Lincoln In Petersburg

After Union forces secured Petersburg on April 3, 1865, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant established his headquarters at the Thomas Wallace House and sent word to President Abraham Lincoln at City Point that Petersburg had fallen, inviting him to meet there. Lincoln and his son Tad rode the U.S. Military Railroad to Hancock Station, where his son Capt. Robert T. Lincoln, a member of Grant’s staff, met him and escorted him through Union and Confederate lines. After pausing at Confederate Fort Mahone, they arrived about 11 A.M. to find Grant seated on the front porch. Lincoln dismounted, walked rapidly through the gate to shake Grant’s hand and offer congratulations, then joined him in smoking cigars on the porch while they discussed the events of the past week, hoped to hear soon of Richmond’s capture, and spoke of Lincoln’s intention to pursue a lenient policy toward the South and his plans for reconstruction. Thomas Wallace, the home’s owner and an old Whig acquaintance of Lincoln, invited Lincoln and Grant inside, but when they declined because of the cigar smoke, Wallace brought Lincoln a high-backed wooden chair, and the president sat at the edge of the porch with his long legs dangling. After an hour and a half, with no word of Richmond’s fate, Lincoln and the rest of his party remounted and toured Petersburg, picking up bundles of tobacco scattered in the streets as souvenirs before returning to City Point, where Lincoln learned that Richmond had been surrendered. In March 1865, as the 9 1/2-month-long siege of Petersburg neared its end, Grant had invited Lincoln to visit him at City Point for a respite from Washington; Lincoln arrived on March 24, and they held meetings, reviewed the army, and toured fortifications. On April 3, the day Federals occupied Richmond and Petersburg, Lincoln and Grant held their last meeting in Petersburg. Lincoln visited Richmond the next day and returned to Washington on April 9 as Grant accepted the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army at Appomattox Court House.

Petersburg, Virginia · United States