Newburyport Public Library

Every drop of blood, the momentous second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, Edward Achorn

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Every drop of blood

bibliography

1124773828

Edward Achorn

the momentous second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln

"By March 4, 1865, the Civil War had slaughtered more than 700,000 Americans and left intractable wounds on the nation. That day, after a morning of rain-drenched fury, tens of thousands crowded Washington's Capitol grounds to see Abraham Lincoln take the oath for a second term. As the sun emerged, Lincoln rose to give perhaps the greatest inaugural address in American history, stunning the nation by arguing, in a brief 701 words, that both sides had been wrong, and that the war's unimaginable horrors-every drop of blood spilled-might well have been God's just verdict on the national sin of slavery. Edward Achorn reveals the nation's capital on that momentous day-with its mud, sewage, and saloons, its prostitutes, spies, reporters, social-climbing spouses, and power-hungry politicians-as a microcosm of all the opposing forces that had driven the country apart. Achorn weaves together the stories of the host of characters, unknown and famous, that had converged on Washington-from grievously wounded Union colonel Selden Connor in a Washington hospital, embarrassingly drunk new vice president Andrew Johnson, and poet-journalist Walt Whitman, to soldiers' advocate Clara Barton, African American leader Frederick Douglass (who called the speech "a sacred effort"), and conflicted actor John Wilkes Booth-all swirling around the complex figure of Lincoln. In indelible scenes, Achorn vividly captures the frenzy in the nation's capital at this crucial moment in America's history and the tension-filled hope and despair afflicting the country as a whole, soon to be heightened by Lincoln's assassination. His story offers new understanding of our great national crisis, and echoes down the decades to resonate in our own time"--, Provided by publisher

Bloody Gashes on the Face of Heaven -- One and a Half Times Bigger -- A Message from Grant -- The Real Precious and Royal Ones -- Meditation on the Divine Will -- Public Sentiment Is Everything -- Indefinable Fascination -- The Blighting Pestilence -- There Was Murder in the Air -- A Future with Hope in It -- Andy Ain't a Drunkard -- An Excellent Chance to Kill the President -- With Malice toward None -- A Truth That Needed to Be Told -- A Sacred Effort -- Epilogue: The Stuff to Carry Them Through

momentous second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln