The Last Weeks of Abraham Lincoln: A Day-by-Day Account of His Personal, Political, and Military Challenges

by David Alan Johnson

Overview

This day-by-day account of Abraham Lincoln's last six weeks of life covers a period of extraordinary events, not only for the president himself but for the fate of the nation.From March 4 to April 15, 1865—a momentous time for the nation—Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address, supervised climatic battles leading up to the end of the Civil War, learned that Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, and finally was killed by assassin John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre. Weaving an arresting narrative around the historical facts, historian David Alan Johnson brings to life the president's daily routine, as he guided the country through one of the most tumultuous periods of American history.The reader follows the president as he greets visitors at the inaugural ball, asks abolitionist Frederick Douglass's opinion of the inaugural address, confers with Generals Grant and Sherman on the final stages of the war, visits a field hospital for wounded outside City Point, Virginia, and attempts to calm his high-strung wife Mary, who appears on the verge of nervous collapse. We read excerpts from press reviews of Lincoln's second inaugural address, learn that Mrs. Lincoln's ball gown created a sensation, and are given eye-witness accounts of the celebrations and drunken revelry that broke out in Washington when the end of the war was announced.This engagingly written narrative history of a short but extremely important span of days vividly depicts the actions and thoughts of one of our greatest presidents during a time of national emergency.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633888142
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/01/2022
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	1,061,005
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

David Alan Johnson is the author of thirteen books, including Yanks in the RAF: The Story of Maverick Pilots and American Volunteers Who Joined Britain's Fight in WWII; The Battle of Britain: The American Factor; and Decided on the Battlefield: Grant, Sherman, Lincoln, and the Election of 1864.

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Introduction
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Excerpted from "The Last Weeks of Abraham Lincoln"
by .
Copyright © 2018 David Alan Johnson.
Excerpted by permission of Prometheus Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 9

Introduction 11

March 4, 1865, Saturday: A Sacred Effort 19

March 5, 1865, Sunday: A Welcome Relief 35

March 6, 1865, Monday: Inauguration Ball 39

March 7, 1865, Tuesday: Office Routine 43

March 8, 1865, Wednesday: Political Affairs 47

March 9, 1865, Thursday: Communications with General Grant 49

March 10, 1865, Friday: Day of Rest 53

March 11 and 12, 1865, Saturday and Sunday: Life and Death Decisions 55

March 13, 1865, Monday: Not Sick, Just Tired 57

March 14, 1865, Tuesday: Cabinet Meeting 59

March 15, 1865, Wednesday: Evening at Grover's Theatre 61

March 16, 1865, Thursday: Tad 65

March 17, 1865, Friday: The President Thinks Ahead 67

March 18 and 19, 1865, Saturday and Sunday: Executive Decisions 69

March 20, 1865, Monday: City Point 73

March 21, 1865, Tuesday: Lincoln Decides to Take a Trip 77

March 22, 1865, Wednesday: A Flattering Letter 83

March 23, 1865, Thursday: Heading for City Point 85

March 24, 1865, Friday: Arrival 89

March 25, 1865, Saturday: Visiting a Battlefield 93

March 26, 1865, Sunday: The Presidentress 99

March 27, 1865, Monday: Aboard the River Queen 113

March 28, 1865, Tuesday: "Let Them All Go" 121

March 29, 1865, Wednesday: "Your Success Is My Success" 129

March 30, 1865, Thursday: War Nerves 135

March 31, 1865, Friday: Much Hard Fighting 141

April 1, 1865, Saturday: Anxiety at City Point 145

April 2, 1865, Sunday: Messages for General Grant 151

April 3, 1865, Monday: "Get Them to Plowing Once" 159

April 4, 1865, Tuesday: The President Visits Richmond 169

April 5, 1865, Wednesday: Return to City Point 181

April 6, 1865, Thursday: Bringing the Fighting to an End 189

April 7, 1865, Friday: "Let the Thing Be Pressed" 195

April 8, 1865, Saturday: A Hospital Visit and a Reception 207

April 9, 1865, Sunday: "Lee Has Surrendered" 217

April 10, 1865, Monday: Return to the White House 229

April 11, 1865, Tuesday: A Fair Speech 237

April 12, 1865, Wednesday: Only a Dream 243

April 13, 1865, Thursday: "Melancholy Seemed to Be Dripping From Him" 251

April 14, 1865, Friday: Ford's Theatre 255

April 15, 1865, Saturday: A New World 287

Epilogue: "The Loss This Country Has Suffered" 303

Appendix 319

Notes 337

Index 377

Editorial Reviews

"More than history or chronology, Johnson's vivid account of Lincoln's final days reads like you-are-there journalism—vivid, concise, and alive with drama. To experience this story is to re-imagine the anxieties and aspirations, the triumph and tragedy, of the end of the Civil War.” —Harold Holzer, winner of the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize“Johnson has once again demonstrated his thorough grasp of his subject, describing with easy prose and insightful interpretation the stirring last days of Abraham Lincoln. His day-to-day assessment of the events brings the reader closer to an understanding and appreciation of Lincoln's personal relationships, his tragic death, and his perspective on war and peace.” —Michael E. Haskew, author of West Point 1915: Eisenhower, Bradley, and the Class the Stars Fell On and Appomattox: The Last Days of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia“This fascinating book is clearly written, telling the story of Lincoln's last weeks in an exciting manner, and is the product of considerable research. Johnson brings out Lincoln's character well, showing how he desired to heal the wounds of the war not take revenge on the losers. Johnson makes it plain that had Lincoln lived, the subsequent history of the United States and possibly the world would have been very different.”—Peter Hammond, British historian

From the Publisher

08/27/2018
Johnson (Battle of Wills: Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, and the Last Year of the Civil War) provides a different perspective on events known to those familiar with Lincoln. Some of the facts he includes, such as that Southern slaves joined the Confederate Army and that there was a suspected attempt on Lincoln’s life on board the River Queen en route back to Washington, will be new to many readers, but the book’s strength lies in the format: by going through Lincoln’s days in detail, it inevitably includes the prosaic as well as the historic. For example, in mid-March, an exhausted Lincoln decided that he needed two days in bed to regain his strength, and, on April 3, a conference he held with Ulysses Grant about postconflict planning was interrupted when one of Grant’s aides realized that 11-year-old Tad Lincoln needed lunch. Johnson makes Lincoln, and the events leading up to the end of the Civil War, both vivid and relatable; he describes the tragedy at Ford’s Theater initially from the vantage point of the audience before moving on to the perspective of those in Lincoln’s box. The end result is an accessible and fresh look at one of the most consequential periods in U.S. history. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly