The Death of Lincoln and the near death of the USA...... The horrors of April, May 1865.... A short history

General's Grant and Sherman follow the peaceful terms of Lincoln's reconstruction. They both push for peace after enduring the horrors of a civil war



U.S. Grant













Robert E. Lee sends a letter that will bring about a peaceful ending of the terrible war.





























Lincoln is never given the chance to bring the union together as he had wished and planned....Sadly John Wilkes Booth and Abraham Lincoln will forever be linked together....Lincoln the man who pushed for peace and Booth the man who robbed us of a peaceful reconstruction....

John W Booth

















Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865....Perhaps one of the greatest horrors of this nations history... Lincoln at this point of his life was ready to accept the south back to the union with open arms. Through Booth's actions, Lincoln was not here to lead it. As Lincoln said at his 2nd inauguration "Let us bind the nation's wounds". Andrew Johnson, who was Lincoln's Vice President is not of the feeling or caliber of Lincoln...has no idea what to do. But is clearly hostile with the south
Lincoln's cabinet is in conflict, the North is in conflict... The south was defeated, but no one seemed to want to understand or share Lincoln's view of welcoming back the south as a wayward brother.

Generals Grant and Sherman have gone out of their way to follow the thoughts and dreams of Lincoln. Lincoln's cabinet now free of his control, becomes more and more hostile to the south and to restoring the south to the union. The Congress wishes to punish the south.

Jefferson Davis the President of the Confederate States of America acts like a mad-man and tried to continue the battles while he himself is running for cover. He is encouraging gorilla warfare, and this would cause the war to continue for a greater period and for no true purpose. The was great trouble everywhere...The US goverment was in a sense at war with itself...Not sure where to go or what to do. The south was there ...broke and violated. The losses on both sides were beyond imagination... It was the most dreadful time in our history....The whole question of what this country would become was at stake....Lincoln was such a powerful force..that he left a tremendous vacume in his absence.

The hero of much of this amazingly, was Robert E. Lee. He had been the head of the army of Virginia for the south. He had surrendered to Grant on April 9, 1865. Grant following the dictates of Lincoln... offers Lee and his army complete amnesty and pardon to all as long as they are willing to embrace the USA as a whole and lay down their weapons and pick up their plows. Sherman gets General Johnson to surrender with the same warm terms.


The US government and Congress wants to punish the south and hang all the "traitors".

President Johnson gets on the band wagon as well....

Grant goes to President Johnson and tells him point blank ...If you arrest Robert E. Lee or General Johnson I resign.......


Robert E. Lee comes to rescue of the United States. He comes to the aid of the country he had just spend 4 years fighting against. He was above all a nobleman and step-grandson of George Washington. He did not dislike the United States, but his first love was to Virginia. Where Virginia went so did Lee. (One wonders what Washington would have done in the same situation???)

Lee writes an open letter to Jefferson Davis on April 20, 1865 saying to end it all and not to encourage gorilla warfare...To paraphase it Let's stop all this nonsense and try to restore this country!!

That letter is seen by many. The fortunate capture of Davis brings about a ending of warfare and the random shootings. By June of 1865 it is all over.

Lee, Grant, Sherman....all men of war, became the high priests of peace. They helped to end the war, sadly the politicians felt otherwise...and the age of occupation started in the south....Wounds were not healed, and instead of bringing in the wayward brother back into the fold as Lincoln wished....we slapped him in the face and punished, embarrassed, and belittled him. The wounds of the civil war were not bound as Lincoln wished....They were raw and open wounds for many years...not healing until well into the 20th century.

The Lusitania....The first modern superliner 1907-1915 .....A photo album of history

She was the first of her kind....a special ship that changed the world of ocean travel.....She took the Blue Ribbon for the fastest passage..and was the first Ocean greyhound to cross the Atlantic in less than 5 days.








She was destroyed through the stupidity of war and murder...This is a medal honoring the sinking of the ship by the Germans......Soon after the British issued thousands of them and blamed them on the Germans..














The Lusitania would be a calling card for getting men to join the army to fight the Huns.




















When the ship sank in 1915 she sank fast...also after her sinking her hull was used for target practice...and soon it was just a nearly unreconizable hulk.


















Here she moves out onto her maiden voyage in 1907










Her interiors were remarkable and quite beautiful. In fact she was more popular than her sister ship..

















Her last sailing was on May 1st, 1915....from pier 54...In the papers that day were warnings....War existed between Germany and England...and passengers were warned NOT TO SAIL...But few listened as the Lusitania was faster than any U boat ....but she was steel, and steel can sink....Few paid any attention to the ad..












She was a massive ship as you can see in this picture showing her compared to the Brooklyn bridge with her sister and also laying the Flatiron building on its side and looking rather tiny compared to the massive ship









She was the first liner to have 4 screws....However when she went on her trials it was found her vibration was tremendous...So her back end was heavily built up.


































This is the vessel getting ready for her trials in dry dock 1907
















A rather prophetic picture as the ship sails by the Old Head of Kinsale in 1911...It would be there that she would be torpedoed by the U20 on May 7, 1915...and she sank in 15 minutes...with a massive loss of life....Ending the career of the world's first super liner.....When will we ever learn of the stupidity of war...perhaps we never will......