Petersburg High School - Missile Yearbook (Petersburg, VA)

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of the Confederate States of America, and, as chief executive, occupied the impressive building that is now the Confederate Museum. Petersburg has been termed the Key to Richmond, and its importance was proven by the fact that immediately after it fell, April 2, 1865, the southern capital was evacuated, President Davis being called out of a .church service to Hee. Another element in the evacuation was the seizure of the Confederate lines of supply by General Grant. A portion of the city was burned by the retreating Southerners, but this area has long since been rebuilt with the beautiful buildings that envelop most of modern Richmond. 1870 - 1900 - The year 1870 began a new era for Richmond. Struggling up through the ashes of the devastating Civil War of 1861-1865, she covered the dark pages of her history with determined reconstruction and turned to cul- ture, literature, and music. The Mozart Association was organized, Memorial Day established, and the Westmoreland Club founded while the Sun Do Move sermons of the Reverend John Jasper, a negro preacher, did much to distract the mind from the late strife and bloodshed. In the year 1888, telephones, electric street lights and railways were installed. 1900- The twentieth century found Richmond well advanced and steady in progress. 1900 brought the automobile, motion pictures, radio, wireless, and airplane. Medical science and facilities had advanced beyond belief. In 1906, three thousand acres and twelve thousand people were annexed to Richmond, and a gift of two hundred and sixty-two acres of suburban land was added. In 1910, Manchester was consolidated with Richmond and her population was 127,628. The present area of Richmand is 23.97 square miles with a population of 220,513. There are twelve banks, two hundred and forty-nine churches, forty-four public school buildings, sixteen private and parochial schools, nine colleges, eleven hotels, three hundred manufacturing plants, six rail- roads, eleven passenger bus lines, and four airlines. Richmond has maintained her old traditions, but not at the expense of adopting new developments . THE MISSILE Pagenine

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The Southern Messenger , of which Edgar Allan Poe was editor, three companies returning from the Mexican War, an occasional exodus to the California gold fields, the cornerstone laying and dedication of Washing- ton's Monument, and the Medical College and a hospital established. The Jenny Lind Concert and the visits of Baron Renfew and Edward VII fur- ther stamped Richmond a city of social prestige. The country about Richmond was now well populated by wealthy planters, many owning from two hundred to five hundred slaves. The city enjoyed a prosperity unexcelled by her former history. Political bick- erings caused much envy, unrest, and antagonism, however. Every tongue became busy with such phrases as the Union, slaveholders, ustates' rights, and secession With the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 war was inevitable. On April 17, 1861, Virginia withdrew from the Union, and Richmond's lot was cast for the cause of the Confederacy. Seven days later, the city was overrun with soldiers. Camps were erected on every available, vacant space, while other thousands, fleeing the invaders, sought refuge during that year within the environs of Richmond. The mobilization of Virginia under the direction of Robert E. Lee was an outstanding and notable achievement. During the next four years, Richmond suffered her share of the na- tion's woe. Lacking sufficient clothing, medical facilities, and even am- munition, the battered, entrenched Southern armies built forts and earth- works. About the city, old men, boys, and convalescent cripples fought for her defense. The surrender of General Lee to General Grant on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox, Virginia, marked an end to four years of bloodshed. Rich- mond's sacrifices to this war were best made known by the memorials to her dead. They lay not in companies only, but in battalions, regiments, and brigades. Richmond bears the inscription of the bloody fruits of Seven Pines, Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill, Cold Harbor, Malvern Hill, Fort Harrison, Drewry's Bluff, and many other fields where southern valor il- lumined the pages of history. The great Civil War, or more correctly named Brother's War, had a profound effect upon the entire history of Richmond, as may well be ex- pected in view of the fact that it was early made the capital of the Con- federacy and throughout the war the objective for all the aggressive movements of the eastern army of the Union. The Mississippian, J eiferson Davis, was, at an election held at Montgomery, Alabama, made president Paseeisht THE MISSILE

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Verses By Julian Rocks, Jr. To Amelia Earhart You once ilew high above the land and seas, So like a bird Who loves to fly and wings Its way upon the lightest hidden breeze To seek a better view of earthly thingsg The clear blue sky was native to your heart, And all the lands you touched were somewhat linked By your sweet love that never shall depart, Not even from the stars that to you winked. We searched the deep Pacific of her space, And islands where no living beasts reside, But never did we find your smiling face Which in my mind is now and will abide, But you have gone above Where angels sing To fly with them upon your silver Wing. Thoughts of the Sea I love to stand upon the massive wharf, And see the splashing surge upon the seas, And hear the sucking, clucking, breaking waves As they react to every blowing breeze. It brings upon my mind a long desire To lug the lapping sail into the wind, And feel the lurching, jerking, sturdy wheel, Whenever the ship ascends upon the brine. I love to hear the seafowl's crying voice Above the slender, sldping, slimy reef, And when these thoughts upon my mind recur, I hurry home to bring my heart relief. Page ten THE MISSILE