Richmond Quotes
Almost three years later, Lee surrendered Richmond to Ulysses Grant.
Warren was the Washington correspondent and Editorial Writer of the Tribune at the time. Many people erroneously attributed this editorial to Horace Greeley, the Tribune owner or Charles Dana, the Managing Editor
This cry echoed throughout the North where the public wanted a full invasion of the capital of the Confederacy to put an end to the rebellion. However is was not clear what effect that would have on the Border States—Maryland and Kentuucky—and many politicians thought that the South would “come to its senses” once they realized what they had done. But the South would not change its course, and the Union Generals in Command were very reluctant to actually invade the South. It was only after the South attacked in the North that the Union Military began to realize that this was a Civil War that would not be resolved politically.
The Confederate Civilian & Military Authorities in the Confederate Capital were grossly insensitive to the perceptions and opinions of the women of the South. This statement was a classic example. It also indicates the terribly serious plight the Confederacy was in at the time. Just as the leadership deluded themselves into thinking that the women of Richmond would riot and loot for “license ” and not for shortage and want of necessities, they did not face the reality of their strategic military situation.
The Virginia Campaign of May 1864 was clearly the beginning of the end of the war. This was clear at the time, not only to the military leaders of both sides, but also to the media and thence the general public in the North. At the beginning of the war the Army of the Potomac, the largest Union Army was commanded by McClellan whose concerns were with his own political career and not winning the war. He had an aversion to heavy fighting and did not see the war strategically as Lincoln, Grant and Sherman did: To cripple the capacity of the South to wage war. So the early history of the Army of the Potomac was a series of undecisive battles which were either standoffs or the Confederates won despite the much larger and better armed and equipped Union army. As soon as McClellan was replaced, things began to turn around and when Grant was selected for Command of all Union Troops, the Army of the Potomac performed much better, including taking Richmond, the Confederate Capital.
