Visit the Museum on Friday afternoon to enjoy lunch in the Mariners’ Park Café and stimulating Civil War discussion with renowned historian, John Quarstein. There is no charge to participate. Lunch will be available for purchase at the café!

Richmond served as the capital of the Confederate States of America for almost the entire Civil War. Not only the center of governance for the rebellious southern states, it was the South’s largest industrial center and a major railroad terminus. The population swelled to more than 100,000 with the addition of POWs, hospitalized soldiers, and war profiteers. Richmond was a major focus of the Union’s attempt to end the rebellion and, eventually, the city was burned and captured in April 1865. The Confederates abandoned their capital, and the city’s ashes represented the end of the Confederacy.