During the first winter of the Civil War, in 1861, Richardson's commanding officer, Colonel William W. Robinson, brought his family to camp with the regiment in northern Virginia. While there, Richardson befriended Robinson's daughter, Leonora, and fell in love with her. Colonel Robinson objected to their relationship, saying that he did not want his daughter to become a war widow, but Richardson and Leonora defied Colonel Robinson and eloped at Washington, D.C., in the spring of 1862.
