Franklin Stearns

Franklin Stearns (March 3, 1815 - June 10, 1888), was an American businessman who moved to Richmond, Virginia, and became one of the city's leading Unionists, for which he was imprisoned several times during the American Civil War. When Union forces captured the Confederate capital in April, 1865, Richmond's mayor delivered the city's note of surrender to Union forces at Stearns' farm, Tree Hill which may become a park after development is completed. After the war, Stearns worked to restore Richmond, and three of his properties remain today, and are on the National Register of Historic Places.