Richmond also is a simple. Is a symbol. I want to talk about that more as we get going. Confederacy,f the also one of the most important industrial cities in the confederacy. Begins, the battle of five forks outside of petersburg, virginia from the Confederate White House. That breaks the siege lines. Launchesday, as grant a center vocal avenges eight center vocal a centrifical offensive, he cuts off rail lines except one small tendon that runs southeast of the city. He has basically cut off the confederacy richmond for the recipe confederacy. Lee realizes he cant hold for very much longer. 2, 18 city, april five 1865, and he realizes he has to get the president geoff davis out of church and tell them he has to go. This decision by general lee sets off a chain of events over the next 36 hours that affects the city to this day. This sets a breakpoint in the history of richmond. Richmond is a symbol. Let me give you a couple of comparison cases over the last 150 years to give you context about the fall of richmond. What it means to the people there, to the story, their stories and the overall war perspective. Madrid 1939, when franco takes it, paris, 1940, when germans destroyed the french the republic. 1939. Manila, 1941. Saigon, 1975. The best analogy i can give you for what is happening, with going to happen in richmond, is a shipwreck. The city, its population, and its garrison will go through every single Human Emotion possible in the next 36 hours. April 3, 1965. It is the end of an era. 1865. Cities change hands all throughout warfare. What makes these different . Its the simple as him. Its the symbolism. Is also the fact that they are watersheds. The fall of singapore ended the British Empire in the far east. Manila has never been the same since the Second World War when the japanese took her in 1941 and the destruction in 1945. Just watch the movie because of blanca for the impact on paris. Thest watch casablanca for impact oparis. The global reverberations of that offense, the helicopters going off the embassy roof, that puts a very sharp. Richmond for the confederates. And for the union, is the same thing. Lets talk about what happens to the city of richmond when geoff davis is pulled out of church, told you have six hours, in the confederate government is going to leave by train. I want to look at this from a number of perspectives. The first one is that from now on, everything has a time of it. Once that runs out, if you are in richmond, there is a very uncertain future coming your way. If you are geoff davis, part of the executive cabinet, what do you pack from the Confederate White House . Where do you go . What becomes the new city of government for the confederacy . All these decisions have to be made quickly. Do you pack up the family . For geoff davis, the answer is yes. But if you are one of his staffers, what do you do . How do you take care of this . General lee faces this problem also because his wife and daughters live in the city of richmond. Does he take them with him . Does he leave them to the mercies of the union army . Veryvery personal, wrenching decision that has to be made. If he leaves them to the union army, how are they going to treat the mily of robert e lee . Is a very uncertain sort of thing going forward. That is just some of the leaders. Imagine yourself just being an average everyday richmond to citizen on april 2, as you know that the union army things are not going well for your army and the union army is at the gates. You know that there are black troops in the siege and lines. What will they be like . What about these suddenly freed slaves as soon as the union army comes in . What are they going to do . Are there going to be riots . What do you do with your silver, your valuables, do you bury them in the garden . Do you believe them and trust that nobody is going to mess with them . What we do with the family shotgun . Are you going to hide it, are you going to greet the enemy . Are you even going to stay . Are you going to go . If you choose to go, what he going to take, who are you going to take what are you going to take, and how are you going to get out of here . Are you going to go by wagon if you have one . By horse . Are you going to try and crowd the train station and try and get a train out . The morning of april 3 i would recognize reading a memoir about going to the real euros on manchester side of the river going to the railyards on the manchester side of the river and finding thousands of people waiting for trains that will never come. Because they dont know anywhere else to go. Thats the only way they can possibly leave the city of richmond. If youve seen the movie dr. Zhivago, there are scenes about leaving moscow during the russian revolution. That is a good visual to put to this scene. Honest, the to be best thing to do is to have a local watering hole and start drinking. [laughter] of that recycle case that i have seen. Every one of these comparison cases. That is true of every single case that i have seen. A hotel before the fall of singapore, british Staff Officers with Nothing Better to do were jerking whiskey sodas. Were drinking whiskey sodas. Theres up in a most everyone of these in this is where the bartenders start pulling out the bottles, because they dont want the occupiers to get their hands on it and get out of control. There are accounts from richmond and other places of the gutters and stairways literally running with alcohol. There is so much being emptied out. Lets not forget all of this is being cadenced by the rhythm of explosions. Yes, from the battlefront, which is drawing very close, but also from within the cities explosions and fire. Which cant be moved, and is militarily valuable, the Confederate Army is blowing up. Railyards, depots. That sets i finality. A finality. When you blow bridges, installations, that means you are not coming back. It puts a visual punctuation mark on what has happened. This is an end of an era. What was is no longer. And will not be again. Real sharpdge puts a cadence and edge to these decisions. It and urgency to these decisions it puts an urgency to these decisions that the government has to make in these hours before the fall of richmond. They go through every single Human Emotion. Including, by the way, at least one case of love. As Walter Taylor asks in the middle of it, world is coming to an end, can i go get married . Sure, go get married. This is Something Else that we know that they didnt know. They did know that the war in virginia was going to end in a week in appomattox. As far as everyone was concerned, they were going to leave richmond, virginia would get overrun by the union army, and they would join joe johnston and fight for however longer further they want. No one knew they were going to be back in just over a week to 10 days. Keep that in mind as you think through the thought process. One of the punctuation points, and i found this in interesting congruence with manila. Everybody in manila salt when the navy blew up the navy yard just across the bay. Everybody saw that smoke and those explosions. Everybody knew when the navy was thing out that it was over. Richmond, the Early Morning hours of april 3, remember steering the three remembers hearing the three crumps on the james river. The three ironclads, the most powerful fleet the Confederate Army had. Everybody remember that enrichment. It had the same effect. Everybody were members that in richmond. When the navy that has kept us safe for four years is pulling out, its over. Suddenly a very unknown future. This is a break, a psychological wrench for the city of richmond that defines it to this day. You see it in some of the different arguments from time to time about the monuments in the city, the different basement of the monuments. When arthur ash was placed on one unit avenue. When they placed the Lincoln Statue commemorating lincolns visit. Where was that going to go . You saw that psychological aftereffects coming back. Here when the richmond , aboutield did the 150th the battles of civil wars, do you know the one of the most attended programs were . It wasnt anything out of the battlefield. It was the april 2 and april 3 stuff related to the fall of the city of richmond. If you have seen some of the photographs, its amazing the number of people there. Im not sure how many richmonders can tell you exactly why they felt the connection to be there. But the people down there understand that this is an important moment in their history. They may not be able to articulate inwards, but that turn up articulate in words, but they feel in their bones of this psychological breakpoint in their citys history. It continues to define their city to this day. One thought about the psychological impact on the fall of richmond. And anonymous war clerk said, i didnt think we lost the war until i saw my government on wheels. He said that at the depot watching geoff davis train leave on april 2, 1865. A u. S. Army clerk echoed that watching the fall of manila. He said it was like leaving an old friend. A similar sentiment people felt leaving the city of richmond in 1865. That is an ending point that continues to reverberate to this day. But of course it is not the end of the war. West trying tos get to north carolina. Grants sets off on what i would argue the best campaign the potomac ever wages. They catch part of them april 6 at singles creek, catching quite a few of them. At sailors creek. Morning of april 9, they surround the army of Northern Virginia around appomattox warehouse. Appomattox courthouse. Lee tries to break out and counterattack to open the way to north carolina. As they are making headway uniont union cavalry, infantry from the potomac shows up, among them africanamerican troops. As one general said, the battlefield looks like a checkerboard. And lee realizes the jig is up. He said, i cannot advance further. Long street is holding up a the entire army of the potomac. Lee realizes that morning of april 1855 that the jig is up. He told his staff, there is nothing for it then to go see general grant, and i would rather die 1000 deaths. We will come back to that line further. And itportant to note, always thought this was interesting i will is the question to you why and let you come up with your own decision. Robert e lee, leaving richmond, saved one pristine uniform and a presentation at sword. For something. [laughter] hes going to put it on to go meet general grant. The question i would post to you, as far as im willing to get into someones head, did he know when he left richmond at petersburg, did he know what was going to happen . I leave that question rhetorically for you to decide. Grant, for his part, has been on campaign. He is muddy, riding around sheridans forces opposite gordon. Gets a message from lee, find a place in appomattox. I will meet you there. Send it on this road, i will be there. After some searching, being palm sunday, april 9, the courthouse is locked. After some searching the end of a place in downtown appomattox. His house outside of the nasa july agency one was general beauregards headquarters. Mysays the war started in front yard and ended in my parlor. lee goes in. Grant, when he shows up in the early afternoon, has brought a retinue of Staff Officers, generals along to witness. A step in. They step in. Its a very sharp contrast. Lee dressed sharply, and grant coming in muddy with only some of his stars on his shoulders. The contrast of those two personalities and what that symbolizes. I want to talk about something i think is important. Butot so much how they look what they bring into the room with them. Both men ring a lot of things into the room with them. I want to spend a lot of time developing that fought. That thought. Both men are exemplars for what they stand for. The actions of the leaders at the end of the war sets the tone for the beginning of the peace. Grant understood that he sat at the intersection of politics, economics, and the military by virtue of his position as commander in chief. Robert e lee also understood they were the personification of the confederacy, more so than jefferson davis. As the army of Northern Virginia would go, so with the confederacy. The analogy had been drawn tween lee between lee and the army of the confederacy between washington and the Continental Army to the colonies during our war for independence. That is apt. Its because lee his related is related to george washington. Beingen, by virtue of emxemplars of their respective sides, bring that with them. They bring the outside forces into the room beyond themselves. They bring in what they represent. To understand appomattox and how it reverberates going forward. Introduce ank and underappreciated quote, one that i think sums up the causes of the war better than any other. It is in 1956. The origins of the civil war late in the growing tension between two completely different types of society down together under one government. The issue hartavery sharpened treds. Two societies, one government, and slavery is an aggravating factor in all of this. What does that mean . I want to give you a couple of statistics as we develop this. Northernersn 4 lived in cities. Only 1 in 10 southerners did. In the south, 84 farmed. Southern investment in factories had grew. Confederatey two cities had a population over 40,000, whereas the north had 19 cities that could claim to cross that threshold. By 1865 was the army of Northern Virginia. A secessionist from texas spoke for many southerners when he said we want no manufacturing, mechanical or manufacturing classes. northerners also tended to be more literate and better read than their southern counterparts. The proportion of seven children went to school with half that of northern children. Southern children. 1860 per capita newspaper in the north was triple that of the south. The of illiteracy among whites in the south ran triple that of white northerners. Added,ks and slaves were the south was eight times more illiterate than at the north. In the free states, there was a commitment to education for Economic Prosperity and freedom. If you think about the careers of Abraham Lincoln and grant, they exemplify that last statement. I want to address the elephant in the room, both in 1865 and today. I will turn to mcpherson for a cogent discussion. Countrys black people lived in the slave states. The locations the implications of this for this are obvious. This is what montgomery is talking about sharpening hatreds. White supremacy in the south is so much greater as to constitute a different order of magnitude to contribute any more factor to differences between the north and south. The fear that slavery was being hemmed in and threatened with distraction added to an aggressive style of behavior before the civil war. That is not to venerate one side and demonize the other. That is not the point. The point is that the civil war, two different visions of what the west is and can be have met on the battlefield. What the u. S. Can be have met on the battlefield. They are symbolized by grant and lee. What are these visions . I will put them physically i will put them so simply succi nctly for you. Lee, harking back to the postcolonial period, patrician, agrarian, insular. Dont get involved in a foreign alliances. Grants and lincolns . The manifesto for this was issued at lincolns second inaugural. Peacemalice towards none, between ourselves and elevation of the world. Between ourselves and all nations of the world. Read the second inaugural because thats the new manifesto for the new world that lincoln is building. This country may have been founded in 1775, but it was recounted in 1865. The manifesto was the second inaugural, in the 13th, 14th, and 15th minutes. The way to lincolns visions. The wayamendments paved to lincolns visions. International, hemispheric. If you read grants memoirs, the ending is great. People overlook the last chapter when he talks about the u. S. And makes productions. He is writing it before his death in 1855. Ahe civil war has made us nation of great power and intelligence. he predicts a major role for the u. S. In the world going forward. That is the vision of that grant brings in to the parlor. He and lincoln are the exemplars of this, having risen from nothing, selfmade men, although grant had done a good job of losing fortunes he had made. Selfmade men. They had risen from the poor and modest beginnings to the statures that they now hold. This is the new america they are building on the ashes of the civil war. That is what both sides bring into wormer mcleans parlor. Is what grant and lee are exemplars of. Grant, as he puts it, let them up easy. That is what lincoln told him to do. I am still unpacking what this means. A lot of people gloss over the points of discussion between grant and lee. Grants realizes this is the end of the war. We will not march the army of Northern Virginia off to prison camp. We will send them home, healing starts here. One thing he didnt realize is that in the Confederate Army, soldiers had to bring their own horses. The u. S. Army provides everything a soldier needs to move and fight. But in the southern army, you had to bring your own horses. People have glossed over that point of discussion. I think that says a great deal of the mentality of both sides and have a structured their army. Organization can be an interesting determinant of the values of an organization. I want to commend it to you for some food for thought. I already see a few wheels t urning. Grant and lee consummate the surrender at appomattox. This is the first domino in the chain that will cause the confederacy to fal