hey, all. while going over
this thread again, a thought occurred to me: what if, entirely due to butterflies, events take place in which Lincoln is not killed and is instead kidnapped and made a Confederate prisoner with the intention of being returned when the exchange of POWs resumes?
now, here's one thing that occurred to me: what if, in the period after Lincoln is abducted, the war ends. this leaves Lincoln in a potentially very dangerous situation: the Confederacy is defeated, but a given Southerner (soldier, general, etc.) is now in the position to get one last bit of revenge on the North by straight up murdering Lincoln, a prisoner with no way of escaping from them. obviously, doing so would have huge repercussions on the former CSA: not only would that particular man and probably his entire family become pariahs for the rest of American history for killing the president after the war ends (almost assuredly in favor of the Union) but Lincoln is also a prisoner, not someone who's in any position to try to negotiate or escape or fight back. and in this case, it would be an actual Confederate as opposed to a Southern sympathizer like Booth, so this could conceivably mean that the outcome is
even worse for the South
so, yeah, if Lincoln was taken prisoner, what would the likely outcome be? keep in mind that the earliest time that this would likely happen would be March of 1864, when Grant decided to suspend the exchange of POWs between the Union and Confederate camps, which is apparently around the time that Booth came up with the plan. would he be returned mostly without incident following the war, or would an angry Southerner decide to fuck everything up by killing Lincoln after the war ends?
perhaps more importantly, were there any situations where Booth and his group would have the chance to do this?