The Final Curtain

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States

You have endured four years of the bloodiest war in American history. You have suspended habeas corpus, issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and held the Union together through sheer force of will. Five days ago, Robert E. Lee surrendered. The war is effectively over, though scattered Confederate forces remain. But victory brings its own burdens. Radical Republicans in your own party want to punish the South harshly. Southern sympathizers in Washington still seethe with hatred. Your bodyguard has warned you repeatedly about the threats against your life, but you have always dismissed them. Tonight, you and Mary are expected at Ford's Theatre. General Grant was to join you but canceled. You have a nagging feeling about the evening, but the public expects to see their president celebrating.

Five days after Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Washington is drunk on victory. Flags hang from every building. Soldiers celebrate in taverns. But the joy is fragile. The nation is broken — 620,000 dead, the South in ruins, and the question of how to rebuild threatens to tear the victors apart as surely as the war tore the nation. President Lincoln has been invited to Ford's Theatre tonight for a performance of 'Our American Cousin.' The city buzzes with celebration, but beneath the revelry, Confederate sympathizers and bitter-enders still lurk in the shadows of the capital.