History of Lynchburg Part 7-Battle of Lynchburg during the Civil War

History of Lynchburg Part 7-Battle of Lynchburg during the Civil War

Here are the first 6 parts of this series

PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 PART 4 PART 5 PART 6

Lynchburg, Virginia, is located just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains on the banks of the James River, where its founder, John Lynch, established a ferry service 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.

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. During the early months of the war, the city's men joined the Confederate army or the newly formed Home Guard, while its women created a variety of support organizations, most notably the Ladies' Relief Society and the Ladies' Relief Hospital.

The latter became one of the largest women-run hospitals in the Confederacy, a place where Lynchburg's most prominent women assumed the role of matrons and supervised a legion of hired nurses and slaves. The Confederate military, meanwhile, quickly realized that Lynchburg's location—close to major theaters of battle but still out of harm's way—and access to major transportation routes made it an ideal spot for hospitals and supplies. Eventually, however, the city's strategic usefulness became a burden, severely taxing its resources and leading to controversy, conflict, and disillusionment.

Enthusiasm for war withered as citizens came to believe that they were being asked to sacrifice too much. Civic leaders hoped that crisis might galvanize their authority while uniting the city against a common enemy. Neither occurred. Instead, the city's elected officials proved themselves to be incompetent, and the community began to disintegrate in ways typical of other cities in the South. For instance, residents—echoing claims to personal liberty that were important to the Confederacy's founding ideology of states' rights—complained that the state and national governments made too many demands on their persons and their property.

In April 1862, Confederate president Jefferson Davis(PIC LEFT) authorized a military draft, and resistance to this and the impressment of resources became not only common but also accepted practices. In addition, city residents came to resent the many soldiers who congregated in Lynchburg, blaming them for the rising crime rate and acts of public disorder. Inflation and supply shortages caused claims and counterclaims of speculating, price gouging, and hoarding. The poor suffered miserably, and bread riots that plagued other Southern cities were avoided only because civic leaders donated enough food to maintain some semblance of order.

The Battle of Lynchburg on June 17, 1864, briefly restored the city's unity as residents prepared to fend off the forces of Union general David Hunter, who had been charged by Ulysses S. Grant to destroy the canal and railroads at Lynchburg. Confederate troops under the command of Jubal A. Early(Fort Early) pic (L) drove Hunter off, and while his attack had momentarily distracted Lee from his defense of Richmond, his retreat ceded control of the Shenandoah Valley back to the Confederates.

With Hunter gone, however, internal conflict returned. By late in 1864, most residents were ready to give up the fight in hopes that peace would mean a return to prosperity. The state government relocated to Lynchburg April 6–10, 1865, but by then it was unclear whether the Confederate government would have been welcome.

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. Initially, many residents joined African Americans in welcoming the defeat of the Confederacy. In time, however, Reconstruction (1865–1877) would further divide the town along lines of race and class.

Richmond, Virginia, was the capital of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War (1861–1865). It also served as the capital of Virginia, although when the city was about to fall to Union armies in April 1865, the governor and General Assembly moved their offices to Lynchburg for five days. After the fall of Richmond in April 1865, the state government relocated to Lynchburg briefly, only to return after Robert E. Lee's surrender a few miles to the east at Appomattox.