August 31, 2005
The President And the Shattered City Posted by Frederick E. Allen at 12:00 PM EST On April 2, 1865, with federal troops moving in, Confederate leaders-the heads of a years-long massive armed insurrection against the United States-evacuated their capital, Richmond, Virginia. Everyone else who could leave left too. That night, the city burned. Mobs overran the streets, looting whatever they could. The city was utterly destroyed. The next morning, Union troops moved in to take control. That very day President Lincoln wrote to his secretary of war, “It is certain now that Richmond is in our hands, and I think I will go there tomorrow. I will take care of myself.” And the next day he arrived, unannounced, and walked the ruined streets escorted only by ten sailors. “I know I am free,” shouted an old black woman, “for I have seen father Abraham and felt him.” There was worry that he would be assassinated, that he would be crushed to death. But he stopped to speak to a crowd: “My poor friends, you are free-free as air. . . . Liberty is your birthright. God gave it to you as he gave it to others, and it is a sin that you have been deprived of it for so many years. But you must try to deserve this priceless boon. . . . Don’t let your joy carry you into excesses. Learn the laws and obey them; obey God’s commandments and thank him for giving you liberty, for to him you owe all things.”
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