Three days after the assassination that stunned a war-torn nation, the body of Abraham Lincoln is placed on public display at the White House. Fittingly, the president who maintained an open door to American citizens is now lying in an open casket. Through Lincoln’s presidential door routinely walked poor and rich, whites and free blacks.…
Freedom comes to the Confederate capital this day, although many of the white citizens yet remaining in the city see anything but freedom. As the sun dawns, vast destruction stretches as far as the eye can see. Worse yet, soldiers in blue are approaching the city. As one eyewitness, white Richmond resident Sallie Putnam, observes:…
In the trenches around Petersburg, Union General Ulysses S. Grant sends Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock off on an offensive against Richmond. For the next six days Federals and Confederates skirmish in the Second Battle of Deep Bottom. In the end, the Confederates win the battle by successfully thwarting the attack on the Confederate capital.…