Burnt District

As the Confederates evacuated Richmond in 1865, they torched bridges, warehouses, and arsenals to keep them from the Union Army. More than 1,000 buildings burned between 4th and 15th Streets, from Main Street to the river, and all the buildings in the Shockoe warehouse district were destroyed. Kate Mason Rowland wrote in 1865, “The sky in the direction of Richmond is lurid with the glare of burning houses. …It was as if a great battle were going on around us.” The devastation was so complete, residents afterward had trouble identifying their own streets.

Richmond, Virginia · United States