{"id":320,"date":"2020-11-04T20:32:48","date_gmt":"2020-11-04T20:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/?post_type=project&#038;p=320"},"modified":"2020-12-10T15:29:45","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T15:29:45","slug":"the-fall-of-richmond-virginia","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/project\/the-fall-of-richmond-virginia\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fall of Richmond, Virginia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The piece I chose is titled <em>The Fall of Richmond, Virginia, on the Night of April 2nd, 1865.<\/em>\u00a0 It was created in 1865 by Currier and Ives.\u00a0 The painting is a recreation that depicts one of the final moments in the history of the Civil War.\u00a0 The Confederate army retreated to the city of Richmond knowing that the final moments of the war was approaching.\u00a0 Once they retreated to their capital city they realized that they would not be able to hold off the incoming blue coats.\u00a0 They thought that they could only do one thing and that was to burn it down.\u00a0 The reason they did this was not because they wanted to give up, but that they still wanted a true fighting chance and would not roll over in any battle against the north.\u00a0 They wanted to make sure that if they lost this battle that they would lose on their own terms.\u00a0 They decided to set the city ablaze.\u00a0 The reason they decided to do this is because they had a stockpile of weaponry and supplies that could have aided the north and as a result ended the war sooner.\u00a0 Taking a look at this painting you can see the true detail the artist put into it.\u00a0 At first glance the viewer sees just a city on fire and being truly wrecked in the self-inflicted carnage.\u00a0 But after looking into the piece, there details that the describe that actual physical affects of what was happening, but also what the painting represents.\u00a0 On the physical spectrum the city is on fire and being destroyed yes, but there are other details that show on what the true affects were.\u00a0 You can see closely in the smoke that there are almost flares coming off one of the fires.\u00a0 Moving from left to right you see three billowing smokestacks, while the 4<sup>th<\/sup> one next to them seems somewhat different.\u00a0 The 4<sup>th<\/sup> one seen is a more rich sunset orange than the ghastly pillars of smoke to its right.\u00a0 This is because this was not just a regular fire.\u00a0 This was an explosion of an armory stockpile.\u00a0 The fire set to the building triggered a reaction to cause a massive explosion.\u00a0 A first hand report was told in \u201cA French View of the Fall of Richmond\u201d.\u00a0 He describes it as \u201cthe city which had also been set afire, began to burn in those portions where the munitions of war were stored.\u00a0 This establishment contained large quantities of powder and shells\u2026 the bombs exploded and fragments were thrown into surrounding streets\u201d\u00a0 (Warren 182).\u00a0 As described the explosions caused great damage to the city and its people.\u00a0 In the painting you can see the destruction painting the night sky while illuminating the fleeing troops.\u00a0 I feel that this is another detail the painter tried to use to show us something that would not be seen with the first glance.\u00a0 I feel that this is showing the troops are fleeing but still have a purpose to fight.\u00a0 They are riding in the night in great numbers to the left showing that are moving backwards, but have the loss of their city as a reason that they need to keep fighting for what they believe in.\u00a0 They are not shown as in much detail on purpose to convey to the audience that this is a pack mentality and now that this has happen to them they now have the motivation and the causation to retaliate when the time is right.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The piece I chose is titled The Fall of Richmond, Virginia, on the Night of April 2nd, 1865.\u00a0 It was created in 1865 by Currier and Ives.\u00a0 The painting is a recreation that depicts one of the final moments in the history of the Civil War.\u00a0 The Confederate army retreated to the city of Richmond 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