Richmond: Amazingly, The City of Lincoln
It's amazing. Growing up here, so many people in Richmond are instilled with stories of states rights, Confederate Generals, fighting against overwhelming odds, how Richmond held out against such odds, and even how Jefferson Davis' flight from St. Paul's Church (which is marked with a plaque) is retold as some spirited flight in the night rather than a panicked man and government on the run while the City burned to ashes.
What is not told - or at least has not been told very much until now - is that just two days after Davis and his government fled, Abraham Lincoln appeared in Richmond to visit the City that had been the objective of his war strategy, his Presidency, and marked the rebirth of this nation.
I am pretty much a history buff, but my knowledge of Lincoln was limited to some degree until I read Doris Kearns Goodwin's outstanding and lengthy "Team of Rivals," published in 2005. Shortly after reading that book, I took the National Park Service's Lincoln's Walk Tour and posted about the impact it has when you experience his walk on the same streets that still exist today.
You can stand at the corner of 14th & Main Sts. as you listen to the Park Ranger and visualize an unusually tall man surrounded by throngs of newly freed slaves as they fainted, screamed with ectasy and and celebrated the man that delivered their freedom. The imagery is so easy to imagine - and absolutely indescribable - as you look down Main St. and realize it occurred right where you are standing.
I won't pretend to persuade that Lincoln didn't have his faults. Everyone does. But the impact of his visit was born upon me after reading "Team of Rivals" and when I took that walking tour. Lincoln did not come here to gloat or put his boot on our throats. He came here with the sense that the war was over and it was time to "bind up the nation's wounds." Sadly, with his assassination a few days later, his goal was assigned to history when he was succeeded by a weak president and an irascible Congress.
Nevertheless, since we can't rewrite history, we can acknowledge that the City of Richmond and Abraham Lincoln are inextricably linked as the nexus of the rebirth of this nation. If you research history, Richmond is the only city on the planet - in history - that a U.S. President has visited in the aftermath of a military defeat. Washington and Madison never visited London; nor did Wilson or Truman visit Berlin. Thus, Lincoln's visit is a monumental event in the history of this city and this country.
It is often said there are two parts of America's history - the period from the Declaration to the Civil War when we were a collection of states, each abiding to our own interests first; and then after the Civil War, when we truly became a federal nation.
Again, I won't pretend we are a perfect nation, either. But we were reborn here, on April 4, 1865 and until now, we have always been too afraid to even acknowledge it. Today, in 2009, we have finally come to celebrate it.
Richmond has grown up beyond the pettiness that characterized so much of our recent political theatrics. There are no more City Council representatives on NBC News about a mural; heritage parades remain but are hardly noticable; and recent talk about another statue for Jefferson Davis lasted about as long as a high-schooler on Prom Night.
Richmond is no longer afraid to mention Lincoln's name as if it were blasphemous. We now talk about it for what it really was and meant - a sober and realistic discussion of issues that for too long were swept and kept under the rug and an acceptance that ALL of our history is important, not just some of it.
This weekend, Richmond is not only hosting but celebrating a veritable mountain of Lincoln-inspired events to mark his historic visit.
There is an interesting set of speakers and events at the Library of Virginia on Saturday and Sunday, as well as exhibits at the National Battlefield Park Visitor Center, including new, and many never seen before, photographs of Lincoln while in Richmond.
Once again, the Park Service will offer their narrated walking tour on Sunday and it is highly recommended. If you can't go on Sunday, you can download the podcast and map and do it at your leisure, but the walk on Sunday will have Park Rangers and History Center staff located along the walk to provide many more details.
All of this comes on the heels of the recently concluded and highly successful Jepson Leadership Forum on Lincoln at the University of Richmond that drew large crowds and much attention.
The impact of Lincoln's visit to Richmond is just as important a part of our city's history - and our nation's - as tobacco, the Confederacy, or Patrick Henry's "Liberty or Death" speech. It is encouraging to see Richmond finally acknowledge the importance and magnitude of his visit and no longer curse it or belittle it. It is also a sign of maturity that we have moved beyond the Blue and the Gray history that dominates our texts and many mindsets.
Richmond's new found embrace of Lincoln is also evidenced by our coming to grips with the horrible legacy of slavery that existed as the City perpetrated and profited from it for decades. The excavation of Lumpkin's Jail and the ongoing discussion about the proper way to honor that and the proper location for a Slavery Museum (and I think it belongs here) is exciting because the irony of our city's history - once we accept it - is a historical anomaly that does not exist anywhere else in this country. There is no other city that even comes close.
It is vital that we are no longer are afraid to discuss it and presents us with a enormous opportunity if we can embrace it.
I like to think that Lincoln would look down on this weekend and, despite the significant delay, be proud that the Richmond he walked through had finally come to terms with itself. One of his many pearls of wisdom sums it up best:
"Perhaps a man's character was like a tree, and his reputation like its shadow; the shadow is what we think of it, the tree is the real thing."
I, for one, am glad to see Richmond finally shed it's shadow in favor of the tree.
~
What is not told - or at least has not been told very much until now - is that just two days after Davis and his government fled, Abraham Lincoln appeared in Richmond to visit the City that had been the objective of his war strategy, his Presidency, and marked the rebirth of this nation.
I am pretty much a history buff, but my knowledge of Lincoln was limited to some degree until I read Doris Kearns Goodwin's outstanding and lengthy "Team of Rivals," published in 2005. Shortly after reading that book, I took the National Park Service's Lincoln's Walk Tour and posted about the impact it has when you experience his walk on the same streets that still exist today.
You can stand at the corner of 14th & Main Sts. as you listen to the Park Ranger and visualize an unusually tall man surrounded by throngs of newly freed slaves as they fainted, screamed with ectasy and and celebrated the man that delivered their freedom. The imagery is so easy to imagine - and absolutely indescribable - as you look down Main St. and realize it occurred right where you are standing.I won't pretend to persuade that Lincoln didn't have his faults. Everyone does. But the impact of his visit was born upon me after reading "Team of Rivals" and when I took that walking tour. Lincoln did not come here to gloat or put his boot on our throats. He came here with the sense that the war was over and it was time to "bind up the nation's wounds." Sadly, with his assassination a few days later, his goal was assigned to history when he was succeeded by a weak president and an irascible Congress.
Nevertheless, since we can't rewrite history, we can acknowledge that the City of Richmond and Abraham Lincoln are inextricably linked as the nexus of the rebirth of this nation. If you research history, Richmond is the only city on the planet - in history - that a U.S. President has visited in the aftermath of a military defeat. Washington and Madison never visited London; nor did Wilson or Truman visit Berlin. Thus, Lincoln's visit is a monumental event in the history of this city and this country.
It is often said there are two parts of America's history - the period from the Declaration to the Civil War when we were a collection of states, each abiding to our own interests first; and then after the Civil War, when we truly became a federal nation.
Again, I won't pretend we are a perfect nation, either. But we were reborn here, on April 4, 1865 and until now, we have always been too afraid to even acknowledge it. Today, in 2009, we have finally come to celebrate it.
Richmond has grown up beyond the pettiness that characterized so much of our recent political theatrics. There are no more City Council representatives on NBC News about a mural; heritage parades remain but are hardly noticable; and recent talk about another statue for Jefferson Davis lasted about as long as a high-schooler on Prom Night.
Richmond is no longer afraid to mention Lincoln's name as if it were blasphemous. We now talk about it for what it really was and meant - a sober and realistic discussion of issues that for too long were swept and kept under the rug and an acceptance that ALL of our history is important, not just some of it.
This weekend, Richmond is not only hosting but celebrating a veritable mountain of Lincoln-inspired events to mark his historic visit.
There is an interesting set of speakers and events at the Library of Virginia on Saturday and Sunday, as well as exhibits at the National Battlefield Park Visitor Center, including new, and many never seen before, photographs of Lincoln while in Richmond.
Once again, the Park Service will offer their narrated walking tour on Sunday and it is highly recommended. If you can't go on Sunday, you can download the podcast and map and do it at your leisure, but the walk on Sunday will have Park Rangers and History Center staff located along the walk to provide many more details.
All of this comes on the heels of the recently concluded and highly successful Jepson Leadership Forum on Lincoln at the University of Richmond that drew large crowds and much attention.
The impact of Lincoln's visit to Richmond is just as important a part of our city's history - and our nation's - as tobacco, the Confederacy, or Patrick Henry's "Liberty or Death" speech. It is encouraging to see Richmond finally acknowledge the importance and magnitude of his visit and no longer curse it or belittle it. It is also a sign of maturity that we have moved beyond the Blue and the Gray history that dominates our texts and many mindsets.
Richmond's new found embrace of Lincoln is also evidenced by our coming to grips with the horrible legacy of slavery that existed as the City perpetrated and profited from it for decades. The excavation of Lumpkin's Jail and the ongoing discussion about the proper way to honor that and the proper location for a Slavery Museum (and I think it belongs here) is exciting because the irony of our city's history - once we accept it - is a historical anomaly that does not exist anywhere else in this country. There is no other city that even comes close.It is vital that we are no longer are afraid to discuss it and presents us with a enormous opportunity if we can embrace it.
I like to think that Lincoln would look down on this weekend and, despite the significant delay, be proud that the Richmond he walked through had finally come to terms with itself. One of his many pearls of wisdom sums it up best:
"Perhaps a man's character was like a tree, and his reputation like its shadow; the shadow is what we think of it, the tree is the real thing."
I, for one, am glad to see Richmond finally shed it's shadow in favor of the tree.
~
posted by Jon Baliles | 9:44 AM
