Surrender of Richmond

At daybreak on 3 April 1865, Federal troops formed to march into Richmond. A cavalry detachment under Majors Atherton H. Stevens, Jr. and Eugene E. Graves moved up the Osborne Turnpike to its junction with New Market Road. Here they met Richmond mayor Joseph Mayo, who handed Stevens a note of surrender for the city. Stevens accepted the note and had it forwarded to Maj. Gen. Godfrey Weitzel. At 8:15 A.M. at Richmond's city hall, Weitzel formally accepted the terms of surrender. The Union forces assisted in extinguishing the fires, started at around dawn by Confederate soldiers; by midafternoon order had begun to be restored to the city.