[harpygoddess]

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won. The port is near, the bells I hear, the people are exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.

~ Walt Whitman, "O Captain! My Captain!," (1st stanza)

[Governor Dinwiddie]

That was possibly the worst event in American history, because its repercussions are still being felt. It led to the vindictive Reconstruction which never really ended, and seems to have been reborn with satanic vigor.

It led to racial tensions which only get worse with each passing year. John Wilkes Booth did more to damage the South than all the Yankee armies. Lincoln wanted to heal our nation's wounds and solve the racial problems.
 

[JudgemAll]

Lincoln attacked the South instead of Democrats... sounds familiar? Seems
like the GOP Session of today attacking America or California instead of Democrats

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Killing any leader you really dislike only means a worse one will be put in place to deal with it. People never learn.

[Voption]

“Found guilty as conspirator in death of Pres. Lincoln, Dr. Mudd’s family visit prison cell” at Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas, 2015.
https://youtu.be/BsSYjmMXKvE
2:54

“Dr. Samuel Mudd left Fort Jefferson — called the Gibraltar of the Gulf and believed to be one of the largest masonry structures in the Western Hemisphere — after being granted a pardon in 1869, primarily because of the medical work he did in stemming the spread of a yellow fever outbreak at the fort. But his conviction was never overturned.”

[outofsalt]

Execution of Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold and George Atzerodt at Washington Penitentiary on 7th July, 1865.

Mary Surratt was the first woman executed by the federal government. She steadfastly claimed she was innocent. A good article here, https://www.americancivilwarforum.com/mary-ltemailgt-please-dont-let-me-fall-475.html"

[x]

For older people in the 1950s, the Civil War was still close. Their grandparents — or even their parents — fought in it, and they heard about it growing up. As children, they may have seen parades of Civil War veterans.

[IronJack]

Now he belongs to the ages.

[fella]

Booth was a Democrat. Like all of our other political assassins with the exception of John Patler who was a socialist.

[4everontheRight]

Great info! Thanks for posting

[originalbuckeye]

Thank you for that. That poem has always given me goosebumps........

[originalbuckeye]

While reading BOR’s book on the assassination of Lincoln, I was brought to tears more than once. How difficult it must have been to accept when it actually happened.

[Honest Nigerian]

I have often reflected on the irony of April 15th as the date on which tax returns are due to the IRS. It has made it easy for me to remember the date on which Lincoln died, also.
IMO Lincoln was someone who had no respect for the rule of law. And I have read plenty about his administration and the history of that era.

to be continued .............

[The_Media_never_lie]

Booth was ultimately tracked down and killed on 26 April, and four other conspirators were hanged on 7 July 1865.

---

Justice, back then, was swift.

[Political Junkie Too]

A few weeks ago, the Portland, OR episode of Antiques Roadshow showed a woman who brought a letter written by her grandfather on April 21, 1865 about him being at Ford's Theater and witnessing the assassination.

You can see the segment and read the letter here.

-PJ

[dfwgator]

“Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?”