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The Terrible Tragedy at Washington. Assassination of President Lincoln.
President Lincoln would not live to see the end of the Civil War. Less than a week after Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender, Lincoln was shot in the back of the head while attending a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC. He died the next day, on April 15, 1864—the first American president to be killed while in office. The above two pamphlets were printed within days of the assassination, before all the persons involved in the murder plot were identified and captured. The pamphlet to the left follows a nineteenth-century printing tradition in which a thick black border in newspapers and on stationery indicated bereavement. The pamphlet on the right was published by the popular press to provide updates on the assassination’s aftermath, sometimes sensationalistic.Tags lincoln-section-3 -
The Assassination and Death of Abraham Lincoln.
President Lincoln would not live to see the end of the Civil War. Less than a week after Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender, Lincoln was shot in the back of the head while attending a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC. He died the next day, on April 15, 1865—the first American president to be killed while in office. The above two pamphlets were printed within days of the assassination, before all the persons involved in the murder plot were identified and captured. The pamphlet to the left follows a nineteenth-century printing tradition in which a thick black border in newspapers and on stationery indicated bereavement. The pamphlet on the right was published by the popular press to provide updates on the assassination’s aftermath, sometimes sensationalistic.Tags lincoln-section-3 -
"The Following Correspondence which Took Place".
In his second inaugural address (March 4, 1865), President Lincoln condemned slavery as theft of labor and more directly than ever before invoked the brutality inflicted during more than 250 years of slavery. Acknowledging the sins of “American Slavery,” he raised the question of what was due to those who had been enslaved—without providing an answer. Meanwhile, the war continued. In Ulysses S. Grant, Lincoln finally found a military leader with an aggressive instinct to match his own. The president grew to trust his top commander’s decisions, despite the resulting increase in casualties. The brutal Overland Campaign forced the Confederates to abandon Richmond, their capital, on April 3, 1865. Confederate General Lee’s army surrendered a hundred miles west in Appomattox, Virginia, on April 9, 1865. The above Union battlefield printing published the letters exchanged between Lee and Grant discussing the surrender. In them, Grant exhorts Lee to avoid “any further effusion of blood.”Tags lincoln-section-3 -
The Life of Abraham Lincoln of Illinois.
As the 1864 election approached, there were ever more theaters of conflict. President Lincoln sought to keep his party united behind him. Faced with a challenge by abolitionist John C. Frémont, Lincoln for the first time called for the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment (abolishing slavery), calling it a “fitting and necessary conclusion” to the war. Ulysses S. Grant now commanded the Army of the Potomac and was determined to keep pressure on Confederate General Lee’s forces. With high casualty rates and victory still elusive, there was a growing clamor in the Union for peace. As the election approached, Lincoln believed that he faced defeat in the polls but refused to sue for peace or abandon emancipation. General William T. Sherman took Atlanta, Georgia, in August, and Lincoln swept to victory, winning 55 percent of the popular vote. The campaign biography above was co-written by Henry J. Raymond, editor and owner of the New York Times, who helped to engineer Lincoln’s re-nomination.Tags lincoln-section-3 -
The Bloody Week! Riot, Murder & Arson, a Full Account of this Wholesale Outrage on Life and Property.
White pro-slavery Democrats charged that the conflict was a “rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight.” At a time when annual working-class wages were often below $500, the $300 fee to avoid the draft was well out of reach for many Union men. In addition, the Democratic Party had warned immigrants and working-class whites that they would have to compete for jobs with the Black men who would be freed by the war. Protests erupted in the North, the most violent being in New York City. On July 13, 1863, an angry mob looted businesses, burned buildings, and hunted down Black residents. New York’s 7th Regiment were called up from Gettysburg to quell the riot. The Bloody Week! is a dramatic account “accurately prepared from sources by eye witnesses.”Tags lincoln-section-3 -
The United States Conscription Law or National Militia Act.
Both the Union and Confederacy fielded volunteer armies, and they struggled to attract and retain soldiers. The Civil War was the first time in American history that conscription laws were passed. The Confederacy led the way, with legislation in April 1862. In March 1863, the Enrollment Act (seen here in pamphlet form) gave President Lincoln authorization to require every white male citizen and every immigrant who had applied for citizenship who was between the ages of 20 and 45 to register for the draft. Free Black men were not required to enroll in the draft because they were not considered citizens. Those wanting to avoid service could provide a substitute or pay a commutation fee (equivalent to $6,500 today). Despite these conscription laws, both the Union and Confederate armies continued to rely mostly upon volunteers.Tags lincoln-section-3 -
Three Weeks at Gettysburg.
Civilians in the Union and Confederacy provided critical support for the war effort through fundraising and volunteering. The U.S. Sanitary Commission was the only civilian-run organization to be recognized by the federal government during the Civil War. It coordinated civilian assistance to the Union forces, primarily medical care, at no cost to the government, thanks to its fundraising activities. Women played an important role at the Sanitary Commission from its formation. One of the most widely-known narratives promoting the Commission and its work is shown here, written by Nurse Georgeanna Muirson Woolsey. Nurse Woolsey and her mother had arrived at Gettysburg hoping to find her brother. Frederick Law Olmsted, the Head of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, asked them to run one of the Commission’s camps near the railroad station. There they treated soldiers from both sides and provided meals to thousands.Tags lincoln-section-3 -
"The President's Dedication Address at Gettysburg."
Some time passed before the enduring significance of President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was recognized. It was initially published with Edward Everett’s much longer preceding speech. This rare broadside is the first separate printing of the Address, produced by publishers Miller & Mathews for the Metropolitan Fair held in Manhattan on April 4, 1864. This fair was one of the largest charity events during the Civil War. It raised funds and supplies for the Union Army.Tags lincoln-section-3 -
"An Oration Delivered on the Battlefield of Gettysburg."
In November 1863, four months after the battle at Gettysburg, President Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery, created to provide a proper burial for the fallen. Lincoln was not the main speaker of the day. That honor went to Edward Everett, a former senator and a celebrated orator. Lincoln spoke after Everett, and in only two minutes captured the transcendent significance of the war. He once again asserted that the United States was founded on liberty, equal rights, and self-government, and he honored those who had given their lives to prove that it could endure. Significantly, Lincoln described the country not as a union, but as a nation. Still focused on securing emancipation, he did not address how fully Black people might share in America’s promise. This is the earliest publication of the Gettysburg Address in book form.Tags lincoln-section-3 -
Sketch of the Battles of Gettysburg, July 1st, 2d, and 3d, 1863.
In 1862 and 1863, the Union was able to turn back the Confederate invasion, but at great cost. The September 1862 battle at Antietam, Maryland, was the single bloodiest day of the war with over 22,000 combined casualties. The Union’s victory at Antietam gave President Lincoln the military ascendancy he’d been looking for as a prelude to issuing an Emancipation Proclamation to free all enslaved persons in areas that continued to rebel. [Please see the copy of the Emancipation Proclamation near the exhibition entrance.]Tags lincoln-section-3 -
The Second Battle of Manassas: with Sketches of the Recent Campaign in Northern Virginia.
The year 1862 saw high battlefield casualties for both the Union and Confederacy. Victories alternated between them, and the war was at a stalemate. President Lincoln began to talk about measures to bring the war to the Southern homefront, including emancipating those enslaved in the Confederacy and confiscating Confederate property. In August 1862, the Union’s Army of Virginia lost at Manassas/Bull Run for the second time in two years. This pamphlet written by an editor of the Richmond Examiner recounts that battle for a southern audience. The victorious General Robert E. Lee led his southern forces from Virginia into Maryland, thus invading the North.Tags lincoln-section-3 -
General Orders, No. 141. War Department, Adjutant General's Office.
The Confederate attack on Fort Sumter allowed President Lincoln to declare an “insurrection” in the states that seceded. With Congress in recess, he exercised bold, unilateral executive authority to suppress it. He called up troops, blockaded the southern coast, and authorized military expenditures. To defend the capital’s northward transportation corridors, he suspended the writ of habeas corpus, a legal principle that protects citizens from arbitrary arrest and unlawful imprisonment. The Constitution allows for this “in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion,” but notably does not specify that this power goes to the president. Congress later endorsed Lincoln’s actions, except for the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. Lincoln would continue to suspend the writ when he felt it necessary.Tags lincoln-section-3 -
Prize Fight Between Abram and Jeff, in Four Rounds. Stake: The Constitution of Our Fathers.
This metamorphosis book humorously depicts the fight between the Union and Confederacy (represented by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate President Jefferson Davis). The facsimile shows how the paper would have been folded so that the reader could reveal the story in four acts. Lincoln is shown coming south after Davis, who whimpers. Despite the fact that “Jeff gives Abram a stunner at Bull’s Run,” the story ends with Lincoln the victor. This ending suggests that this book was printed around 1861, when northern optimism for a quick Union victory still prevailed.Tags lincoln-section-3 -
"By His Excellency Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, a Proclamation for a Day of Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer".
The First Battle of Manassas/Bull Run was the first major conflict of the Civil War and a startling defeat for the Union. Following established practice, President Lincoln and Congress called for the nation “to pray for [God’s] mercy... that our arms may be blessed and made effectual for the re-establishment of law, order, and peace, throughout the wide extent of our country.” Enslaved people, including many forced to work for the Confederate Army, prayed with their feet. Fugitives by the thousands sought to cross Union lines. During the following winter and spring, abolitionists intensified their agitation for emancipation, and Congress held prolonged debates on anti-slavery measures.Tags lincoln-section-3 -
The Battle of Fort Sumter and First Victory of the Southern Troops, April 13th, 1861.
The American Civil War began in April 1861 when South Carolina military forces laid siege to Fort Sumter, a U.S. Army garrison positioned on an island in Charleston Harbor. Not wanting to appear to be the aggressor, President Lincoln had opted to not reinforce the fort’s military defenses and instead had sent only a resupply of provisions. Confederate President Jefferson Davis then ordered an attack. That bombardment galvanized the North’s support for fighting to preserve the Union. The Battle of Fort Sumter was the first of roughly 10,500 armed conflicts between the Union and Confederate Armies. Major battles often would be memorialized in pamphlets printed by local publishers, which became the first drafts of history.Tags lincoln-section-3 -
"Inaugural Address of the President of the United States on the Fourth of March, 1861".
In his First Inaugural Address, seen here in a rare Senate printing, President Lincoln decried secession as unconstitutional and undemocratic. By then, seven of an eventual eleven southern states had declared that they were seceding to form the Confederate States of America. Lincoln affirmed to the South that his administration would not interfere with slavery where it was and also held fast to his anti-slavery commitment by firmly opposing any expansion of slavery. He spoke directly to the seceding states: “You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors.” Many abolitionists and enslaved people, however, believed that the war for emancipation had arrived.Tags lincoln-section-3
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