From the Richmond Daily Whig, 7/5/1861

The Fourth of July. - The 85th anniversary of the "Declaration of Independence" was observed yesterday, in this city, with more spirit and unanimity than we had anticipated, in view of the circumstances by which we are surrounded. Business was generally suspended, and, though the volunteers of Richmond, whose usual parade on this day has heretofore signalized its recurrence, were absent, in the "tented field," the military feature of the celebration was not wholly wanting, as many of our citizens had expected it would be. At sunrise a salute of eleven guns was fired by the Thomas Artillery, stationed at Camp Chimborazo, near Rocketts, and about the same time, the Washington Artillery, of New Orleans, at Camp Beauregard, awakened the echoes in that vicinity by the discharge of their pieces; but whether in honor of the day, or for practice, we did not ascertain.

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