Fallen Richmond

Dear diary,                                                                                                              1865

                                    My name is Julie, I am 25 years old.  I live in the Confederate States of America.  Right now we are in the middle of a war.  My state, Florida, seceded after Abe Lincoln became president.  Yesterday I was reading a newspaper and it said that Jefferson Davis was thinking about moving the capital, which is in Richmond, VA.  I thought that would be a good idea since the capital of the Union is so close.  One of the main focuses of the war is defeating or taking over the enemy’s capital.  Today I bought another newspaper.  It said that Davis did finally decide to move the capital.  I thought “Wait but what about all the supplies?  What will they do with it?”  So I kept reading on. Soon I figured out that they would be setting the supplies on fire! Right away I was mad. I could use those supplies for my family. I knew my family would be mad, too. Not just my family either. Everybody was going to be mad, angry, upset,, and surprised. On March 25^th, 1865 General Robert E. Lee tried to attack General Grants forces near Petersburg, but was terribly defeated. On April 2, 1865, Robert E. Lee evacuated Richmond, the Confederate Capital, and headed west to join the other forces. The next thing I knew it was already time to start the fire. A bunch of people were heading west to get out of the way of the fire. The fire went out of control. It was raging along the waterfront but fortunately stopped just before Thomas Jefferson’s capital. The fire was burning down building and bridges. My family doesn’t have money to move so we are just praying to God that we will be safe. I had to go to bed knowing the fire might come and destroy our house in the middle of the night. I just hoped for the best. I woke up the next morning so I guess nothing bad really happened to me, but I know there was deep devastation that day. I hope something like this will never happen again!

                                                                                                Julie N.