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The fate of Richmond.

The next few days may decide the fate of Richmond. It is either to remain the Capital of the Confederacy, or to be turned over to the Federal Government as a Yankee conquest. The Capital is either to be secured or lost — it may be feared not temporarily — and with it Virginia. Then, if there is blood to be shed, let it be shed here; no soil of the Confederacy could drink it up more acceptably, and none would hold it more gratefully. Wife, family, and friends are nothing. Leave them all for one glorious hour to be devoted to the Republic. Life, death, and wounds are nothing, if we only be saved from the fate of a captured Capital and a humiliated Confederacy. Let the Government act; let the people act. There is time yet.

If fate come to its worst, let the ruins of Richmond be its most lasting monument.

The Daily Dispatch: May 16, 1862. Richmond Dispatch. 4 pages. by Cowardin & Hammersley. Richmond. May 16, 1862. microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mi : Proquest. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm.

Institute of Museum and Library Services National Leadership Grant provided support for entering this text.

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