Excerpt from Diary of Gideon Welles by Gideon Welles

Excerpt from Diary of Gideon Welles by Gideon Welles

Excerpt from Diary of Gideon Welles
Covering events from April 1865; first published in 1911

A Cabinet member recalls the day President Lincoln died

"The giant [Lincoln] sufferer lay extended diagonally across the bed, which was not long enough for him. He had been stripped of his clothes. His large arms, which were occasionally exposed, were of a size which one would scarce have expected from his spare appearance. His slow, full respiration lifted the clothes with each breath that he took. His features were calm and striking."

In April 1865, it became clear to most Americans that the Confederacy was on the verge (edge) of total collapse. The Union's successful capture of the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, in early April showed that no Southern city was safe from Yankee troops. Then, a few days later, on April 9, 1865, the South lost its largest and best army when Confederate general Robert E. Lee (1807–1870) and his Army of Northern Virginia surrendered to Union general Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) and the Army of the Potomac at Appomattox, Virginia.

News of these military victories raced through Northern communities. People across the North knew that such triumphs meant that the war was drawing to a close, and that the Union would be preserved.

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