Every drop of blood : the momentous second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln

Resource Information

The work Every drop of blood : the momentous second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Wadleigh Memorial Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Every drop of blood : the momentous second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln

Title remainder

the momentous second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln

Statement of responsibility

Edward Achorn

Title variation

Momentous second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln

Creator

• Achorn, Edward

Author

• Achorn, Edward

Subject

• History
• Inauguration
• Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.)
• Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
• Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Inaugurations
• Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Influence
• 1800-1899
• Politics and government
• Washington (D.C.)
• Washington (D.C.) -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
• Washington (D.C.) -- Politics and government -- 19th century
• Washington (D.C.) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
• Manners and customs
• American Civil War (1861-1865)

Genre

• History

Language

eng

Summary

"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."--

Assigning source

Provided by publisher

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

973.7

Illustrations

• illustrations
• portraits
• plates
• photographs

Index

index present

LC call number

E457.45

LC item number

.A36 2020

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography