President Lincoln Visits Richmond

President Abraham Lincoln visited Richmond with his son Tad on April 4 and 5, 1865, one day after the Confederate government evacuated the city. Weary of war and worried about the country's future, he likely came to confer with military authorities in Richmond, but the visit soon took on a character of reconciliation and reconstruction. Brought to Richmond in a rowboat, he landed on a sandbar at the foot of 17th Street and walked into the city, where he received a boisterous welcome from Richmond's large population of African Americans while most white residents greeted him with stony silence. 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, who suggested a possible legislative way to restore Virginia to the Union. The next day Lincoln broadened the plan to include three conditions for the Confederacy: an end to the war, abolition of slavery, and restoration of the national authority. He told his commanders, “Let 'em up easy.” Misunderstandings with Campbell, and Lee's surrender on April 9, 1865, ended the plan. The visit provides the only glimpse into Lincoln's version of Reconstruction.

Richmond, Virginia · United States