Lincoln Assassination :: essays research papers

he capital of Nebraska AssassinationOn April, 14 1865 President Abraham capital of Nebraska was shot while watching a performance of An American Cousin at Fords Theater. President capital of Nebraska died the next morning. The person who had killed Lincoln was John Wilkes Booth.     A few days before he was killed, Lincoln had told his spouse about a dream he had, he saw a president shrouded on a catafalque in the east room of the White House. Even later on this dream he attended An American Cousin at Fords Theater.     John Wilkes Booth thought the president was determined to destroy the constitution, set aside the rights reserved to the states, crush civil liberties, and restore monarchy. He saw the confederacy was the only means to of upholding the values of the founding fathers. He devoted much of late 1864 and early 1865 to a series of plots to abduct Lincoln and use his capture to nullify the Unions war aims. Every scheme ending in frus tration. After Lee had surrendered to the Army of the Potomac, in the consequence week of April, he saw that only the most desperate measures offered any hope of salvaging the Southern Cause.     Shortly before he went into the theater, he stopped at tavern for a drink. While in the bar an acquaintance jokingly remarked that "he would never be as great as his father," Booth replied by saying "When I leave the stage, I will be the most talked about man in America."The Atlanta Campaign of 1864     In the spring of 1864, Gen. W. T. Sherman saturated the Union armies of G. H. Thomas, J. B. McPherson, and J. M. Schofield around Chattanooga. On May 6 he began to move along the railroad from Chattanooga to Atlanta. Sherman had two objectives, one was to destroy the army of superior general J. E. Johnston and the other was to capture Atlanta. Johnston realizing that he was outnumbered started to retreat south. Sherman tried a direct assault on Johnstons forces and was repulsed. Johnston had retreated back to the south bank of the Chattahoochee river. On July 17, John Bell Hood replaced Johnston as General. He tried to continue with Johnstons plan, but failed to stop the advance of Union troops. He retired to Atlanta, which Sherman soon had down the stairs bombardment. On September 1 Hood abandoned Atlanta, the next day Sherman moved in and burned it.The Maryland Invasion     A year after the confederate defeat at Gettysburg.