President Lincoln's entry into Richmond

It was on April 3, 1865 that Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy, fell to Union forces. In triumph, President Lincoln marched into Richmond, entered the Confederate White House and even sat in the chair of ousted President Jefferson Davis.

On April 9th, General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to General Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. The North erupted in celebration. To most, the Civil War had ended, slavery was abolished, and the Union was preserved, but to the many slaves, just beginning their lives as freedmen, years of struggle for civil rights were about to begin.

Read more about slavery in Brooklyn in this Brooklyn Daily Eagle article: "Negro Slavery on Long Island" (November 17, 1878).

 

 

 

 

 

Citation - Document 80
April 4, 1865
Courtesy of Ramon Gomez
www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/civilwar