After the Civil War

Lincoln’s Death

Lincoln was elected president of the U.S. in 1860

During his presidency, Lincoln led the country through the Civil War where the Northern and Southern states fought each other in battles between 1861-1865. The south wanted to leave the United States! Lincoln very much believed the U.S. needed to stay together to stay strong!

Civil War quick facts

• Eleven Southern slave states seceded (“Confederacy”) and formed their own volunteer military.

• Southern armies fought against the U.S. federal government military (Union)

• Deadliest war in U.S. history

• Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery in the south.

The Civil War was the bloodiest war in U.S. history!

Over half a million U.S. citizens lost their lives in this horrific war!

After the Civil War…

• Many southerners were very angry that the North had defeated them.

• Some blamed President Lincoln for their defeat.

• One such man was a Virginia native named John Wilkes Booth

John Wilkes Booth

John Wilkes Booth snuck behind Lincoln while Lincoln enjoyed a play in Ford’s

Theater and shot him in the back of the head!

Lincoln, bleeding and weak, was taken to a hotel across the street from the theatre where he died a couple of days later.

Rewards were offered for the capture of the man who shot President Lincoln!

Finally, after two weeks, the military found Booth hiding on a farm in a barn. They set fire to the barn. Booth ran out and was shot to death!

A funeral train took Lincoln’s body across the country where people would come out to

mourn his passing.

People around the nation mourned the loss of a great leader.

In tribute to Lincoln, Walt Whitman, a teacher and journalist, wrote a famous

poem about the President’s death.

Walt Whitman quick facts

*He was from New York.

*He was against slavery.

*His brother fought for the Union (Northern) army.

*Whitman visited over 100,000 wounded Civil War veterans after the war ended.