The war had finally reached an end after General Lee surrendered at Appomattox on April 9, 1865. The Confederacy had been defeated, the Union was preserved, and slavery was abolished. Five days later Lincoln had been watching a play with his wife at Ford’s Theatre, when he was shot by a Confederate sympathizer named John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln was pronounced dead the following morning on May 15, 1685. A well-known quote that came after his death was from a cabinet member was “Now he belongs to the ages”. The news of the President’s death spread quickly and soon the entire nation was mourning. Lincoln was an …show more content…
Robert E. Lee, the Confederate General whose surrender ended the war, made the statement that Lincoln was the “epitome of magnanimity and good faith”. He described Lincoln as generous, calm and able to disdain from being unkind. Someone else wrote that “... death has suddenly opened the eyes of the people to the fact that a hero has been holding high place among them for four years”. This quotation meant that Lincoln was not recognized as highly as he deserved and that his greatness had been ignored for years by many who cherished him after his death. Lincoln’s death opened the eyes of many to his impact on the nation. Along with the kind words of many who may have known Lincoln, or just admired his accomplishments, there are numerous poems written to further pay tribute to the President, including examples such as “The Martyr” by Hermann Melville and “Abraham Lincoln walks at midnight” by Vachel Lindsay. This positive image of Lincoln is not exclusive to writers who have paid tribute, but is widely agreed on by a good majority of the population of the United States and beyond. Lincoln is often considered the greatest President in all of