The Last Weeks of Abraham Lincoln: A Day-By-Day Account of His Personal, Political, and Military Challenges, Johnson David Alan

From March 4 to April 15, 1865--a momentous time for the nation--Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address, supervised climatic battles leading up to the end of the Civil War, learned that Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, and finally was killed by assassin John Wilkes Booth at Fords Theatre. Weaving an arresting narrative around the historical facts, historian David Alan Johnson brings to life the presidents daily routine, as he guided the country through one of the most tumultuous periods of American history.

The reader follows the president as he greets visitors at the inaugural ball, asks abolitionist Frederick Douglasss opinion of the inaugural address, confers with Generals Grant and Sherman on the final stages of the war, visits a field hospital for wounded outside City Point, Virginia, and attempts to calm his high-strung wife Mary, who appears on the verge of nervous collapse. We read excerpts from press reviews of Lincolns second inaugural address, learn that Mrs. Lincolns ball gown created a sensation, and are given eye-witness accounts of the celebrations and drunken revelry that broke out in Washington when the end of the war was announced.