Richmond at War: Through the Eyes of a True Confederate Woman
Gibbs McEachran
Sallie Brock Putnam
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Sally Brock was born on March 18, 1831 at Madison Court
House Virginia. Brock represents a true Confederate
woman at the time of the Civil War. Years after the war she
wrote a diary that let you look at life in Richmond Virginia
during the time of the Civil War. With battles surrounding
the Confederate capital, citizens witnessed the war up close
and personal. Brock does an exceptional job describing the
emotions of the citizens of Richmond. Sallie Brock’s diary
takes you into the heart of the Civil war through the eyes of
an intelligent woman; she shows how the city of Richmond
goes from an upper-class sophisticated city to a wild base
camp where there was crime, chaos, stress, tons of people
and no food. Brock shows how severely the citizens of
Richmond were affected by all the changes they witnessed.
It is imoportant to note that Putnam’s views are coming
from a wealthy, white woman of the time who made her
living writing for newspapers (1).
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1. Sallie A. Brock, Richmond During the War; Four Years of Personal
Observation (New York: G.W. Carleton & Co. Publishers)
Richmond’s Transformation
Battle of Antietam
Prelude: After the Second Battle of Bull Run, General Robert E. Lee led his own soldiers of Northern Virginia across the Potomac into
Maryland. Lee wanted to relieve pressure from Shenandoah Valley during the harvest season to encourage European support to prove to
them that the Confederacy was able to beat Union forces on their own turf. General Lee split up his troops to various important
objectives with General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.
Afternoon Before the Battle: McClellan sent General Joseph hooker across Antietam Creek which resulted in minor skirmish.
Morning of the Battle: The next morning Hooker’s men march toward Dunkers Church where Stonewall Jackson’s men were cleverly
concealed by the wood line. North and on the opposite side of the road towards the church was where Hooker’s men were located; they
emerged from the North Woods while his artillery was set up on the edge. Counterattacks demolished Confederate troops being hit by up
to 500 guns. The Union was making progress however, attacks and counter attacks created the North Woods into a complete mess, dead
bodies lied everywhere.
Midday, “Bloody Lane”: Taking fire from artillery and sharpshooters. French Brigades needed help. Below them sat a farm road with
two brigades of Confederate troops, noticing the blue road filled with dead Union soldiers the French Brigade drew back. New troops
arrived and were ordered to fall back but refused, both sides were furiously engaging one another, the sunken farm road turned red which
gave it its name, “Bloods Lane”.
Afternoon, “Burnside Bridge”: Major General Ambrose Burnside was given the objective to attack Confederate infantry and artillery
just by the Lower Bridge in Sharpsburg Maryland. The Confederate’s defended the bridge for three hours and did not let Burnsides men
cross the important crossing of Antietam.
Result: 22,000 American soldiers lie dead, with a Union victory. The Battle of Antietam
was the bloodiest day in the Civil War (1).
Before the Civil War broke out the city of Richmond had
approximately 38,000 residents living within the city along
with 11,739 salves. By the year of 1863, city officials estimated
that the population had inflated to an astounding 100,000
people. The spike in population created many problems within
the city; the Richmond police force was undersized to handle
the mass of people, crime broke out all around as well as
gambling houses and prostitution flourished. With the
struggling economy within the Confederacy prices became
outrageous, it was not uncommon to see families crammed into
a small space trying to raise a family. With so many people
food became scarce and expensive, finally the Confederate
government had to issue mandates on food and other
necessities. Original families of Richmond were dumbstruck of
the transformation, there once sophisticated fairly small city
now housed Confederate soldiers, spies, political elites,
travelers, Union prisoners, and criminals (1).
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1. Sarah Ann Brock (1831-1911), last modified: May 23, 201,
http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Brock_Sarah_Ann_1831-1911
Alexander Gardner, Bloody Lane, September 17, 1862
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/05/antietamphoto-exhibit_n_1941960.html#slide=1527455)
Harpers Weekly, The City of Richmond, Virginia, May 31, 1862
(http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1862/may/richmondvirginia.htm)
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Richmond’s Response
With the war being so close to the city, everyone in Richmond heard about the battle of Antietam. Sallie Brock explains that even though
it was a loss, the people of Richmond were proud of their soldiers. However, the morale was lowered in response to the state of
Maryland and their detachment from supporting the Confederacy. When Lee failed to support Maryland they detached, the people of
Richmond felt “a sensible revulsion of sympathetic feeling for Maryland”(2). Richmonders felt that the Confederate army did not do
everything within their power in order to protect Maryland.
After the battle within the city citizens for the first time in a long time turned to God, “Christian integrity of the masses of the Southern
people changed only to add a brighter and brighter luster to the religion of Christ” (3) Brock says. The slight glimpse of happiness soon
disappeared when news was heard about the violence in Kentucky and Mississippi.
The Battle of Antietam showed the remorse towards other states in Richmond, they felt the need to apologize to Maryland for not
showing the support that they needed.
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1. Ted Alexander, “The Battle of Antietam”, Civil War Times, September 2006 issue
2. Sallie A. Brock, Richmond During the War; Four Years of Personal Observation (New York: G.W. Carleton & Co. Publishers, 1867) 185.
3. Brock, Richmond During the War, 188.
RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2012
www.PosterPresentations.com
Robert Knox Sneded, Map of Richmon, Virginia, 1863
(http://encyclopediavirginia.org/media_player?mets_filename=evm0
0002079mets.xml) 1863