The Bread Riot increased the city’s awareness of how desperate the city had become for necessities and tried to make amends with starving Richmonders. Rioters took to the streets looting for two hours until the Confederate military threatened action against them. Civilians would pickpocket passersby’s, and some would raid backyard gardens when there were food shortages. On April 2nd, 1863, the Richmond Bread Riot took place due to the rising cost of food and other necessities. Whiskey shops lined Main Street and furloughed soldiers sprawled out on sidewalks in their drunken stupor. At the beginning of the war, drunken soldiers were the main cause of criminal activity in Richmond. Most civilians did not engage in criminal activity until the middle and end of the war.
Stephens, along with other Confederates knew of Patrick Henry’s “Give me Liberty or Give me Death” speech delivered in Richmond they also knew that Thomas Jefferson designed the Capitol building in Richmond. The symbolic history of Richmond was one reason for moving the capital, as Montgomery, Alabama, did not have such historic roots. Practically, however, Richmond was the most industrialized city in the South, as well as one of the few cities in the South with a large railroad network and provided a greater industrial advantage to the Confederacy than Montgomery could.ĭuring the war, Richmond morphed into an anarchic city that was riddled with crime. As Richmond’s population exponentially expanded due to an increase in Confederate officials from other states moving to the capital, soldiers traveling in and out of the city, and the growth of war industries, criminal activity was widespread throughout Richmond. Richmond’s proximity to Washington, D.C., would rally Virginians to fight for the newly formed Confederacy. Richmond also had an important symbolic history from the Revolutionary War era. When Virginia seceded from the Union on April 17th, 1861 (ratified on May 23, 1861), the debate of whether to move the capital of the Confederacy from Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond, Virginia, was a hot topic. Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens believed moving the capital would provide Virginians with an incentive to fight for the Confederacy. In 1860, much of Virginia was originally opposed to secession due to the strong economic ties to the Union through the tobacco industry, its agricultural trade, and the manufacturing powerhouse Tredegar Ironworks that produced iron used in railroads and weapons for the Federal stockpile.
The two legislative bodies met in this building until 1865, when it was captured by Union soldiers like these, who paused on the portico for a picture. The Virginia State Capitol had to accommodate the new Confederate Congress as well as the state legislature. Richmond, Virginia, was the capital of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. While it is most notably known for being the South's political capital, Richmond transformed as a city throughout the course of the war from an agricultural town to an industrial powerhouse. At the conclusion of the tumultuous four-year period of the Civil War, Richmond lay in ruins, a cityscape ravaged by war. Saved Land Browse Interactive Map View active campaigns.Protect Virginia Battlefields from Massive Data Centers.Support Outdoor Classrooms at Seven Key Battlefields.Help Preserve 64 Acres Across Three Revolutionary War Sites.Help Preserve 311 Acres at Four Historic Battlefields.Save 45 Historic Acres at the Battle of Chancellorsville.Help Restore Three Sites to Their Wartime Appearance.Virtual Tours View All See Antietam now!.National Teacher Institute July 21 - 24, 2022 Learn More.USS Constitution In 4 Minutes Watch Video.African Americans During the Revolutionary War.The First American President: Setting the Precedent.
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