Confederate Government in Richmond

Richmond became the Confederate capital in 1861 and housed the executive departments, Congress, military offices and the official household of President Jefferson Davis. Its factories, hospitals, prisons and transport links made the city central to the Confederate war effort.

The government defended slavery while struggling with conscription, shortages, inflation, internal dissent and military defeat. On 2 April 1865, officials abandoned Richmond, and the Davis family travelled south as the remaining Confederate government attempted to avoid capture.

This context supports fiction about political households, wartime Richmond, the Confederate White House and the collapse of the Confederate state. Varina places Varina Davis and her children within this political world and its final flight.