Tuesday; April 14
On this day in 1865 the recently “united” states went from a period of respite to one of grief. On April 9, General Lee had surrendered to General Grant and the hope for a peaceful restoration of the nation began to be felt. However, on April 14 President Lincoln was shot in Washington, D. C. and by 8:00 a.m. on the 15 th , he was dead. The perpetrator of the assassination of the president was John Wilkes Booth whose hatred consumed him to the end. Within a few days, he would be killed in Virginia; however, that wasn’t the end of the conspiracy. Before the judicial diaries were closed, four others would die on the gallows (including one woman) and four others were sentenced to prison. I can’t say that Booth was completely responsible for the fates of the others, but history seems to confirm that his influence contributed to their actions. As I was thinking about this the other day, I came across this bit of wisdom, “Do not associate with a man...