On April 4 , President Abraham Lincoln toured the fallen city by foot with his young son Tad , and visited the former White House of the Confederacy and the Virginia State Capitol . Arriving as fires set by the retreating Confederates still smoldered , Lincoln went to the White House of the Confederacy , expecting a communication from the retreating forces . Some wanted him to make a public gesture of sitting at Jefferson Davis 's own desk , symbolically saying to the nation that the President of the United States held authority over the entire land . Citizens and freed slaves greeted Lincoln as a conquering hero . One admirer reportedly said , " I know I am free , for I have seen the face of Father Abraham and have felt him . " When a general asked Lincoln how the defeated Confederates should be treated , Lincoln replied , " Let 'em up easy . " In the meantime , the governor and top officials relocated briefly to Danville . About a week after Richmond 's evacuation , Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant , ending the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse . Within the same week , on April 14 , 1865 , President Lincoln was assassinated at Ford 's Theatre in Washington , D.C. by John Wilkes Booth . Northern leadership would deal much more harshly with the fallen states than Lincoln had planned
assassinated
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
History of Richmond, Virginia