recedented ceremony, there was one sad and dominant thought
which could not be driven from the minds of those who saw it--that of
the men who were absent, and who had, nevertheless, richly earned the
right to be there. The soldiers in their shrunken companies were
conscious of the ever-present memories of the brave comrades who had
fallen by the way; and in the whole army there was the passionate and
unavailing regret for their wise, gentle, and powerful friend, Abraham
Lincoln, gone forever from the house by the Avenue, who had called the
great host into being, directed the course of the nation during the four
years they had been fighting for its preservation, and for whom, more
than for any other, this crowning peaceful pageant would have been
fraught with deep and happy meaning.

XXXVII

The 14th of April--Celebration at Fort Sumter--Last Cabinet
Meeting--Lincoln's Attitude toward Threats of Assassination--Booth's
Plot--Ford's Theater--Fate of the Assassins--The Mourning Pageant

Mr. Lincoln had returned to Washington, refreshed by his visit to City
Point, and cheered by the unmistakable signs that the war was almost
over. With that ever-present sense of responsibility which distinguished
him, he gave his thoughts to the momentous question of the restoration
of the Union and of harmony between the lately warring sections. His
whole heart was now enlisted in the work of "binding up the nation's
wounds," and of doing all which might "achieve and cherish a just and
lasting peace."

April 14 was a day of deep and tranquil happiness throughout the United
States. It was Good Friday, observed by a portion of the people as an
occasion of fasting and religious meditation; though even among the most
devout the great tidings of the preceding week exerted their joyous
influence, and changed this period of traditional mourning into an
occasion of general thanksgiving. But though the Misereres turned of
themselves to Te Deums, the date was not to lose its awful significance
in the calendar: at night it was claimed once more by a world-wide
sorrow.

The thanksgiving of the nation found its principal expression at
Charleston Harbor, where the flag of the Union received that day a
conspicuous reparation on the spot where it had first been outraged. At
noon General Robert Anderson raised over Fort Sumter the identical flag
lowered and saluted by him four years before; the surrender of Lee
giving a more transcendent impor