On the morning of April 2, 1865, hundreds of well-to-do Richmonders were worshipping at St. Paul’s Church when a telegraph messenger entered. He went straight to Jefferson Davis, who rose from his pew and—with an ashen face—walked briskly out of the church and to the Confederate White House. Though he said nothing, the people at St. Paul’s guessed the worst: Lee’s lines around Petersburg had been broken by the Union forces.