U. S. Presidents
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
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| On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington by John Wilkes Booth.
Lincoln was born Feb. 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky, and moved to Indiana when he was eight. His mother died when he was ten. He married Mary Todd, and they had four boys, only one of whom lived to maturity. He was a captain in the Black Hawk War, and spent eight years in the Illinois legislature. In 1858 Lincoln ran against Stephen A. Douglas for Senator. He lost the election, but in debating with Douglas he gained a national reputation that won him the Republican nomination for President in 1860. Lincoln thought secession illegal, and was willing to use force to defend Federal law and the Union. When Confederate batteries fired on Fort Sumter and forced its surrender, he called on the states for 75,000 volunteers. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy. Lincoln won re-election in 1864, as Union military triumphs heralded an end to the war. In his planning for peace, the President was flexible and generous, encouraging Southerners to lay down their arms and join speedily in reunion |