Five days after Lee's surrender, Lincoln went
with his wife and friends to see a play at Ford's Theatre, in Washington.
In the midst of the play, a Southern actor, John Wilkes Booth, who was
familiar with the theatre, entered the President's box, shot him in the
back of the head, jumped to the stage, and rushed through the wings to the
street. There he mounted a horse in waiting for him and escaped, soon,
however, to be hunted down and killed in a barn where he lay in hiding.
The martyr President lingered during the long hours of the sad night,
tenderly watched by his family and a few friends. When, on the following
morning, he breathed his last, Secretary Stanton said with truth: "Now he
belongs to the ages."
The people deeply mourned the loss of him who had wisely and bravely led
them through four years of heavy trial and anxiety. We are all richer
because of the life of Abraham Lincoln, our countryman, our teacher, our
guide, and our friend. And the loss to the South was even greater than to
the North. For he was not only just but also kind and sympathetic; and
only he could have saved the South from its calamities for years
afterward.
ROBERT E.
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