The Spotswood remained busy throughout the war. During the Battle of First Manassas, anxious wives and relatives crowded into the lobby and parlors to await news from the front and to read printed casualty lists. Ironically, the Spotswood bar became a favorite meeting place for enemy spies. Even the infamous Belle Boyd stayed at the Spotswood.

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After the war, the Spotswood hosted Union Generals William Sherman, Ulysses S. Grant and Phil Sheridan, and even U.S. President Andrew Johnson. Although a breeze fortunately spared the hotel from the evacuation fire in 1865, flames eventually claimed the dignified structure in 1870, after barely 11 years of service.

In direct competition with the Spotswood were the Exchange Hotel and the Ballard House, which were connected by an iron bridge above Franklin Street. The Exchange was the older of the two structures, having been erected in 1841, while the Ballard House was constructed in 1854 to service overflow. The Exchange was a stately five-story building, completed in royal fashion with spacious rooms and liberal use of marble. During the war, the Exchange Hotel and the Ballard House were popular venues for gatherings of Confederate senators and congressmen. After the war, Lee stayed at the Exchange when he traveled to Richmond from Lexington, Va., where he served as president of Washington College.

Other hotels that were popular during the war included the Arlington House (1837, at 6th and Main), originally called the Edgemont, which hosted at least eight Confederate senators and congressmen; the American Hotel (1840, at 12th and Main); and the Powhatan House (an enlargement of a smaller building built in 1830, at 11th and Broad), which, though losing popularity as the war started, served as a breeding ground for the separatist movement growing in western Virginia.

Other hotels were not so popular, and in some cases were considered out of style by both Confederate socialites and local Richmonders. A list of these includes such hotels as the Saint Charles (1846, at 15th and Main), which was also known as the City Hotel. This four-story stucco building was converted into Hospital Number Eight in the summer of 1861. Another was the Monumental (1850, at 9th and Grace), which was taken over for use by the Confederate Second Auditor’s Office. The Columbian and the Richmond House were other hotels that were not popular during the war.

Richmond was also home to a variety of taverns–some dating back to the Revolutionary War–which ranged from rowdy watering holes to upscale restaurants. Some were also known as houses of ill repute. The Old Tavern (1801, on Manchester) had been a popular wayside stop on the way into Richmond from the south, but had fallen into disrepair by the time of the war. The business conducted there was of a dubious nature, attracting gamblers, speculators and heavy drinkers, and no one of social standing would have wanted to be known as a patron.

The Bird In Hand Tavern (dating from the 18th century, on Main Street)–so named because of an early proprietor who proclaimed that a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush–was a popular wartime gathering place. The Bird in Hand still serves Main Street customers in present-day Richmond, though the original structure has been lost to renovations.

The Union Tavern (pre-1825, at 19th and Main) had been a popular inn before the war; a well-known song sung there boasted, “I dined at the Union. I got drunk at the Bell, and lost all of my money at the Eagle Hotel.” (The Eagle Hotel became the American Hotel in 1840.) The Union Tavern served as a military barracks during the war, and was also the starting point for many military processions, reviews and parades held in the city. It remained a popular meeting place until near the beginning of the 20th century when, after becoming something of a home for the destitute, it finally was torn down to make way for a row of commercial buildings.

The Swan Tavern (1771, at 8th and 9th), which was also known as the Broad Street Hotel, once housed the likes of Thomas Jefferson and Edgar Allan Poe, but was quite run down by 1861. Although it served as a hospital on several occasions, it passed the war mainly as a second-rate boardinghouse, where a drink and a room could be had cheaply and without questions.

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