Abraham Lincoln's Assassination Essay

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An Eyewitness Account of Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination is the first-hand account from General Sawyer. General Sawyer attended Ford’s Theater with a friend the night of the assassination. The source was written after the assassination that night in Sawyer’s hotel room. After watching the first act of the play Sawyer and his friend Bates moved up to the private box so he was easy to spot. Sawyer sat across from his private box to try and get a better view of Lincoln. “After sitting there a few minutes a report of a pistol was heard and a man of about 5 ft. 9 inches dressed in a black suit of clothes leaped onto the stage apparently from the President’s strike the stage fairly on his feet, but appeared to stumble slightly…Every one leaped to …show more content…

“It is such a tragedy as I never hoped to witness, and one which will chill the blood of all true men everywhere…How many more martyrs to slavery!” Sawyer states this after the announcement that President Lincoln was officially dead. The death of a very important man could make many men upset. Lincoln was not just an important man, to many he was seen as someone who could do no wrong. He was someone who people looked up to because of his ability to get people thinking about issues that most didn’t want to talk about. Slavery for example was one of those issues. Lincoln disagreed with the institution of slavery and persuaded many that it was wrong. Lincoln was incredibly patient with this movement. People were very strongly opinionated on this topic, Lincoln was able to get people talking about this issue and brought it to the point of war. Sawyer states, “That no man on the continent can do just what Mr. Lincoln could have done; that he was the man by God placed in his high position to do the work of God and civilization; that at this most tremendous crisis in the life of the nation, he was most worthy of the trust confided to him by the people, and most capable of carrying out the policy best adapted to ensure the best interests of humanity: all this is recognized.” This statement shows how highly respected President Lincoln was. Sawyer and many other people in the United States put him on a God like

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