How to paraphrase correctly?

I'm suposed to paraphrase the section below without quoting directly or using the writer's words, sentence structure, or paragraph structure. I have to include appropriate citation too.

Never Call Retreat, by Bruce Catton

Richmond people remembered how that last Sunday

came in as a special sort of day. It was warm, with a mild

breeze stirring the early blossoms on the capitol grounds;

the city’s churches were crowded, not because national

affairs were at crisis but simply because it was a good

day to go to church, with high spring in the air and Easter

only two weeks away. One woman recalled it as "one of

those unusually lovely days that the spring sometimes

brings, when delicate silks that look too fine at other

times seem just to suit." A Massachusetts soldier out in

the siege lines confessed that spring reaches Virginia

"with greater splendor" than New England ever sees, and

felt that there had not been a finer day than this one since

the creation. Secretary of the Navy Mallory wrote that in

all the war the city had never looked more serene and

quiet, and the woman who had put on her best silk said

that she never saw a calmer Sunday morning – or a more

thoroughly confused and alarming Sunday evening.

The news from Petersburg came up shortly after the

eleven o’clock services had begun, and an aide with a

telegram from General Lee extracted President Davis

from St. Paul’s just as Dr. Minnigerode intoned the

words: "The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth

keep silence before Him." The congregation took Mr.

Davis’ departure calmly enough – after all, the President

might get called out of church at any time, by almost

anything – but other dignitaries were called out later,

from this church and from others, (444) and by early

afternoon the tidings had gone all across the city: Lee

was going to retreat, the government was to move out

tonight, the Yankees would take over in the morning.

Those who could leave the city were comparatively few;

for most people there could be nothing now but a

restless, fruitless stirring-about in the face of approaching

catastrophe. (445)