The North expected General McClellan to possess himself of this citadel of
the Confederacy in June, 1862, and it seemed likely the expectation would
be realized. In the upper picture we get a near view of the State House at
Richmond, part of which was occupied as a Capitol by the Confederate
Congress during the war. In this building were stored the records and
archives of the Confederate Government, many of which were lost during the
hasty retreat of President Davis and his cabinet at the evacuation of
Richmond, April, 1865. Below, we see the city of Richmond from afar, with
the Capitol standing out boldly on the hill. McClellan was not destined to
reach this coveted goal, and it would not have meant the fall of the
Confederacy had he then done so. When Lincoln entered the building in
1865, the Confederacy had been beaten as much by the blockade as by the
operations of Grant and Sherman with vastly superior forces.
[Illustration: THE SPIRES OF RICHMOND