THE NEXT DAY, Sunday, April 2, having cut off all Lee’s escape routes to the South but one, Grant’s army attacked all along the lines at Petersburg. That same morning, as Jefferson Davis sat in his regular pew at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, a sexton crept down the aisle in the middle of the service and handed him a telegram from Lee. Grant was breaking through the lines at Petersburg. To preserve his army, Lee made the decision to evacuate the capital. One by one, members of the government and military rose from their pews—in the middle of the sermon—to leave the church. Richmond
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