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If the Union had been able to capture Richmond early in the US Civil War, it would have made a positive impact for the North. The city was the capital of the Confederacy and had value in that sense alone. Richmond also contained manufacturing and an early capture could have hampered the production of Confederate war supplies. However, the Union's two failed attempts to seize the city at the Battle of the first Bull Run, and the failure of the Peninsula campaign gave the South the time required to build extensive fortifications to protect the city. Despite that, the second Battle of Bull Run also failed to even reach the gates of the city. If not for the early failures, the South would have had to evacuate Richmond and find a new capital. The disruption within the Confederacy would have made a positive Propaganda news for the Northern public. Also militarily the portion of Virginia east and north of it would have placed Union troops in good positions.In Napoleonic War Era terms, early on the city could have been called a "center of gravity" and its capture a blow to the South. Since that never happened, for a time the Union was devoted to other measures to end the rebellion.

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