Follow In Lincoln’s Footsteps
“Thank God that I have lived to see this! It seems to me that I have been dreaming a horrid dream for four years, and now the nightmare is gone. I want to see Richmond.”
- Abraham Lincoln - 1865
When Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States in 1860 it divided the nation. Less than two months after his inauguration the country was engulfed by a civil war that would rage for the next four years. Lincoln was the central figure in a conflict that defined who we are as a people and as a nation. He dedicated his life to his countrymen and struggled through the darkest days of America’s history to end slavery and preserve the union of the United States.
Just ten days before his assassination, Abraham Lincoln walked through the streets of Richmond. He came to visit the capital of the Confederacy not as a conqueror, but to symbolize his commitment to “bind up the nation’s wounds” and begin rebuilding the country. Thousands of people lined the streets as Lincoln and his son Tad slowly made their way from the James River into the city towards the Confederate White House. Shouts of joy could be heard all along the route as African Americans who just days before had been slaves “beheld him who had given them their liberty.”
We invite you to visit Richmond and Petersburg where you can walk in Lincoln’s footsteps, tour the same streets and visit the same sites as he did in 1865. Experience first hand the places where our nation was reborn – the historic Richmond Region.
