Existing comment:
No More Talk of Hanging:
On April 9 -- Palm Sunday -- Robert E. Lee surrendered what remained of his once formidable army at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. Although Confederate forces were still fighting in the field and the war would not be over until May, in Washington shouts of joy mingled with demands for vengeance. Hanging, it was said, was too good for the traitor Jefferson Davis.
Lincoln had other things on his mind. "This talk about Mr. Davis tires me," he told his Cabinet. "I hope he will mount a fleet horse, reach the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and drive so far into its waters that we shall never see him again." |