| | Abraham Lincoln was the subject of death threats almost from the day he was elected [[President of the United States of America|president]] in November of 1860. This made his trip to [[Washington]] and his 1861 inauguration all the more harrowing, at least to his bodyguards; at one point he switched [[train]]s in [[Baltimore]] and arrived at the Capitol in disguise. In the summer of 1862 an unknown assailant managed to fire a bullet at him, putting a hole in his stovepipe hat as he was riding in a carriage for the Old Soldiers Home just 3 miles north of Washington (TL 26, pg. 10). | | Abraham Lincoln was the subject of death threats almost from the day he was elected [[President of the United States of America|president]] in November of 1860. This made his trip to [[Washington]] and his 1861 inauguration all the more harrowing, at least to his bodyguards; at one point he switched [[train]]s in [[Baltimore]] and arrived at the Capitol in disguise. In the summer of 1862 an unknown assailant managed to fire a bullet at him, putting a hole in his stovepipe hat as he was riding in a carriage for the Old Soldiers Home just 3 miles north of Washington (TL 26, pg. 10). |
| − | As the Civil War was drawing to a close, there were many in the South who sought the means to end the war on their terms. Advertisements ran in Southern [[newspaper|papers]] calling for the killing of the president, with the payment of large rewards to the men who made it happen. One such add was placed in an [[Alabama]] newspaper by George Washington Gayle, who promised his fellow Southerners that if funds were raised to a total of one million dollars, he would personally see to it that Lincoln's end was violent (TL 26, pg. 11). Both Lincoln's personal bodyguard, the barrel-chested Ward Hill Lamon, and the Secretary of War [[Edwin M. Stanton]], were fearful for the president, having heard rumors and more against Lincoln's life. Occasionally he would laugh off such rumors, and sometimes he would quietly acquiesce to heeding their advice. But during the years of war, he was often heading out to the [[War Department]], usually walking alone (TL 26, pg. 11). | + | As the [[Civil War]] was drawing to a close, there were many in the South who sought the means to end the war on their terms. Advertisements ran in Southern [[newspaper|papers]] calling for the killing of the president, with the payment of large rewards to the men who made it happen. One such add was placed in an [[Alabama]] newspaper by George Washington Gayle, who promised his fellow Southerners that if funds were raised to a total of one million dollars, he would personally see to it that Lincoln's end was violent (TL 26, pg. 11). Both Lincoln's personal bodyguard, the barrel-chested Ward Hill Lamon, and the Secretary of War [[Edwin M. Stanton]], were fearful for the president, having heard rumors and more against Lincoln's life. Occasionally he would laugh off such rumors, and sometimes he would quietly acquiesce to heeding their advice. But during the years of war, he was often heading out to the [[War Department]], usually walking alone (TL 26, pg. 11). |
| | On the evening of April 11, 1865, Lincoln was entertaining Lamon and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, who pressed him about the strange [[dream]]s he had been having. Lamon related what he said later: | | On the evening of April 11, 1865, Lincoln was entertaining Lamon and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, who pressed him about the strange [[dream]]s he had been having. Lamon related what he said later: |