Edward Alfred Pollard, The lost cause; a new Southern history of the War of the Confederates ... Drawn from official sources and approved by the most distinguished Confederate leaders.

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“ [697] from each regiment. Shouts from a few negroes were the only responses. Through throngs of sullen spectators; along the line of fire; in the midst of the horrours of a conflagration, increased by the explosion of shells left by the retreating army; through curtains of smoke; through the vast serial auditorium convulsed with the commotion of frightful sounds, moved the garish procession of the grand army, with brave music, and bright banners and wild cheers. A regiment of negro cavalry swept by the hotel As they turned the street corner they drew their sabres with savage shouts, and the blood mounted even in my woman's heart with quick throbs of defiance.” ¹

Meanwhile the fire raged with unchecked fury. The entire business part of the city was on fire; stores, warehouses, manufactories, mills, depots, and bridges-all, covering acres; the continuous thunder of exploding shells sounded in the sea of fire; and in the midst of it was the long, threatening, hostile army entering to seize its prey. All during the forenoon, flame and smoke and burning brands and showers of blazing sparks filled the air, spreading still further the destruction, until it had swept before it every bank, every auction store, every insurance office, nearly every commission house, and most of the fashionable stores. The atmosphere was almost choking; men, women, and children crowded into the square of the Capitol for a breath of pure air; but it was not to be obtained even there, and one traversed the green slopes blinded by cinders and struggling for breath. Already piles of furniture had been collected here, dragged from the ruins of burning houses; and in uncouth arrangements, made with broken tables and bureaus, were huddled women and children, with no other home, with no other resting place in Heaven's great hollowness.

Some tardy attempts were made to arrest the conflagration; in the afternoon the military authorities organized the crowds of negroes as a fire corps; but the few steam-engines that played upon the flames were not sufficient to check their progress. It was late in the evening when the fire had burned itself out. It had consumed the most important part of Richmond. Commencing at the Shockoe warehouse, the fire radiated from and rear, and on two wings, burning down Main street, half way between Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets, and back to the river, through Cary and all the intermediate streets. Westward, on Main, the fire was stayed at Ninth street, sweeping back to the river.. On the north side of Main the flames were stayed between Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets. From this point the flames raged on the north side of Main up to Eighth street, and back to Bank street. The pencil of the surveyor could not have more distinctly marked out the business portion of the city.

The evening breezes had turned the course of the fire; and as these