150 years ago...

Time mag ig

 On April 14, 1865 Abraham Lincoln - 16th President of the United States - had been assassinated by actor John Wilkes Booth. Not long before that General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union military leaders signaling the end of the American Civil War.

Rich Miller posted a link to an AP story regarding the assassination of President Lincoln. I can't believe they existed even that long.

And amazing just last year we acknowledged the start of the first World War and today we acknowledge the end of another way. So the world was at war at least 60 years after America fought a war against itself. A house divided...

Both wars involved long lasting changes. The world map changed after the first World War. As for the Civil War, the slaves were freed although it was over a century before the descendents of these slaves were truly seen as American citizens. Some might say we're still not treated as citizens.

BTW, it was interesting that Time magazine presented colorized photos from the Civil War era on their instagram feed recently. They were a cool look at a period of time I only thought of as presented in black & white. Alas I can't get to a link on Time's website so you have one example up top.

I also forgot to add that the Civil War ultimately resulted in the loss of more Americans than any other conflict fought by Americans in the history of the nation. Certainly it doesn't help that Americans for the most part had been fighting Americans. Again a house divided...