The American Civil War in Richmond, Virginia

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The Dabbs House has served as both a historic home, a police station, a home for the poor, and a headquarters for Confederate General Robert E. Lee during two critical months of the Civil War. Today, the home is a house museum with exhibit galleries and a research library. The museum and home are open to the public, with daily tours of the home and the museums exhibits and gift shop. Visitors can start their tour with a video on the history of the Dabbs House. For those interested in a more in-depth study of the history of the area, the Research Library houses books and many other resources related to the the Civil War in Henrico County.

2. Richmond National Cemetery

Established in 1866, Richmond National Cemetery was opened barely a year after the end of the Civil War and it lies within the former fortification lines built by the Confederate Army. As wartime had flooded Richmond’s earlier cemeteries with corpses, the first burials on this site were re-internments from Oakwood Cemetery and Hollywood Cemetery. Richmond National Cemetery is a reminder of the brutalities that war inflicted on the city and its inhabitants. The cemetery was established by the U.S. Congress through legislation in 1866. The cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places since 1995.

3. Chimborazo Hospital Historical Marker

Chimborazo Hospital served as a very important Confederate hospital during the Civil War. Although the hospital no longer stands, a museum stands in its place to commemorate the Confederate hospital and its superior work for its time. While in operation, the hospital was often referred to as, "The Hospital on the Hill." The museum in its stead serves as part of the Richmond National Battlefield Park.

4. White House of the Confederacy

Constructed in 1818, what became known as the White House of the Confederacy began as a sophisticated Neoclassical style private residence constructed by Robert Mills. The City of Richmond later acquired the house and leased it to the Confederate government as the executive mansion for President Jefferson Davis. After the war, the house served as military headquarters and then a public schoolhouse. In 1896, the Confederate Memorial Literary Society saved the house from demolition and opened the Museum of the Confederacy, becoming the nation’s premiere repository for Confederate artifacts. Throughout the 20th-Century, the museum outgrew the house and a new, contemporary museum building was constructed next door to host the majority of the exhibits. In 2013, the Museum of the Confederacy merged with the American Civil War Center at Tredegar and formed the new American Civil War Museum. The goal of the new museum is to offer a wider interpretation of the war from all sides. In late Summer of 2018, the Museum of the Confederacy closed its doors in preparation for its move to the new consolidated museum at Historic Tredegar. The American Civil War Museum is set to open in 2019. The Confederate White House is remains open to the public for daily tours. The White House of the Confederacy was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 19, 1960, designated a Virginia Landmark on October 15, 1966, and added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.

5. Virginia State Capitol

Designed by Thomas Jefferson and in operation since 1788, this is the oldest state capitol in the United States and even predates the United States Capitol in Washington. The capitol building is the 8th home of Virginia's government which began in the colonial era with the establishment of the House of Burgesses in 1619. This building also served as the Capitol of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Capitol Square includes monuments and statues honoring Virginians such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, John Marshall, Stonewall Jackson. Newer statues honor leaders of the Civil Rights Movement such as Barbara Johns.

6. The American Civil War Museum at Historic Tredegar

Named after the famous iron works in Tredegar, Wales, the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond began operations in 1837. Joseph Reid Anderson took control of the foundry in the 1840s and developed Tredegar into the largest iron foundry in the American South. During the Civil War, the Confederacy relied almost entirely on the foundry for all wartime iron ordnances, producing over 1,000 cannons and an equally large number of munitions. Tredegar survived the Civil War and continued to produce iron products into the 20th-Century. A fire in 1952 gutted the main production facility which prompted the descendants of Anderson to sell the property and move the Tredegar Iron Works to a new location. The National Park Service acquired the property by 2000 and converted it into a visitor center for the Richmond-area Civil War battlefields. Six years later, the nonprofit American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar opened in the former cannon foundry. Then in 2013, the Museum of the Confederacy merged with the American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar and formed the new American Civil War Museum, which aims to offer a wider interpretation of the war from all sides. The American Civil War Museum is set to open to the public in May 2019. The Tredegar Iron Works was designated a Virginia Landmark on January 5, 1971, added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 2, 1971, and designated a National Historic Landmark on November 11, 1971.

7. Belle Isle Historic District and Civil War Prison

Belle Isle was originally known as Broad Rock Island. It was first explored by Captain John Smith in 1607. The island has served several purposes over time. In the 18th century, it was a fishery. In 1814, it was utilized as a nail factory ran by the Old Dominion Iron and Nail Company. During the 1860s, the island was home to a small a village with its own school, church, and general store. During the Civil War, the island served as a prison for Union soldiers. Between 1904 and the 1963, the island was home to the Virginia Electric Power Company. Today, Belle Isle is a 540-acre historic site and park for the city of Richmond, reachable by foot or bicycle via a suspension bridge that runs under the Robert E. Lee Bridge. Belle Isle has several bike trails and offers historic markers, walking trails, and attractions such as rock climbing.

8. Hollywood Cemetery

Located on the bluffs of the James River in Richmond, VA, Hollywood Cemetery is second only to Arlington National Cemetery in numbers of visitors each year. Hollywood Cemetery is 135-acres and features an unusual artistry in its design. It is often called “garden cemetery” and was designed by notable architect John Notman of Philadelphia in 1847. There are approximately 18,000 Confederate soldiers interred at the cemetery. Other Civil War notables buried here are General George Pickett and Confederate President Jefferson Davis. President James Monroe and President John Tyler are also buried at Hollywood. Admission is free and historic walking tours are available April through October, Monday-Saturday.

9. Richmond Howitzers Monument

Formed in 1859, the Richmond Howitzers constituted one of Richmond's most elite antebellum militia units. During the Civil War, the Howitzers three companies served in the Confederate army. Following the war, the Howitzers were reformed and eventually became a unit within the Virginia National Guard. In 1892, the Richmond Howitzers Monument was dedicated to the unit. The dedication ceremonies reveled in the glory of the Howitzers Confederate service, with veterans parading and Confederate flags flying. The dedication's keynote speech by Howitzer veteran Leigh Robinson was infused with Lost Cause ideology; Robinson denied slavery's central role in sparking the Civil War and praised white supremacy as the natural order. In 1989, Virginia Commonwealth University took possession of the monument. In June 2020, following nationwide protests over systemic racism and Confederate iconography, protestors toppled the Howitzer Monument. Other Confederate monuments have come down in Richmond as well. Only the monument's granite pedestal remains.

10. J.E.B. Stuart Monument

On May 14, 1864, two days after Major General James Ewell Brown “J.E.B.” Stuart died from a wound received at the Battle of Yellow Tavern, the Richmond City Council created the Stuart Monumental Association with the task of erecting a monument to the Confederate Army’s most famous cavalry leader. The Stuart Monumental Association failed to produce a sizeable monument and dismantled by 1866. Another 25 years passed before another effort manifested to memorialize Stuart. In 1892, the Veteran Cavalry Association of the Army of Northern Virginia incorporated and began the process to erect a monument to the Confederate leader. In 1903, the Association selected a design by sculptor Frederick Moynihan, and a year later a site was chosen along Monument Avenue at the intersection of Lombardy and Franklin Streets. On May 31, 1907, the J.E.B. Stuart Monument was unveiled to a crowd of thousands during the United Confederate Veterans Reunion, just eight days prior to the unveiling of the Jefferson Davis Monument. After his death, the legacy of Jeb Stuart played a pivotal role in the creation and proliferation of the Lost Cause ideology and the personification of the Virginia Cavalier, serving as the South’s chivalrous knight-errant. Confederate monuments such as the one to Jeb Stuart have been scrutinized in recent years for their promotion of racism and the Lost Cause ideology. In June 2020, the City of Richmond removed the Stuart Monument and other Confederate statues from Monument Avenue and placed them in storage.

11. General Robert E. Lee Monument (1890-2021)

Dedicated in 1890, the former monument to Robert E. Lee that stood here was the first and largest of the monuments along Richmond’s Monument Avenue Historic District. This monument was first proposed shortly after Lee’s death in 1870. Richmond’s African American community strongly opposed erecting any monument supporting the Confederacy or its leaders, a sentiment that became more widely accepted among white residents over a century later which led to its removal in 2021. Despite voices of opposition among people who had lived through the Civil War, the project was completed in 1890. The bronze equestrian statue of Lee astride his famous horse Traveller was designed by French sculptor Jean Antoine Mercie and cast in four sections. Constructed by African American laborers, ironically enough, the General Robert E. Lee Monument was officially unveiled on May 29, 1890, to a crowd estimated to be between 100,000 and 150,000. Col Archer Anderson, a former Confederate military officer, delivered the keynote speech for this 61-foot-tall monument. Anderson contributed to the growing trend of idolizing the Confederacy and the Lost Cause ideology by praising Lee as a man of action and a hero of his home state of Virginia. During the next 30 years, five more Confederate monuments were erected along Monument Avenue, a grand, residential boulevard. Since the erection of the Robert E. Lee Monument, controversy has continued to surround the existence of Monument Avenue regarding its promotion and proliferation of racism and the Lost Cause ideology. In 2020, following nationwide protests over racism and Confederate monuments, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam ordered the monument removed. District courts upheld the governor's decision, but the decision was appealed; the Virginia Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, and the bronze statue was removed in September 2021. The graffiti-covered pedestal base also was removed later.

12. Jefferson Davis Monument

Unveiled on June 3, 1907 to a crowd estimated between 80,000 and 200,000, the Jefferson Davis Monument in Richmond spent eighteen years in the making. Richmond city officials and the United Confederate Veterans sought to erect a monument to the Confederate President in the former capital city of the Confederacy almost immediately after Davis’ death in 1889. The Jefferson Davis Monument Association formed and began soliciting funds for a sizeable monument to be erected. However, the Association failed to gain the necessary funds by 1896 and passed the task onto the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Under the Daughters’ direction, the current monument was created by architect William C. Noland and sculptor Edward V. Valentine. Since its erection, the Jefferson Davis monument, in particular, has generated much controversy. As the only non-Virginian represented in the entirety of Monument Avenue, the intention of including Davis in the avenue is blatant promotion of the Confederate ideology of white supremacy and the Lost Cause movement. In recent years, national debates over systemic racism have led to protests over Confederate monuments. On June 11, 2020, a crowd of protestors toppled the bronze statue of Jefferson Davis. The City of Richmond removed other Confederate statues from Monument Avenue in the ensuing months. The colonnade remains.

13. Stonewall Jackson Monument

On October 11, 1919, the Stonewall Jackson Monument was unveiled to a crowd of thousands addressed by Robert E. Lee, III. This was not Richmond’s first memorial to the late Confederate leader, however. In June 1863, one month after Jackson’s passing, the South’s British allies created the Jackson Monumental Fund for the purpose of raising funds to erect a Jackson memorial in Richmond. In 1875, the British Fund presented Virginia with a bronze statue of Jackson, which was placed in Richmond’s Capitol Square. Virginia still remained politically divided in the decade following the war, so Governor James L. Kemper used the statue as an attempt to unify the state, promoting the Lost Cause ideology that Jackson’s honorable virtues should be admired by all for the sake of the Commonwealth. Thirty-six years later, the United Daughters of the Confederacy and a group of remaining Confederate veterans formed the Jackson Monumental Corporation in 1911 with the intent on creating a grand equestrian monument of Jackson for Monument Avenue. Designed by local sculptor Frederick William Sievers, the Stonewall Jackson Monument was unveiled on October 11, 1919 to a large crowd addressed once again by Robert E. Lee, III. Along with the other Confederate statues on Monument Avenue, the Jackson Monument has been scrutinized in recent years for its promotion of racism and the Lost Cause ideology. In July 2020, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney ordered the removal of the Confederate statues along Monument Avenue, including the Stonewall Jackson Monument. Only the pedestal remains.

14. Matthew Fontaine Maury Monument

Unlike many Confederate monuments, the proposal for the Matthew Fontaine Maury's statue was inspired not by his military career, but by his scientific contributions. Maury is considered by many as the father of modern oceanography and his scientific contributions revolutionized ocean travel. Designed by Frederick William Sievers, who previously designed the Stonewall Jackson Monument, the Matthew Fontaine Maury Monument was unveiled to a crowd on November 11, 1929. The design of the Maury monument stands in stark contrast to the four other classical-themed Confederate monuments along Monument Avenue. Sievers stepped away from the Lost Cause iconography of the previous four decades and took advantage of Maury’s unique accomplishments to create a monument that focused on the commander’s successes rather than his political allegiance. Along with the other Confederate statues on Monument Avenue, the Maury Monument has been scrutinized in recent years for its connection to racism and the Lost Cause ideology. On July 2, 2020, by the order of Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, the Maury Monument was removed to storage.

This Tour is a Walking Tour.

The American Civil War in Richmond, Virginia

Created by Angelica Garcia on December 19th 2016, 9:13:28 pm.

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For most of the Civil War, Richmond, Virginia served as the capitol of the Confederate States of America. Union forces made numerous attempts to retake this site of great strategic—and symbolic—importance, inspired by the battle cry: "On to Richmond!" Its proximity to the fighting made Richmond a center for hospitals and military prisons. On April 3, 1865, Richmond fell to the Union army; General Robert E. Lee surrendered soon after, ending the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse. This tour explores Richmond's central role during the most formative conflict in United States history—and remembers those who fought in it.

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The American Civil War in Richmond, Virginia

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