Video: 'Ken.Burns.The.Civil.War.8of9.War.Is.All.Hell' (Apr. 2, 1865, at 38:43)

(Sunday, April 2, 1865, approximately 11:00 p.m. local time; immediately following the Third Battle of Petersburg, part of the Appomattox Campaign of the American Civil War) — While attending church in Richmond, Virginia, Confederate President Jefferson Davis received a message from General Robert E. Lee telling him that he will have to evacuate the Confederate capital immediately because the Confederate troops are being forced to abandon the defense of Petersburg because of advancing Union forces.

Davis quietly left the church and in the evening, he and several members of his cabinet boarded a special train bound for Danville, Virginia.