{"id":4730,"date":"2006-04-14T12:21:17","date_gmt":"2006-04-14T16:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=4730"},"modified":"2022-10-09T23:59:56","modified_gmt":"2022-10-10T03:59:56","slug":"today-in-history-april-14-1865","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=4730","title":{"rendered":"Today in History: April 14, 1865"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Jay Winik’s book April 1865: The Month That Saved America (P.S.)<\/a>\"\"<\/i>:<\/p>\n

But in the chill, early morning of Good Friday, April 14, Lincoln wakes refreshed, around 7 a.m., and in a good mood. It is a rare occurrence, and he takes it as a good omen. Last night there were no nightmares, no haunting visages, no frantic worries about ending the war and negotiating the foundering shoals of Reconstruction. True, there has been a dream, but this time it is a heartening one, in fact, the one that has come to him before on the cusp of other major military battles. He had it on the verge of Antietam and Gettysburg, and also Vicksburg and Fort Fisher, all-important Union victories. In it, he is on a phantom ship, a “single, indescribable vessel” that moves with “great rapidity” through the water, racing toward a “vast” and “indefinite shore”. To Lincoln, rising on this day, it signals good news. He feels that it augurs Joe Johnston’s surrender in North Carolina, thereby removing the most powerful Confederate army remaining in the field, and making another large-scale rebel assault almost impossible. It speaks of peace to come. And it fills him with a visible blast of optimism.<\/p>\n

Before breakfast, he lights the fireplace in his office. By the time he has finished his morning meal — dining cozily with Mary and then joined by his son Robert — and makes his way to an 11 a.m. meeting with Grant and the cabinet, he is in “great spirits”, appearing more “cheerful and happy” than many of his secretaries had ever seen him. It is infectious; Mary Lincoln will even note that these last few days have been “the happiest of her life”. And Lincoln is determined that the mood will not abate.<\/p>\n

Today, Good Friday, will certainly not be spent in morbid contemplation or prayer at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church listening to Reverend Phineas D. Gurley, or simply more fussing and fretting over the war. Today, he wants something that will make him laugh. So this evening he plans to take Mary to see the eccentric English comedy Our American Cousin<\/i>. It stars the famous English actress Miss Laura Keene, in her very last performance. He and Mary intend to go with General Grant and his wife, and the papers will officially announce their plans.<\/p>\n

The comedy is playing at the Tenth Street theater, between E and F streets. At Ford’s.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, while sitting in the presidential box at Ford’s Theatre – at 10 pm on April 14, 1865. Lincoln died the next morning. A couple of days later, the War Department issued wanted posters for the arrest of Booth. There’s an image of one of those posters below that I found online.<\/p>\n

Here is a timeline of these events.<\/a><\/p>\n