alternatehistory.com

During Early's attack on Washington in '64, there was a chance that the Federal President could be killed.

"Still, Confederate sharpshooters probably could not have believed their eyes when during the first afternoon of the Battle of Fort Stevens a lanky, bearded man in a dark suit and stovepipe hat emerged on the fort’s earthen parapets. Discouraged by the elaborate defenses that had been erected and concerned about his tired soldiers wilting in the blistering heat, Early had held back on a major assault, but Confederate snipers trained to hit targets from distances of 800 yards or more were firing shots from perches in trees, cornfields and houses. One of those shots rang out and struck the president in the left temple, who was standing on the parapet surveying the enemy in the line of fire. The shot immediately killed Lincoln."

Bolded text added by me.
Source: http://www.history.com/news/lincolns-battlefield-brush-with-death-150-years-ago


With the Union deprived of its ablest political leader, does the Confederacy win independence?


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