It's pretty clear that I'm a Confederate guy, and not a fan of Lincoln at all. I personally view Lincoln's assassination unfavorably; not because he deserved better, but because the South did. It would have been better if he had been charged with war crimes, tried in a court of law, and justly executed.
The south did not do it. I am not being contentious. A coward who studiously avoided service, but claimed to be dedicated to his cause, did it. Since Lincoln's greatest wish was to glue this country back together, without further barbarities which would only have served to rub the proverbial salt, it seems provocative to speak of his death by some, vindictive manner.
Here is what Lincoln said, a year before his death. A Frank Leslie's reporter took note.
View attachment 184047
View attachment 184048
April 29th, 1865
Thanks for sharing that, though it seems that you misunderstood what I meant.
I did not, in any way, mean to imply that "the South" or the Confederacy (the gov't, the military, or any of their officials) were responsible for Mr. Lincoln's death.
What I said was an allusion to the hell that got rained down upon the South as a response to Mr. Lincoln's murder, as well as the idea that the post-war treatment of the South was probably worse than it would have been if Mr. Lincoln had remained a player throughout the rest of his term. The actions of an assassin robbed of knowing whether that would have been the case, though President Davis certainly believed that way.
It was April 19, 1865, when President Davis learned of Lincoln's assassination. As The President was about to enter a Charlotte, NC home to take lodging while fleeing from his Union Army pursuers, a telegram from John C. Breckinridge (Confederate general & former U.S. Vice-President) was brought informing him of Lincoln's fate. According to Davis biographer Hudson Strode, Davis was shocked, and had to read it again before handing it off to the person next to him, saying, "
Here is a very extraordinary communication. It is sad news."
A column of Kentucky's Confederate Cavalry rode up to the house at that moment, and when someone read the dispatch aloud, one cavalryman shouted in jubilation, but Davis raised his hand to silence any further cheering before entering into the house. Inside, the President commented further to his personal secretary, Burton Harrison, saying, "
I am sorry. We have lost our best friend in the court of the enemy."
Also traveling with the President was Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory, who recorded in his diary the following conversation with Davis about the assassination:
"I expressed my deep regret, expressing among other views, my conviction of Mr. Lincoln's moderation, his sense of justice, and my apprehension that the South would be accused of instigating his death. To this Mr. Davis replied sadly, '
I certainly have no special regard for Mr. Lincoln; but there are a great many men of whose end I would much rather have heard than his. I fear it will be disastrous to our people and I regret it deeply.'"
Years later, in Rise & Fall of the Confederate Government, The President would reflect on the event by saying,
"For an enemy so relentless in the war for our subjugation, we could not be expected to mourn; yet, in view of its political consequences, it could not be regarded otherwise than as a great misfortune to the South. [Lincoln]
had power over the Northern people, and was without personal malignity towards the people of the South; his successor was without power in the North, and the embodiment of malignity towards the Southern people."