Episode 66 - A President for the Ages

On March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln delivered his Second Inaugural Address. He named slavery as the cause of the war and closed with 'With malice toward none.' Six weeks later, at Ford's Theatre on April 14, John Wilkes Booth shot him. Lincoln died the next morning. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton spoke: 'Now he belongs to the ages.'

On April 19, he became the first president to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. A 1,650-mile funeral train carried him home to Springfield. Between one and one-and-a-half million Americans viewed his body; more than seven million witnessed the train or the processions. It was the largest public mourning event in American history to that point.

Key Takeaways

On March 4, 1865, Lincoln delivered his Second Inaugural Address on the east front of the U.S. Capitol. The speech was brief (about 700 words) and pointedly named slavery as the cause of the war. No previous presidential address had done so directly.
Lincoln closed with what became the most quoted line in his second term: "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan."
Within a month, Petersburg fell, Richmond was evacuated, and Lee surrendered at Appomattox on April 9. The war was effectively over.
On the evening of April 14, 1865, Lincoln attended Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre. John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer whose original plan had been to kidnap the president, entered the presidential box at approximately 10:15 p.m. and shot Lincoln in the head. Lincoln was carried across the street to the Petersen House. He died at 7:22 a.m. on April 15. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton spoke the words: "Now he belongs to the ages."
On April 19, Lincoln became the first president to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda, establishing a tradition later used for other national leaders. Crowds stretched for blocks. Booth, meanwhile, fled south; a twelve-day manhunt ended when Union soldiers cornered him at a Virginia farm and killed him.
The funeral train carrying Lincoln's body retraced much of the route he had traveled to Washington in 1861: 1,650 miles, nearly two weeks, stopping in Philadelphia, New York, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Chicago, and dozens of other cities. Between one and one-and-a-half million Americans viewed the body. More than seven million witnessed the train or related processions. In a nation of about 35 million, it was the largest public mourning event in American history to that point. On May 4, 1865, Lincoln was buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.

Questions & Answers:

Q1: What was the main message of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address?

In just over 700 words, Lincoln did two things. First, he named slavery directly as the cause of the war (something no previous presidential address had done). Second, he framed the nation's obligation going forward as one of reconciliation, not vengeance. The closing paragraph, 'With malice toward none, with charity for all,' became one of the most quoted passages in American political history. Lincoln was speaking to the country he expected to rebuild after the war ended.

Q2: When and where was Lincoln assassinated?

On the evening of April 14, 1865, Good Friday, Lincoln attended a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. At approximately 10:15 p.m., John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor and Confederate sympathizer, entered the presidential box and shot Lincoln in the head from behind. Doctors carried Lincoln across the street to the Petersen House. He died at 7:22 a.m. the next morning, April 15, 1865.

Q3: Who said 'Now he belongs to the ages'?

Secretary of War Edwin Stanton spoke the words at Lincoln's deathbed in the Petersen House on the morning of April 15, 1865, shortly after Lincoln died. The exact phrasing has been debated by historians (some sources record 'Now he belongs to the angels'), but 'Now he belongs to the ages' is the version that entered the historical record and is inscribed on the walls of the Ford's Theatre museum.

Q4: How long was Lincoln's funeral train and how many people saw it?

The funeral train carried Lincoln's body from Washington back to Springfield, Illinois, retracing much of the route he had traveled to Washington in 1861. The journey covered roughly 1,650 miles and lasted nearly two weeks, stopping in Philadelphia, New York, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Chicago, and dozens of other cities. Between one and one-and-a-half million Americans viewed his body directly. More than seven million witnessed the train or the processions that accompanied it. In a nation of about 35 million people, that made it the largest public mourning event in American history to that point.

Q5: What happened to John Wilkes Booth?

Booth fled Washington the night of the assassination, injuring his leg jumping to the stage after the shot. He escaped south into Virginia, and Union troops pursued him for twelve days. On April 26, 1865, soldiers cornered Booth at a farm near Port Royal, Virginia. He was shot and killed. Several of his conspirators were later tried by a military tribunal; four were hanged in July 1865, including Mary Surratt, the first woman executed by the U.S. federal government.

March 4, 1865

On March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln stood on the east front of the United States Capitol and delivered his Second Inaugural Address. The Civil War had not yet ended, but its outcome was becoming increasingly clear. The president used the occasion to reflect on the war and America's future following the war. The weeks that followed would bring victory. They would also bring a final strike against Lincoln's vision for national unity. Just weeks after President Lincoln called the nation to a vision of reconciliation, America would mourn his untimely death.

The State of the Union in Early 1865

As Lincoln took the oath of office for a second time, Richmond remained the Confederate capital, and Robert E. Lee's army continued to defend the lines around Petersburg. Lee's soldiers, however, were hungry, exhausted, and increasingly unable to replace losses from combat and desertion. General William Tecumseh Sherman had completed his March to the Sea and was advancing through the Carolinas.

Only weeks before the inauguration, Congress had approved the Thirteenth Amendment and sent it to the states for ratification. The destruction of slavery now seemed certain. Lincoln had already begun thinking beyond military victory. His attention was turning toward Reconstruction and the difficult task of restoring the Union.

The Second Inaugural Address

The Second Inaugural Address reflected those concerns. The speech was remarkably brief, more than twice as long as his Gettysburg Address but even then only about seven hundred words. Many listeners expected a celebration of Union success. Instead, Lincoln reflected on the war's causes and what lay in the nation's future.

Slavery Named as the Cause of the War

Most centrally, the president remarked on the role of slavery: "One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war." No previous presidential speech had identified slavery so directly as the central cause of the conflict. Both North and South, Lincoln observed, prayed to the same God and read the same Bible. However, he observed: "The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes." Then he quoted the Gospel: "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." What offense? The offense of slavery. And now God had allowed "this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom this offense came."

If the war were to continue, it would, Lincoln declared, be a matter of God's will "until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said," and here the president cited a line from Psalm 19, "'the judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'"

"With Malice Toward None"

Then the president pointed to the near future, beyond the end of the war, and toward reconciliation: "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

The War Ends: Petersburg, Richmond, Appomattox

Within a month, Petersburg fell. Richmond was evacuated. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9. The war was finally ending. Americans celebrated the long-awaited victory and anticipated a return to peace.

Ford's Theatre, April 14, 1865

Then tragedy struck. On the evening of April 14, Lincoln attended a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington. Among those in attendance was John Wilkes Booth, an actor and committed Confederate sympathizer. Booth and his associates had planned to kidnap the president. As Confederate hopes collapsed, they turned instead to assassination. At approximately 10:15 p.m., Booth entered the presidential box, approached Lincoln from behind, and shot him in the head.

The Petersen House and Lincoln's Death

Doctors quickly determined that Lincoln could not survive. Because moving him a long distance was impossible, he was carried across the street to the Petersen House. Lincoln never regained consciousness. Throughout the night, those assembled could do little except wait and hope. At 7:22 a.m. on April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton remarked: "Now he belongs to the ages." Booth fled Washington. After a twelve-day manhunt, Union soldiers cornered him at a Virginia farm, where he was shot and killed.

The First President to Lie in State

On April 19, Lincoln became the first president to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. The ceremony established a tradition that would later be used for other national leaders. Crowds stretched for blocks as mourners waited patiently for a final glimpse of the fallen president.

The 1,650-Mile Funeral Train

The funeral soon expanded into a national event. Lincoln's body was placed aboard a funeral train that retraced much of the route he had traveled to Washington in 1861. The journey covered roughly 1,650 miles and lasted nearly two weeks. The train stopped in Philadelphia, New York, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Chicago, and many other towns and cities. Everywhere it traveled, enormous crowds gathered. The locomotive was draped in black mourning cloth, and churches rang bells as it passed. Between one and one-and-a-half million Americans viewed Lincoln's body.

More than seven million others witnessed the funeral train or related processions. That was in a nation of about thirty-five million people. The funeral became the largest public mourning event in American history up to that point. On May 4, 1865, Lincoln was buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. The long journey finally ended in the town he had called home. His memory endures. Consistently in surveys of historians and citizens, Abraham Lincoln ranks first among our greatest presidents.