Like a fugitive slave slipping silently through the night toward freedom, the prospect of emancipation was secretly moving toward reality after Union failure
at Richmond 150 years ago.
Gen. George B. McClellan had retreated at the beginning of July. Militarily, the Civil War was a stalemate. Something more had to be done.
The key to victory was emancipation, President Abraham Lincoln decided.
The Ford’s Theatre Society commemorates the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination on April 14 and 15, 2012. Events include an 8:45 a.m. wreath-laying ceremony on April 14 and interpretive talks by the National Park Service, as well as performances of the Society’s one-act play One Destiny and History on Foot walking tour, both of which chronicle the events leading up to the Lincoln assassination.
Posted in Event, Lincoln, Museums
Tagged WashingtonDC
Former Idaho Attorney General David Leroy is an Abe Lincoln buff, collecting articles including a life mask of the 16th U.S. president made five years before he was assassinated.
Since it was Lincoln’s presidential pen stroke that created Idaho Territory in 1863, Leroy is donating items from his personal collection to an exhibition that will accompany next year’s 150th anniversary celebration.
In the Land of Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln stands far taller than his 6-foot, 4-inch frame, a fact that encouraged Jackie Hogan to write a book about it.
Hogan, a professor at Bradley University who heads the school’s sociology department, said that she got the idea for her book, “Lincoln, Inc.: Selling the 16th President in Contemporary America,” after returning to this country in 2000, following a brief stint in Australia.
Posted in Arts/Books, Lincoln
Tagged Illinois
There is an old legend in Newark that her own John Veach was present during the shooting of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, and that Veach held Lincoln’s head in the theater. Veach was serving as inspector of military passes in Ford’s Theater during the close of the Civil War in 1865.
At the time, he was sitting with Major White in the rear of the theater. They were among the first people to assist the president. While rushing to the box, Veach saw the assassin Booth wave a dagger and cry, “Sic Semper Tyrannis,” then jump from the box rail to the stage.
Tagged Ohio, WashingtonDC
Mormons! America just can’t get enough of them.
They are running for president — not one, but two of them.
They have a runaway hit on Broadway.
And 150 years ago, they were running in the opposite direction of the Civil War.
In my roundup this morning, I pointed to a Washington Post report that the museum store at Ford’s Theatre has opted not to sell Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America, by Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, because it doesn’t meet the shop’s standards for accuracy and attribution.
The Ford’s site—and the museum and shop in its basement—are operated by the National Park Service.
Posted in Arts/Books, Lincoln, Opinion/Editorial
Tagged WashingtonDC
Washington Square in downtown Ottawa was the first destination Friday afternoon for the Hart family of Moline.
Their goal was to find the Looking for Lincoln storyboard in the park and then go on to look at the other three in town.
While most residents may no longer give the familiar storyboards about the life of Abraham Lincoln a second look, for some visitors, they are the first things they want to see in Ottawa.
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Apr | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||