President Lincoln Visits Richmond

President Lincoln Visits Richmond. April 4-5, 1865. , President Abraham Lincoln's April 4 and 5, 1865 visit to Richmond, with his son Tad, only a day after the evacuation by the Confederate government, was remarkable for its timing and circumstances. Weary of war and worried about the country's future, he came with the probable intent to confer with the military authorities in Richmond. This soon changed into one of reconciliation and reconstruction., Lincoln was brought to Richmond in a rowboat and landed on a sandbar at the foot of 17th Street. During his long walk into Richmond, Lincoln received a boisterous welcome from the city's large population of African Americans. In contrast, most white residents greeted the president with stony silence. Lincoln's visit produced, in the words of a prominent modern historian, “this most unforgettable scenes of this unforgettable war.”, At the Confederate White House, Lincoln met Judge John A. Campbell, a former member of the U.S. Supreme Court and lately the Confederate Assistant Secretary of War. Campbell indicated that there might be a way to restore Virginia to the Union legislatively. In a meeting the next day, Lincoln expanded the plan to include three conditions for the Confederacy: an end to the war, abolition of slavery, and restoration of the national authority. To his commanders he said simply: “Let 'em up easy.”, Misunderstandings with Campbell, and Lee's surrender on April 9, 1865, put an end to the plan. Lincoln's visit to Richmond is the only glimpse into his version of Reconstruction., To Commemorate Lincoln's visit to Richmond, the United States Historical Society commissioned sculptor David Frech, of Newburgh, New York, to make the statue you see before you. Like Lincoln himself, the statue's unveiling on April 5, 2003, incited both condemnation and praise – proof that Lincoln's legacy, as well as his visit to Richmond, are still very much alive., [Caption:] , Lincoln's route took him to many of Richmond's best-known sites. He also saw the edge of the area destroyed by the evacuation fire (shaded yellow on the map).