Richmond in the American Civil War Richmond in the American Civil War Richmond, Virginia, served as the capital of the Confederate States of America for almost the whole of the American Civil War. It was a vital source of weapons and supplies for the war effort, and the terminus of five railroads. The Union made many attempts to invade Richmond. In the Peninsula Campaign of 1862, General George McClellan moved up the James River, almost to the suburbs of the city, but was beaten back by Robert E. Lee in the Seven Days Battles. In 1864-5, General U.S. Grant laid siege to nearby Petersburg, whose evacuation
Commemoration of the American Civil War on postage stamps Amendment. The Thirteenth Amendment was sent to the states before Lincoln's assassination, the Fourteenth passed over Johnson's active opposition, the Fifteenth passed during Grant's administration. In literature the onset of the Civil War occasioned important considerations of nationalism, citizenship and the nature of the American republic. Radical social changes involving communications, women's rights, civil rights, states' rights and other issues had already been set in motion before the Civil War, and accelerated through it into succeeding historical eras. The Second Wave of Immigration reshaped American society in its diversity and urban numbers leading to an explosion of internal commerce and