Civil War History - Secession and PoliticsWas it Slavery, or was it States Rights? Perhaps it was the election of Lincoln? What were the real reasons for Southern Secession and what were the political issues in this time of war? Find your answers here in the Secession and Politics Disussion.
I was trying to find out why the Confederate Capital was relocated to Richmond from Montgomery. I personally think that Montgomery would be better for the confederacy so the capital could be more isolated and perhaps better to defend. Richmond and Washington are so close; I can not believe that it took 4 years to get there. ( I think if Grant would have been in charge of the Army of the Potomic from the beginning; at least from 1862 on; that they would have reached Richmond much Sooner )
But, does anyone know the strategy for relocating the Capital to Richmond?
After Sumter, Virginia succeeded and offered Richmond as the capitol of the Confederacy. It was debated and objected to by Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina. I believe that President Davis also favored Montgomery as the capitol.
The transfer was intended to bind Virginia closer to the other Southern states and to put the Confederate government nearer to Washington when the time came to discuss the peace treaty. In reality, the move backfired. It made Richmond the primary Federal target and Virginia the major battleground of the Civil War. Montgomery, which doubled in population as the young Confederacy grew, was largly spared.
Speaking of Richmond, my husband and I were there in Oct. First, there was NO ONE in the city. And I mean, no one. There were very few people in the streets, there was almost no one in the restaurants. Now, I don't know if it's always like that, or if Spet 11 was to blame, but it was kind of nice to not have to worry about tons of people in our way.
We went to the Confederate White House and the Museum of the Confederacy. The museum left quite a bit to be desired. It was, in my opinion, the same thing I've seen at every Civil War museum already. The only remarkable thing was the amount of stuff from privates which was identifiable, and had names linked to it.
THen there was the "special" presentation on the second floor of the museum. I have friends who have been there when they were doing presentations on mourning during the war, and they said it was great. However right now it's about Lee. And Lee's family. And Lee's boots. And Lee's saddle. And blah blah blah. If you have the space to do something cool, why do ANOTHER show about Lee? What about other, less heralded COnfederate generals? Hell, what about Davis.
Then there's the WHite House. They've redone it, and repurchased as much of the original furnishings as they could after having them auctioned off 20 years prior. And if it's not original to the house, it's a period piece. The house is gorgeous. HOWEVER, the woman who gave the tour was a little difficult. She giggeled about everything she talked about, and the other people in our tour group were dumb (i.e., the tour lady told us in the beginning the Davis family had children while they were living in the house. So later a lady asked if any kids lived there...) And any difficult questions she couldn't answer.
So, after the tour, we went to the museum/WH shop. The tour had emphasized Varina Davis (First Lady) quite a bit. So one would assume there would be some information available about her in the store. WRONG. In fact, the guy was really a jerk about the fact that they NEVER carry anything about her. But, you want a book about Gettysburg? How about Lee? Or Grant?
I was much more impressed with Tredager Iron Works, and their little, ****y museum.
But that's just my opinion. Has anyone else been there recently? How do you feel about it? Maybe I was in the wrong state of mind?
A friend of mine is from Virginia. His standard comment about Richmond is "Richmond is a lovely city. Please don't tell too many people about it."
I've been there a couple times in the last three years and I agree with my friend's observation. It is a lovely city, and perhaps one of the things that makes it that way is the fact that not that many people think about it as a tourist destination.
I did visit the Museum of the Confederacy and the Confederate White House. I think the guide I had was considerably better than the one you described. Overall, I liked the Museum. But if you don't like that one, there are plenty of other museums in the Richmond area - the Valentine, just down the street from the MOC, is a nice one, and there are also the Virginia Historical Society Museum and the Art Museum, just to name a couple. And if you care to drive around the area a bit, I would heartily recommend Pamplin Park, an excellent Civil War-related museum near Petersburg.
Whoops! Here I am telling people about Richmond, as my friend asked me not to do.
Jon,
"After Sumter, Virginia succeeded and offered Richmond as the capitol of the Confederacy."
Virginia wasn't sure if they were going to succeed or not, and didn't take a vote until after a delegation was sent to Washington to speak to Lincoln to learn his full intentions. They met with him on April 13,1861. they eturned home and the vote for succession was on April 17. With the vote going to yes Virginia became the 8th in order of succession.
My understanding is that the trip was made after the new Confederate government offered to Make Richmond the capital, although I might be wrong here on the order of the offer. Anyway, the offer was made to intice Virginia into the Confederacy for several reasons. One being its location in relation the Union. {The Shenadoah Valley was also a prefect path into the north}.A 2nd was manpower, Virginia being the largest border state by population. A third reason was industrial production, with Virginia in, it could and would, contribute much needed war material to the war effort.
All IMHO of course,
Chuck in Il.
I too had always wondered why Richmond was chosen as the Confederate capital.Good posts.I had a friend who went there and freaked out last week.Evidently he was looking for a lost colony or something and somehow wound up at the Confederate white house.He seemed pleased by the results though and I am happy he got to see it.
At South Carolina's suggestion, Alabama invited the seceding states to meet in Montgomery to form the Confederate States of America.
Montgomery was selected because:
it was a central location;
it had good railroad and river connections to south and east (but not to the west);
it was a center of Southern radical activity led by Alabama fire-eater William L. Yancey.
In February 1861, Montgomery had 8,843 people (4,443 whites and 4,400 blacks, slave and free).
During the months Montgomery served as the capital of the Confederacy, the population of the city doubled.
The Confederate Congress convened February 4, with delegates from South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana. Texas delegates arrived March 2. The rest of the states that eventually made up the eleven Confederate States—Arkansas, Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee—seceded from the Union after the firing on Fort Sumter in April.
When Virginia seceded from the Union, the Confederate Congress met in secret session and resolved to move the capital to Richmond. The Congress adjourned in Montgomery on May 21 to reassemble in Richmond on July 20.
The reasons for removal to Richmond were:
distinction of Virginia being the first colony and home of founding fathers, especially Washington;
closer to the federal capitol at Washington;
good accommodations and rail connections;
manufacturing center, especially the Tredegar Iron Works.
That's my facts, Source: Alabama Department of Archives and History.
William Davis has a great book on the inception of the Confederacy from the secessions to the installation of the government in Richmond. He goes into great depth describing the 'feel' of Montgomery and the interrelationships of the people brought together in Montgomery to form the new government. I can't rightly recall the title; I don't have it in front of me, 'The Birth of the Confederacy' I think it is if I must hazard a guess. No, 'A Government of Our Own'- that's it, I'm pretty sure. (Highly recommend it, lovely flow, a wonderful read.)
Anyway, Davis talks alot about the 'provincialism' of life in Montgomery, or at least the feel of such, to the grandees and politicians (and their wives,) many of whom, if not most of whom, had spent many years in Washington. The feeling was that Montgomery was too new, too raw, too much a frontier town, to be a great and grand national capital, representing the splendor of the South. They felt Richmond was larger, more historic, more dignified, more cosmopolitan and elegant- a better representation of what they missed and wanted from old Washington, the old grand capital, which was what in their minds a capital should be and which they wished for in a capital. President Davis was satisfied with Montgomery, but agreed with the move for many of the practical, military, and political reasons spelled out so well by the above respondents.
Greetings all, ewc
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I did not know this and you explained it very well
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