Lincoln’s Visit to Richmond
Historical highway marker SA-88 · Richmond City
Pres. Abraham Lincoln traveled up the James River from City Point and entered Richmond near 17th Street on 4 April 1865. Word of his arrival spread quickly, sparking a joyous celebration as crowds of newly freed African Americans surrounded him. Lincoln walked through the captured capital, still smoldering from the fire set on 3 April by evacuating Confederates, to Union headquarters at the former Confederate Executive Mansion. He left the mansion in a carriage, visited Capitol Square and Libby Prison, and proceeded to the USS Malvern at Rocketts Landing. On 9 April, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox.
Department of Historic Resources, 2010