Every Drop of Blood : The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln

A Brilliantly Conceived And Vividly Drawn Story--washington, D.c. On The Eve Of Abraham Lincoln's Historic Second Inaugural Address As The Lens Through Which To Understand All The Complexities Of The Civil War By March 4, 1865, The Civil War Had Slaughtered More Than 700,000 Americans And Left Intractable Wounds On The Nation. After A Morning Of Rain-drenched Fury, Tens Of Thousands Crowded Washington's Capitol Grounds That Day To See Abraham Lincoln Take The Oath For A Second Term. As The Sun Emerged, Lincoln Rose To Give Perhaps The Greatest Inaugural Address In American History, Stunning The Nation By Arguing, In A Brief 701 Words, That Both Sides Had Been Wrong, And That The War's Unimaginable Horrors--every Drop Of Blood Spilled--might Well Have Been God's Just Verdict On The National Sin Of Slavery. Edward Achorn Reveals The Nation's Capital On That Momentous Day--with Its Mud, Sewage, And Saloons, Its Prostitutes, Spies, Reporters, Social-climbing Spouses And Power-hungry Politicians--as A Microcosm Of All The Opposing Forces That Had Driven The Country Apart. A Host Of Characters, Unknown And Famous, Had Converged On Washington--from Grievously Wounded Union Colonel Selden Connor In A Washington Hospital And The Embarrassingly Drunk New Vice President, Andrew Johnson, To Poet-journalist Walt Whitman; From Soldiers' Advocate Clara Barton And African American Leader And Lincoln Critic-turned-admirer Frederick Douglass (who Called The Speech A Sacred Effort) To Conflicted Actor John Wilkes Booth--all Swirling Around The Complex Figure Of Lincoln. In Indelible Scenes, Achorn Vividly Captures The Frenzy In The Nation's Capital At This Crucial Moment In America's History And The Tension-filled Hope And Despair Afflicting The Country As A Whole, Soon To Be Heightened By Lincoln's Assassination. His Story Offers New Understanding Of Our Great National Crisis And Echoes Down The Decades To Resonate In Our Own Time. "By March 4, 1865, the Civil War had slaughtered more than 700,000 Americans and left intractable wounds on the nation. That day, after a morning of rain-drenched fury, tens of thousands crowded Washington's Capitol grounds to see Abraham Lincoln take the oath for a second term. As the sun emerged, Lincoln rose to give perhaps the greatest inaugural address in American history, stunning the nation by arguing, in a brief 701 words, that both sides had been wrong, and that the war's unimaginable horrors-every drop of blood spilled-might well have been God's just verdict on the national sin of slavery. Edward Achorn reveals the nation's capital on that momentous day-with its mud, sewage, and saloons, its prostitutes, spies, reporters, social-climbing spouses, and power-hungry politicians-as a microcosm of all the opposing forces that had driven the country apart. Achorn weaves together the stories of the host of characters, unknown and famous, that had converged on Washington-from grievously wounded Union colonel Selden Connor in a Washington hospital, embarrassingly drunk new vice president Andrew Johnson, and poet-journalist Walt Whitman, to soldiers' advocate Clara Barton, African American leader Frederick Douglass (who called the speech "a sacred effort"), and conflicted actor John Wilkes Booth-all swirling around the complex figure of Lincoln. In indelible scenes, Achorn vividly captures the frenzy in the nation's capital at this crucial moment in America's history and the tension-filled hope and despair afflicting the country as a whole, soon to be heightened by Lincoln's assassination. His story offers new understanding of our great national crisis, and echoes down the decades to resonate in our own time"-- Provided by publisher This vividly rendered Civil War history presents "a lively guided tour of Washington during the 24 hours or so around Lincoln's swearing-in" (Adam Goodheart, Washington Post ). By March 4, 1865, the Civil War had left intractable wounds on the nation. Tens of thousands crowded Washington's Capitol grounds that day to see Abraham Lincoln take the oath for a second term—and witness what was perhaps the greatest inaugural address in American history. Lincoln stunned the nation by arguing that both sides had been wrong, and that the war's unimaginable horrors might have been God's just verdict on the national sin of slavery. In Every Drop of Blood , Edward Achorn reveals the nation's capital on that momentous day—with its mud, sewage, and saloons, its prostitutes, spies, reporters, social-climbing spouses and power-hungry politicians. Swirling around the complex figure of Lincoln, a host of characters are brought to life, from grievously wounded Union colonel Selden Connor to the embarrassingly drunk new vice president, Andrew Johnson, to poet-journalist Walt Whitman; from soldiers' advocate Clara Barton and African American leader Frederick Douglass to conflicted actor John Wilkes Booth. In indelible scenes, Achorn captures the frenzy and division in the nation's capital at this crucial moment in America's history. His story offers new understanding of our great national crisis, and echoes down the decades to resonate in our own time.