Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln served as the 16th President of the United States during the American Civil War.  Abraham Lincoln was in office during perhaps the most critical time in the nation’s history and provided exceptional leadership.  Lincoln is remembered as a man of wit and strategic vision.  Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is among the nation’s most treasured documents of freedom along with his Emancipation Proclamation, effective January 1, 1863, which freed slaves in territories in revolt against the United States.  Abraham Lincoln was mortally wounded by assassin John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, and died the following morning at the age of 56.

From ancient cave drawings to the Internet, men have been reporting their wars almost as long as they have been fighting them.

Abraham Lincoln

The Pen & the Sword: A Brief History of War Correspondents

By Roy Morris Jr.

Men have been reporting their wars almost as long as they have fighting them. The first prehistoric cave drawings depicted hunters bringing down wild animals, and spoken accounts of battles, large and small, formed the starting point for the oral tradition of history. Read more

Abraham Lincoln

Black Soldiers, Blue Uniforms

By John Walker

Although several overzealous Union Army field commanders organized African Americans into ad hoc militia units early in 1862 and several black regiments were mustered into service later that year, it wasn’t until after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863, that the federal government began actively recruiting and enlisting black soldiers and sailors. Read more

Abraham Lincoln

Civil War Spies: Timothy Webster

By Roy Morris, Jr.

Spying is a dangerous game.

Even the best spies sometimes get caught, as Confederate raider John Yates Beall, “the Mosby of the Chesapeake,” learned the hard way in 1865, and the consequences are never pretty to contemplate. Read more

The Whig Party had better luck electing presidents than keeping them in office once they were elected.

Abraham Lincoln

The Curse of the Whig Party

by Roy Morris, Jr.

The short-lived Whig Party had a fair degree of success electing candidates for president, winning two of the five presidential elections in which it fielded a candidate. Read more

Abraham Lincoln

Mark Twain Joins the Marion Rangers

By Roy Morris, Jr.

Twenty-five-year-old Mississippi River pilot Samuel Clemens (not yet known by his famous pen name, Mark Twain) was in his home port of New Orleans in late January 1861 when word reached the city that Louisiana had seceded from the Union. Read more