Author:   W. Henry Pearce Date:1865 Annotation: Following the shooting, Booth fled to Maryland on horseback. A friend then helped him escape to Virginia. On April 26, two weeks after he had shot Lincoln, the army and Secret Service tracked…

Author:   J.B. Stonehouse Date:1865 Annotation: At noon on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Major General Robert Anderson raised the U.S. flag over Fort Sumter. It was the same flag that he had surrendered four years before. That evening, a…

Author:   Robert E. Lee Date:1865 Annotation: By April 1865, Grant’s army had cut off Lee’s supply lines, forcing Confederate forces to evacuate Petersburg and Richmond. Lee and his men retreated westward, but Grant’s troops overtook him about a hundred…

Author:   A.R. Lord Date:1865 Annotation: In March 1864, Lincoln gave Ulysses S. Grant command of all Union armies. Vowing to end the war within a year, Grant launched three major offenses. General Philip E. Sheridan’s task was to lay…

Author:   Mary Y. Prentiss Date:1865 Annotation: The 1864 presidential election was one of the most critical in American history. At stake was whether the war would end in unconditional surrender or a negotiated settlement, which might result in the…

Date:1865 Annotation: Twenty African-American men met African descent met with Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, and Major-Gen. Sherman, to discuss matters relating to the freedmen of the State of Georgia. Document: [New York, N.Y. February 13, 1865] MINUTES OF…

Author:   Samuel Thomas Date:1865 Annotation: Col. Samuel Thomas, a Freedmen’s Bureau official, describes the attitude of ex- Confederates toward the former slaves. Document: Wherever I go — the street, the shop, the house, or the steamboat — I hear…

Author:   Andrew Knox Date:1864 Annotation: A Union lieutenant in the 1st Connecticut Artillery offers his opinion of General George McClellan’s presidential campaign. Document: …Reinforcements are coming to this army daily so active times will soon be on hand. At…

Author:   National Union Free Convention Date:1864 Annotation: As their presidential nominee, the Democrats chose General George B. McClellan, who opposed the Emancipation Proclamation and who ran on a platform which condemned Lincoln for “four years of failure” and called…

Author:   Tobias Gibson Date:1864 Annotation: Slaves played a critical role in their own liberation. Southern slaves deserted plantations and fled to Union lines. Slaves also staged a few small insurrections during the war as the slave system itself began…

Author:   Christian M. Epperly Date:1864 Annotation: Military desertions were treated harshly. A Confederate soldier describes the fate of men who tried to leave their companies and were recaptured. Document: I haven’t any news to write to you at this…

Author:   Tobias Gibson Date:1864 Annotation: A supporter of the Confederacy criticizes the Union army of occupation. Document: I know you have reason to conclude that I have almost forgotten you, to judge by the infrequency of my letters to…