On this day in 1865.....

[1978 NYB]

On April 15th 1865, President Lincoln was assassinated.

I live less than 5 minutes from John Wilkes Booth boyhood home. It is still standing and the county owns it now. A lot of Civil War history all over the mid Atlantic area. Booth's escape route and all the people, places, and a lot of the buildings are still standing. A lot of interesting stuff to see. Ford's Theatre, the house Lincoln died in, Dr. Samuel Mudd's house is still standing. The Surratt House is still standing. Booth is buried in Baltimore.

Spirits of Tudor Hall

Grave of John Wilkes Booth

Ford's Theatre

https://www.surrattmuseum.org/

 

[65sporty]

Imagine what he could have done if he wasn't killed.

 

[Davea Lux]

Imagine what he could have done if he wasn't killed.

Historians are still debating about Lincoln's legacy. He was controversial while he was alive and in some respects even more so after his death. True, he ended slavery. The cost was about 620k in American lives on both sides, by far the most destructive war in terms of the human cost our country has ever engaged in. These numbers were not obvious to the public during the war itself and caused considerable outcry once the war ended. It is not clear given the high cost of the war financially and in human terms if Lincoln would have the political capital to accomplish much once the war was over. The era after Lincoln was marked by the politics of "Waving the bloody shirt" where each side blamed the other for the war's tremendous cost.

Dave