After the fall of Richmond in April 1865, the state government briefly relocated to Lynchburg for four days. Lynchburg, which is located just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains on the banks of the James River, was founded by John Lynch, who established a ferry service there in 1757. On the eve of the American Civil War (1861–1865), Lynchburg was Virginia’s sixth-largest city and a major transportation center, with access to the James River and Kanawha Canal, as well as the Virginia and Tennessee, the Southside, and the Orange and Alexandria railroads. In addition, the city was a major manufacturer of plug tobacco and, by the 1850s, the second-wealthiest city per capita in the United States. During the war, Lynchburg women established the Ladies’ Relief Hospital, and the Confederate military made the city a major hub of supplies and transport, which Union troops attempted to disrupt at the Battle of Lynchburg in June 1864. When Union forces chased renegade remnants of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia into the town shortly after the Confederate surrender on April 9, they found a city on the verge of chaos and civic leaders who were eager to make peace.
Further Reading
- Tripp, Steven. Yankee Town, Southern City: Race and Class Relations in Civil War Lynchburg. New York: New York University Press, 1997.
- Morris, George G., and Susan L. Foutz. Lynchburg in the Civil War: the City—the People—the Battle. Lynchburg, Va.: H. E. Howard, 1984.
This Vignette Provided By
This Vignette is drawn from an Encyclopedia Virginia entry by Steve Tripp, a professor of history at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan.
