By the mid-1800's, Richmond had grown from a small settlement on the James into a thriving city with tobacco wahehouses, flour mills, and an iron works that was one of the countries largest.
Richmond was a crossroads for commerce both north and south, and it's location so close to the heart of government in Washington made healthy political competition possible. Her mills sent flour to South America, and tobacco to the north.
Tredegar Iron Works, possibly the largest foundry in the south, did a brisk business with the federal government in Washington as well as with the governments of many of the states.
The rail road was still relatively new, but was growing quickly, Tredegar taking advantage of that growth turning out rails that were shipped nationwide. The foundry had also started making steam locomotives too.
By the late 1850's and into the 1860's things began to change. Remember now that Richmond, and for that matter, the state of Virginia was dependent economically on the commerce that had been generated with the Northern states and countries overseas.
Many Southern states were dominated by the 'fire-breathing' faction of the Democratic party. Richmond and the state itself was more moderate in it's political leanings, with both Democrat and 'Whig' party members engaging in friendly verbal competition.
By 1860 rhetoric in the south had become heated, with secession the key component of almost every political debate. Most Virginia politicians preferred to keep a cooperationist attitude, in other words, 'let's wait and see'.
Prepared to let the North fire the first shot, the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 did nothing to change this attitude in Richmond. Things were to take a turn for the worse the following year though.
The straw that broke the camel's back occured when Lincoln insisted on resupplying Fort Sumpter in North Carolina. Add to that the call on April 15th. of 1861 for 75,000 troops, 90 day volunteers.
The Virginia Convention had been in session since February. Apon hearing the news of the request for additional troops along with additional supplying of Ft. Sumpter, the Convention turned to the task of pushing through the ratification of a secession vote.
It only took two days, and the Convention voted for secession on April 17, 1861. The statewide referendum on the secession vote was ratified on May 23, 1861. Virginia was now part of the Confederacy.
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