Alexander Stephens Home Site - Richmond

Alexander Stephens' home site is located on East Clay Street in Richmond, Virginia.  It was in a house which stood on this spot that the Vice-President of the Confederacy from 1861 to 1865 once lived.  Stephens served in the Georgia  House of Representatives from 1843 to 1859, when he opted against re-election.  Long in favor of anti-secession, he was elected to the Georgia Secession Convention of 1861, where he voted against secession.  Although his stance alienated fellow southernors, he was still elected to the Confederate Congress, and finally the Vice-Presidency of the Confederate States in February, 1861.  His relationship with President Jefferson Davis soon grew contentious, and he eventually became an outspoken opponent to Davis's policies.  As the war progressed, relegated to a thankless figurehead job, he spent more time away from the capitol and more time in his native Georgia.  In early 1865 he was one of the party selected to meet with Abraham Lincoln at the Hampton Roads Conference, to discuss terms of bringing the war to an end.  In April, 1865 Richmond fell to the Union Army and the capitol was abandoned.  Stephens was captured on May 11 and held as a prisoner until October.  Stephens shortly thereafter restarted his political career, eventually winding up as Governor of Georgia at the time of his death in 1883.  The site of his former home, now occupied by the Medical College of Virginia, stands across the street, one block down, from the White House of the Confederacy.  There is a marker on the front of the building acknowledging Stephens' time there.

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