In the days after Lincoln’s death, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton stepped in to run the country, making decisions great and small. This was because the new president, Andrew Johnson, was a weak-willed alcoholic whom nobody respected. The contours of what transpired are mostly known, but here are details about that tragic time you may not know. Victorians were obsessed with death and that was nowhere on greater display than in the outpouring of grief over Lincoln’s murder. Public and private buildings were swathed in black and everyones left arm had a mourning band. The men carrying the President’s body past Mary Lincoln’s White House bedroom took off their shoes in an effort not to disturb her; she was already disturbed enough. A sketch of the funeral in the East Room shows her near the coffin, but she never made an appearance. Other oddities occurred too.
© 2024 John Oliver
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