Abraham Lincoln Was Related to Paul Revere

Although born and raised at different times and in different places, Abraham Lincoln was related to Paul Revere through three marriages in his family.

Abraham Lincoln's father, Thomas Lincoln, had two cousins in Boston during the late 1700s named Amos and Jedediah Lincoln. Like himself, both cousins were carpenters, although they were much more successful at their trade...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/abraham-lincoln-was-related-to-paul-revere/

Abraham Lincoln's Disastrous Dinner Party with Prince Napoleon

After an awkward first meeting at the White House on August 3, 1861, Abraham Lincoln invited Prince Napoleon to a dinner party at the White House later that evening.

Napoleon accepted and Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, threw herself into party preparations. As a fan of French fashion, Mary Todd was ecstatic about the opportunity to impress the French nobleman and spared no expense on the event. She personally selected the menu, flowers and even the vegetables from the White House garden...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/abraham-lincolns-disastrous-dinner-party-with-prince-napoleon/

When Abraham Lincoln met Prince Napoleon

In July of 1861, Prince Napoleon, nephew of the infamous Napoleon I, embarked on a two-month private tour of the United States during which he met Abraham Lincoln and also attended a disastrous dinner party at the White House on August 3rd...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/when-abraham-lincoln-met-prince-napoleon/

Harriet Tubman Didn't Like Abraham Lincoln

During an interview with a writer named Rose Belle Holt in 1886, Harriet Tubman stated that she did not like Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and only learned to appreciate him after her friend Sojourner Truth told her Lincoln was not the enemy but a friend to African-Americans...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/harriet-tubman-didnt-like-abraham-lincoln/

Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Smallpox

When Abraham Lincoln delivered the historic Gettysburg Address in November of 1863, little did the public know he was ill with a deadly form of smallpox. 

His symptoms first began during his train ride to Gettysburg on November 18, when Lincoln reportedly told his private secretary, John Hay, that he felt dizzy and weak...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/abraham-lincolns-gettysburg-smallpox/

Romantic Rivals: John Wilkes Booth and Robert Todd Lincoln

A series of events have linked John Wilkes Booth's family with Abraham Lincoln's family over the years. Not only did John's brother, Edwin Booth, save the life of Lincoln's son, Robert Todd Lincoln, shortly before John assassinated Abraham Lincoln in 1865, but Robert and John also competed for the affection of a senator's daughter named Lucy Hale.

In 1862, around the same time Lucy Hale, daughter of U.S. Senator John Parker Hale of New Hampshire, met Robert Todd Lincoln, then a college student in Boston, she also met John Wilkes Booth, then a famous theater actor who was performing at the Boston museum...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/romantic-rivals-john-wilkes-booth-and-robert-todd-lincoln/

Edwin Booth Saved Robert Todd Lincoln's Life

In a strange twist of fate, Edwin Booth, the brother of John Wilkes Booth, once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln's son Robert Todd Lincoln.

In late 1864 or early 1865, Lincoln was waiting to buy a train ticket in Jersey City, New Jersey when he was accidentally pushed off the railway platform into the path of an oncoming train. He later described the incident in a letter to the editor of The Century Magazine...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/edwin-booth-saved-robert-todd-lincolns-life/

The Aftermath: The Booth Family & Lincoln's Assassination

In the aftermath of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, police officials swarmed the immediate family of John Wilkes Booth. Although he had no children or wife of his own, Booth was from a large family of famous theater actors in Maryland. After the murder, the War Department believed the assassination was a part of a national conspiracy and they were determined to uncover everyone involved...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/the-aftermath-the-booth-family-lincolns-assassination/

John Surratt: The Lincoln Conspirator Who Got Away

John Surratt was the son of convicted Lincoln conspirator, Mary Surratt. Unlike his mother and the eight other conspirators hanged for Abraham Lincoln's assassination, John escaped punishment for his role in the murder after his trial resulted in a mistrial...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/john-surratt-the-lincoln-conspirator-who-got-away/

Christmas During the Civil War

Many of the current Christmas traditions celebrated today actually started during the Civil War era. Although Christmas wasn't an official holiday until President Ulysses S. Grant made it one in 1870, many Americans observed the holiday throughout the war as a way to find comfort and bond with family members through long-lost traditions...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/christmas-during-the-civil-war/

The Diary of John Wilkes Booth

When John Wilkes Booth fled Ford's Theater after shooting Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, he was chased down and killed in a barn on a farm in Virginia two weeks later. Officers found a red leather diary on his body that contained only two entries along with photos of five women. In the entries, which were later published in the New York Times, John Wilkes Booth defended his actions and denied that killing the president was wrong or immoral. He also expressed his anger at being hunted by the police and stated he couldn't understand why he was being persecuted instead of thanked...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/the-diary-of-john-wilkes-booth/

Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg was a three day battle considered by many as a major turning point in the Civil War. The battle was fought on July 1, 2 and 3 of 1863 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania between troops led by General Robert E. Lee and General George G. Meade. With 51,000 casualties by the battle's end, more soldiers died on the Gettysburg battlefield than on any other battlefield in North America. The battle was a part of General Lee's ambitious plan to invade the north after his troops successfully defeated Union troops at the battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia in the spring of 1863...Click here to read more:

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Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee was a distinguished Confederate general who bravely led his troops against Ulysses S.Grant and the Union army until his defeat at the Appomattox courthouse in April of 1865...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/robert-e-lee/

Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant is a Civil War icon who gained fame and popularity after he led the Union army to victory and served as the 18th President of the United States...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/ulysses-s-grant/

Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order passed on January 1, 1863, freeing all slaves in Confederate states that had seceded from the Union and allowing them to join the Union army...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/emancipation-proclamation/

Did a Gypsy Predict John Wilkes Booth's Fate?

John Wilkes Booth was a handsome, successful stage actor in 1865 when he assassinated Abraham Lincoln. A staunch confederate and supporter of slavery, Booth felt Lincoln's actions during the Civil War had gone too far. After Booth's original plan to kidnap Lincoln failed, Booth hatched a new plan to assassinate Lincoln instead. He succeeded on the night of April 14 in 1865, when he entered the presidential box at Ford's Theater and shot Lincoln in the back of the head with a derringer pistol. He then fled the theater and spent 11 days on the run before officers cornered him on a farm in Virginia and killed him during a stand off...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/did-a-gypsy-predict-john-wilkes-booths-fate/

John Wilkes Booth

John Wilkes Booth was born May 10, 1838 near Bel Air, Maryland. Booth was born into a distinguished family of actors as the 9^th child of actor Junius Brutus Booth and his wife Mary Ann...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/john-wilkes-booth/

The Gettysburg Address

The Gettysburg address is considered one of Abraham Lincoln's greatest speeches. The speech was given at a dedication ceremony for a cemetery of Union soldiers, known as the Soldier's National Cemetery, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/the-gettysburg-address/

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16^th president of the United states and the first president to be assassinated. Although he was born a poor farmer in Kentucky, Lincoln put himself through law school and served many years in Congress before winning the presidential office in 1860. Lincoln is an American icon and one of the country's most beloved presidents...Click here to read more:  http://civilwarsaga.com/abraham-lincoln/

Civil War Photography

The civil war was one of the first wars to be documented by photography. The invention of photography in the 1820s allowed the horrors and glory of war to be seen by the public for the first time. Dozens of photographers, some private and some employees of the army, snapped photos of the soldiers, locations and battles. The images became iconic and inspired many other photographers to take their cameras onto the battlefields of future wars like WWII and Vietnam...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/civil-war-photography/