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"It is, of course, impossible to speak of the Civil War without mentioning what happened five days after General Lee surrendered.

"On April 14, 1865, General Grant and President Lincoln went together to see a play at Ford's Theatre. Grant had initially rebuffed the invitation, due to some enmity between his wife and Lincoln's, but he was eventually convinced to go. They left the White House around twenty-o'clock and arrived thirty minutes later.

"Simultaneously, a young and well-regarded actor by the name of John Wilkes Booth prepared for his role. But he would not be acting in the play - he was, in fact, a Confederate sympathizer who desired the deaths of Lincoln and Grant. He would achieve one of those that night.

"Somewhere around twenty-two at twenty, Booth quietly entered the Presidential Box. He approached Lincoln first and fired his single-shot Deringer pistol directly at his head.

"The gun jammed, sparing Lincoln, but Booth had also brought a knife. As Lincoln turned around, he first saw the actor Booth whom he held in high regard - then the animal grin on his face and the blade in his hand.

"Lincoln dodged just as the knife came down. It slashed across his left shoulder, and clattered to the floor. Booth saw the President moving towards him and whirled around, seeing the half-awake Union general.

"Booth later stated at his trial that "If I could not kill the King of Hell, I would settle for a Duke." He advanced on the General - historians dispute whether Grant's lack of effective reaction was due to intoxication, or merely being caught by surprise - and, grabbing him by the mid-section, went toward the balcony. Before anyone could react, the two fell through a number of banners and flags before coming to a stop on-stage.

"Booth survived with a broken arm. Grant was not as lucky. He landed on his head and immediately went into a coma - one from which he never awoke."

-Win Castillo, The American Civil War (Nicaragua State Press, 1978)


"Not since the redcoats' boots marched on American shores has our nation fallen victim to such dire villainy as that of the Confederate armies, and not since the days of Washington, Jefferson, and Paine has it seen such great triumph as that of the armies of General Grant against them. Now, General Grant belongs to the ages alone, sent by the most wicked deed of our time to take his place within the ranks of the army of God himself.

"The mouth of Slander has been silenced and the hands of Obloquy have been stilled. From the shores of the Atlantic to the coasts of the Pacific, the nation weeps in memory of the man who, with his strength, his courage, his intelligence, and his will, made America whole again. From the palaces of the Emperor of China to the docks of Monrovia, the world mourns the man who brought the light of freedom against the darkness of slavery."

"We mourn the man who was and the man who would have been. As I look on into the future, I know that that which will fill me with the most pride is the simple sentence, 'I served under General Grant.'"

-Anonymous letter, published by Chicago Daily Tribune, April 15, 1865
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