Embattled Capital: A Guide to Richmond During the Civil War

“On To Richmond!” cried editors for the New York Tribune in the spring of 1861. Thereafter, that call became the rallying cry for the North’s eastern armies as they marched, maneuvered, and fought their way toward the capital of the Confederacy.

Just 100 miles from Washington, DC, Richmond served as a symbol of the rebellion itself.

Richmond was home to the Confederate Congress, cabinet, president, and military leadership. And it housed not only the Confederate government but also some of the Confederacy’s most important industry and infrastructure. The city was filled with prisons, hospitals, factories, training camps, and government offices.

Through four years of war, armies battled at its doorsteps—and even penetrated its defenses.

Civilians felt the impact of war in many ways: food shortages, rising inflation, a bread riot, industrial accidents, and eventually, military occupation. To this day, the war’s legacy remains deeply written into the city and its history.

On to Richmond!: Richmond During the Civil War by historians Doug Crenshaw and Robert M. Dunkerly tells the story of the Confederate capital before, during, and after the Civil War. This guidebook includes a comprehensive list of places to visit: the battlefields around the city, museums, historic sites, monuments, cemeteries, historical preservation groups, and more.

Robert M. (Bert) Dunkerly studied history at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA, and historic preservation at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN. He led tours of the battlefield and researched its history, preservation, and its National Cemetery. Bert is the author of three other books in the Emerging Civil War Series and is active in historic preservation and research.

Doug Crenshaw is an Emerging Civil War Series author who has written a number of books on the Civil War in Richmond, including Richmond Shall Not Be Given Up: The Seven Days’ Battles, a prequel to To Hell or Richmond: The 1862 Peninsula Campaign. His other works include The Battle of Glendale, Fort Harrison and the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm and Embattled Capital, co-authored with Bert Dunkerly. Doug is a volunteer for the Richmond National Battlefield Park, a past president of the Richmond Civil War Roundtable and a board member of the Richmond Battlefields Association.