My Collection
from Apr. 22, 1865
P.W. Oakley to Norman Henry Ives
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Description
P.W. Oakley of St. Louis, Missouri, wrote this letter to Norman Henry Ives in Nashville, Tennessee, on April 22, 1865, a week after John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. Oakley and Ives shared the bond of having been injured during the Civil War--Ives, a native of Illinois, had been discharged from the U.S. Army after suffering a leg wound at the Battle of Pea Ridge in 1862. Oakley begins the letter by discussing his injury. He then turns to his thoughts about the assassination of Lincoln, referring to the slain president as "Uncle Abe." Oakley suggests that Lincoln would have shown more lenience to Confederates than his successor, Andrew Johnson, would (speculation that would prove untrue). He also expresses hope that Confederate leadership would "pull hemp"--be hanged--for the assassination. Oakley then goes on to brag about the size of his 10-month-old son. Ives kept this letter and eventually passed it down through his family. His great-great-granddaughter Arlis Groves, a social science teacher at Toby Johnson Middle School in Elk Grove, California, now holds this letter and contributed it to Remembering Lincoln.
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Source
Arlis Groves, great-great-granddaughter of Norman Henry Ives
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Rights
This item is in the public domain and may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching , private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.
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Date
April 22, 1865
from Apr. 15, 1865
Mary Henry Diary
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Description
Mary Henry, the daughter of the Secretary of the Smithsonian, recorded her thoughts about the death of Lincoln and provided an extensive discussion of the funeral in Washington.
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Source
Smithsonian Institution Archives
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Rights
This item is in the public domain.
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Date
April 15, 1865
from Apr. 26, 1865
Houston Tri-Weekly Telegraph
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Description
The Tri-Weekly Telegraph of Houston denounced Lincoln and praised his assassin, John Wilkes Booth, when it reported Lincoln's assassination.
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Source
The Portal to Texas History, texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History
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Rights
This item is in the public domain and may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching, private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.
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Publisher
Tri-Weekly Telegraph
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Date
April 26, 1865
from Oct. 11, 1865
"How They Talk" - Cleveland Daily Leader
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Description
Not everyone loved or appreciated Abraham Lincoln. This excerpt of Copperhead writing "thank[s] God for calling Abraham Lincoln home" and believes that the late President "owes so much to John Wilkes Booth."
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Rights
This item is in the public domain and may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching, private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.
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Date
October 11, 1865