Sunday, March 20, 2016

Diary of 5th Sergeant Alexander G. Downing: Wednesday, May 10, 1865

Remained in camp all day. General Sherman's cavalry corps, under Kilpatrick, passed here on their way to Washington City. We are camped in plain view of the city of Richmond, once the capital of the so-called Southern Confederacy, but now desolate, its defenders having fled. It is partly burnt, the rebels having set it on fire before they left.1 The weather is quite cool.
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1 The burning of Richmond by the Confederates seems so uncalled for. It was certainly very short-sighted, since they could not help knowing that their cause was lost. — A. G. D.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 274

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