Show evacuation DAY THAT RECALLS tuch IN RECENT HISTORY atay it in that meant a great adeal to lona of people leg less than thirty yours ogo agronow biow the city lift I 1 grown ainee its surrender the most eventful day in the history of richmond Rich one of the most mot eventful in the history at ct this country was monday april 8 3 IMS 43 when the confederates evac eval bated this city and it was occupied by the federal army richmond and petersburg tell fell simultaneously and the surrender at Ap tox occurred six days later thus the four years war ended and slavery was abolished and the relation of the states to the federal union was vastly changed twice during the progress of that bloody war the two armies lay before richmond for long periods and often the city was threatened by the presence of the raiders of the federal army once one of these parties reached ben greens farmon farm on the West westham barn cary street turnpike e and was there met and turned back by the youths of the city who had been formed into local self defense companies at adoth another e r time they came to westbrook which is n now ow the residence of major lewis ginter a and planted their guns in the plain which is between westbrook and sir mr bryans farm laburnum their guns were light horse artillery and their shots only 7 reached as far down th the e road as the upper end of old nursery being assailed in the rear by some small bodi bodies es of confederate cavalrymen and conaro confronted by a force orca of infantrymen these raiders too drew off though had bad they known it and been sufficiently bold they might have ridden through our thin lines and rescued nil all of their cour comrades rades who were imprisoned on belle isle and in the libby these were mere forays they I 1 were made by bodies of splendidly mounted cavalrymen sent out when it was known that lees army was in some other section of the state and were intended to devastate the country and carry off the negroes and the horses mules etc and the foragers for agers always hoped to find richmond lUch mond so go unprotected that they could ride in and take possession when mien it was known here that tho the raiders were coming the bell in the capitol square tower was tolled incessantly and forthwith there assembled on the square the battalions of operatives from the tredegar Tre degar works and from the government shops shop and thos composed of the cl erksin in tho the confederate government offices and also the virginia militia the boys between sixteen and eighteen and the men between forty live five and fifty five all other able bodied men were with lees army often and often sometimes in moments of great danger these local defense troops were thus assembled at ithe tap of the bell and they never failed fallo to go to the front and hold our line of entrenchments ments until regular troops could bo be dispatched by lee to defend the city those were exciting though but brief glimpses of war more protracted and more sanguinary was the scene here in the summer of when johnson first and lee afterward faced mcclellan in sight of the city the first engagement was at bluff may 10 on june 23 began the seven days battles after which me clellan changed his base basea 4 e retreated to landing in this campaign compa ign tho flashing of the guns could always be feen seen from our hills at Mechanics mechanicsville ville the held field of battle was vas only about five miles from the city the dead and wounded were brought here from all the fields by thousands the felege began with the second battlo battle of cold Il harbor arbor june and ended with tho the evacuation this was real war now G rant opposed lee Theline the lines of the two armies stretched from richmond to petersburg els and also covered the flanks of both cities the federal raiders cut our railroads and broke our communications in many directions food and clothing grow scarcer day by day recruits tor for the army were motto not to be had when we lost a man his place in the trenches remained vacant not so with the enemy As we grew weak they grew strong our despair gave them hope at lost last grant made a movement which threatened to break lees communication ni with lynchburg and lee had no aber alternative than to withdraw from petersburg and richmond the retreat ended in the surrender at appomattox court house tho the confederates being unwilling that the victorious army should have as spoils of warthe war the tobacco stored in the gover government n warehouses here set them on fire they also fired the bridges bridge i across the lames james after tha the last of our troops had passed over them the tile wind spread these flames far and wide and thus rou roughly ehly stated a space was burned out of our business ne s center which extended northward to main street southward to the river eastward to fourteenth street and westward to E eighth 14 1 l richmonds cup of misery was flowing she had bad to appeal to the enemy to stay the flames and this they did with the confederacy her currency went up in inoke smoke f bridges banks depots warehouses etc all were gone worse than all the flower of her youth had been sacrificed upon the battlefields and those whom the fortunes of war spared returned to civil life to face a new condition of things and md to struggle under loads of old debts and yet a vineyard has ripened a vintage above these cinders and clusters cluster were found growing on the lava of ill luck and here we are now rebuilt more solidly jeand and stately than ever and the war Is BO so far back of us ag though but twenty seven years have passed that these retrospect 0 pec gions and zings will bo be lanew news fi ll 11 to many of tho the present inhabitants of richmond richi I 1 Itic richmond hmoud dispatch |