Sunday, September 30, 2018

Throwback Sunday- Will the Nation Survive

Originally published April 19, 2015, this is just a reminder that our country, the United States has been through hard times before.   Some pundits now say our country is in a crisis that hasn't been seen since the years right before our Civil War.

When you become discouraged, think of April, 1865.

We can do this.

Tomorrow, I begin the Ultimate Blog Challenge, a month long challenge of posting all 31 days in October.  Good luck to all who plan to participate.

Civil War Sunday - Will the Nation Survive?

April, 1865.

One hundred fifty years ago, the United States was in the midst of an April it would long remember.  The first major Confederate surrender on April 9 signaled, to many, the end of the war (although, that really wasn't true.).  The April 14 assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the first President of the United States to be killed in office, stunned the nation..

Lincoln's killer, 27 year old actor John Wilkes Booth, became the subject of a nationwide manhunt.  After shooting Lincoln in the back of the head while Lincoln was watching a play at Ford's Theatre (just six blocks from the White House), Booth jumped onto the stage, breaking his leg.

Before fleeing, he shouted either ""Sic semper tyrannis" (thus ever to tyrants) or"The South is avenged.".  Eye witness accounts vary.

As a point of trivia, one eyewitness to the 1865 assassination lived long enough to appear on an American game show in 1956, shortly before his death.

Now people were afraid.  The last four years, our country has been at war, with well over (estimated) 1,100,000 casualties (dead/injured/captured). If we used the same percentage of today's population, this would have been over six million people. 

Additionally, recent evidence has come to light that the generally accepted casualty figures were understated - some of this research done locally, where I live (Binghamton University).

Parts of the nation were in ruins. Our President was dead, our Secretary of State seriously wounded and Lincoln's assassin was on the loose. (As part of the plot, the Secretary of State was also attacked in a different location, but survived.)  People asked: Will our government, will our nation survive?

The New York Times, a major New York City newspaper that still publishes today, said YES.

The newspaper was right.

3 comments:

  1. From your lips to God's ear...
    I don't doubt that we'll survive. I just don't know how good life will be though.
    I spent the better part of yesterday writing letters to senators and faxing their offices. I thought a fax might get a better chance of being seen than an email. I also came across this cool site that lists all the fax numbers for each senator and you can fax for free (up to 5 a day) or pay $1.99 for unlimited faxing. And you can attach documents. It's called ZeroFax or something like that. If you're interested, I'll get the link for you.
    If this Kavanaugh gets confirmed, I don't know what will happen. It ain't gonna be pretty though, of that I'm sure...

    Thanks for the reminder to stay positive.

    Michele at Angels Bark

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, that was a terrible time. The attacks we are under now do not carry the imminent danger, but they seem insidious. Foreign powers are able to interfere by bribing politicians and messing with the internet. And then there's the despoiling of the environment.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We are living in scary times. I hope we make it.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting! Your comments mean a lot to me, and I appreciate each one. These comments are moderated, so they may not post for several hours. If you are spam, you will find your comments in my compost heap, where they will finally serve a good purpose.