shared with them their own rations until food enough could be drawn from the trains for the needs of both, and they who had lately been the bitterest of enemies lay down together like the best of friends. In a few days most of the Union army returned to Petersburg and Richmond, and the Confederates went back to their homes to begin life over again and to build up anew what had been sacrificed in the great civil war.

The news of Lee's surrender was received with the greatest joy throughout the loyal States, for it was looked upon everywhere as the end of the war. Peace, so long wished for, had come at last. Secretary Stanton telegraphed an order to the headquarters of all the armies and to every fort and arsenal of the United States to fire a salute of two hundred guns in honor of the event; and to Grant the following: "Thanks be to Almighty God for the great victory with which He has this day crowned you and the gallant armies under your command! The thanks of this Department and of the Government and of the people of the United States-their reverence and honor have been deserved-will be rendered to you and the brave and gallant officers and soldiers of your army for all time."

CHAPTER XLIV.

DEATH OF LINCOLN.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN IN RICHMOND.-HIS LAST SPEECH.-THREATS OF ASSASSINATION.-GRANT IN WASHINGTON.-ROBERT LINCOLN.-LEE'S SURRENDER. AT THE THEATRE. - JOHN WILKES BOOTH.-THE FATAL SHOT.-SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS-THE ASSASSIN'S ESCAPE.DEATH OF LINCOLN.-POWELL ATTACKS SECRETARY SEWARD.-REWARD FOR JEFFERSON DAVIS.-DEATH OF BOOTH.- UNIVERSAL SORROW.-WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE.— FUNERAL HONORS.-AT REST.-PRESIDENT JOHNSON.

MR.

R. LINCOLN had been with Grant at City Point for several days before the surrender of Lee. The day after the evacuation of Richmond he went up to the city with Admiral Porter, and after a short rest at General Weitzel's quarters, the former residence of President Davis, rode in an open carriage through the principal parts of the city. He returned to City Point at night, but two days afterward (April 6) went to Richmond again, accompanied by Mrs. Lincoln, Vice-President Johnson, and other prominent people, and he did not return to Washington until the 9th of April, the day of Lee's surrender. On the night of the 11th the grounds of the White House were brilliantly lighted and a brass band was playing national airs. When the great crowd which had assembled there called loudly for him he came out and made a short speech, in which he showed that, while he gave due honor and praise to the gallant men who had brought the war to a triumphal end, he had no bitterness of feeling for those who had struggled so long in what he believed to be a wrong cause. This was his last speech in public. Three days afterward he fell by the hand of the assassin.

President Lincoln had been several times threatened with assassination, but being by nature fearless he had paid no attention to the wishes of his friends that he would take precautions against danger of that kind. Many thought that his visit to Richmond so soon after the evacuation, when the passions of men were still inflamed, was a foolish exposure of his person; but he could not be led to believe that the President of a free people was not safe everywhere. As he felt kindly toward every one, he was loth to think that any, even of those who had

37 2017 7 2008 20 g the President, sccompanied IT IS VIA, ANcher lady, and hayr H. R. Rathbone, took their 838 11 de 23 a de tems vich had been prepared for the parry, de bon being descarred with dys A few minutes pust 220 7'aboek vien vere many watching the play, an actor named Jan We Booth son of the famous English mareda 712s Booth, ered the President's box, and, stelling my behind Mr. Lincoln, par a pistol to the back of his band and fad. The stand of the shot rang through the house and started every one. Major Rathbone sprang to his feet and med to site the assassin, whom he saw indistinctly through the smoke which narly filed the box. Booth struck him in the left arm with a daggen, and mushing to the front shouted, →Sie semper tyrannis""* and leaped over the railing upon the stage. As he did so one of his spurs caught in the flag in front of the box, causing him to fall and sprain his ankle badly; but he quickly sprang to his feet, and brandishing his dagger again, shouted, "The South is avenged!" In the confusion he escaped through the back of the stage, mounted a horse which

"Latin for “So be it always with tyrants," the motto of the State of Virginia.

1865.]

THE FATAL SHOT.

543

was awaiting him in a back street, and rode safely out of the city.

President Lincoln probably never knew what had happened. The ball passed through his brain; his head fell forward, his eyes closed, and he uttered no sound. He was carried from the theatre to a house across the street and laid upon a bed, where he died the next morning, surrounded by the officers of the Government and many other prominent persons.

At the same time when Booth entered the theatre, another person named Lewis Payne Powell made his way into the house of Secretary Seward, who was confined to his bed from injuries received by being thrown from his carriage, and tried to kill him with a bowie-knife. He gave him three stabs, none of which were fatal, and succeeded in escaping. Attempts to

assassinate other Cabinet ministers also met with failure. In the excitement of the moment it was believed that the Confederate Government was concerned in the murder of Mr. Lincoln, and President Johnson issued a proclamation offering a reward of $100,000 for the arrest of Jefferson Davis, and smaller sums for other Confederates supposed to have been engaged in the plot. But when the facts became known it was made clear that it was the work of only a few desperate persons, and that neither Mr. Davis nor any of those charged with the crime in the proclamation knew anything about it. Booth was soon after shot in a barn in Virginia by his pursuers, who tracked him thither. Payne also was arrested and hung with three other persons engaged in the plot, and several more were imprisoned.

The death of President Lincoln was the cause of almost universal sorrow. His course throughout the war had won him the love of the people, and even his enemies, if he could be said to have any, had learned to respect his honesty and his evidently sincere desire to do what he believed to be for the good of the whole country. He had earnestly looked forward to the time when the civil strife should cease and the disbanded armies should again take their places in the field and the workshop, and it is believed by those who knew him best that it was his intention to extend a kindly hand to those who had borne arms against the Government, and to welcome them

back as erring brethren. His loving heart is best shown in the closing sentence of his last inaugural address, written only a few weeks before his death: "With malice toward none, with charity for all-with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are engaged in; to bind up the wounds of our nation; to care for him who has borne the battle, and for his widow and orphan; and to do all which may achieve a just and a lasting peace among ourselves, and between us and all other nations."

President Lincoln's body was embalmed, and after funeral services in Washington was borne in solemn procession, over the same route which he had travelled when he went to Washington to become President, to his home in Springfield, Illinois. It lay in state in most of the large cities through which the funeral train passed, and at every village and station on the long route great crowds gathered with tokens of love and grief. The dead President was at last laid to rest in Oak Ridge Cemetery, near Springfield, where a splendid monument, crowned with his statue, has since (1874) been erected to his memory.

Though the head of the nation was thus stricken down, it was followed by no confusion such as is sometimes seen in monarchical governments, where the succession is frequently a cause of dispute. Six hours after the President's death the oath of office was taken by the Vice-President before ChiefJustice Chase, and Andrew Johnson became President of the United States.