Lincoln's Avengers: Justice, Revenge, and Reunion after the Civil War
by Elizabeth D. Leonard
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Description
"Elizabeth D. Leonard tells the dramatic story of the assassination, the roundup of suspects, and the ensuing trials of those involved in the crimes of April 14. Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt - a Kentuckian divided against those within his own family over the war - was put in charge of the investigation and the initial trial of the conspirators, which took the form of a military commission despite the fact that the war was at an end. Holt first set out to punish all of Booth's local show more accomplices, and then went after others, including the president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, whom he felt had instigated the assassination. Paradoxically, the sternest opposition Holt faced in pursuing his goal of revenge came from Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, whose own life was spared by one conspirator's loss of nerve." "In Leonard's book it becomes clear that the battle between Holt and Johnson encompassed the conflicts of the nation as a whole over the shape postwar Reconstruction would take. These conflicts ultimately led to Johnson's impeachment, as well as the destruction of any hope that the newly freed slaves would achieve equality in the aftermath of emancipation. Indeed, the division within the federal government over the question of how to respond to Lincoln's assassination threatened to undermine post-Civil War efforts to reunite the nation altogether, and they left a legacy of disregard for Black Americans' civil rights that we continue to deal with today."--Jacket. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Yet another example of a somewhat unconventional angle on the Lincoln assassination, this book explores the aftermath of the president's murder by focusing on judge advocate general Joseph Holt, the man responsible for the prosecution of the conspirators. Leonard also places the trial and subsequent legal proceedings concerning John Surratt, Jr. and Jefferson Davis in the context of the early Reconstruction period, which offers a very useful narrative framework.
Well researched and a lively read; recommended.
Well researched and a lively read; recommended.
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Author Information
7 Works 425 Members
Elizabeth D. Leonard is the John J. and Cornelia V. Gibson Professor of History at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, and the author of five books, including Men of Color to Arms! Black Soldiers, Indian Wars, and the Quest for Equality and Lincoln's Forgotten Ally: Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt of Kentucky, which was joint recipient of the show more 2012 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize. show less
Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- Frederick A. Aiken (as Frederick Aiken); A. K. Allison; Robert Anderson; Giacomo Antonelli; George Arnold, Sr. (as George Arnold); Mary Jane Arnold (show all 327); Samuel B. Arnold; James M. Ashley; George A. Atzerodt (as George Andrew Atzerodt); Johann Atzerodt; John Atzerodt (as John Ernest Christian Atzerodt); Lafayette C. Baker; William Ball; Frank Ballard; Roger Bartman; W. W. Belknap; Theodore S. Bell; William H. Bell (as William Bell); John A. Bingham; Augustus Bissell; Jeremiah Black; James G. Blaine; Francis Preston Blair, Jr. (Frank Blair); Montgomery Blair; Eleanor Bloyce; Milledge L. Bonham (as Milledge Bonham); John Wilkes Booth; Father Boucher; George Boutwell; Belle Boyd; Francis F. Boyle; Thomas Jefferson Boynton; Joseph H. Bradley, Jr.; Joseph H. Bradley, Sr.; Alexander Brawner; Beckie Briscoe; Washington Briscoe; Preston Brooks; John Brophy (as John P. Brophy); James Buchanan; Henry L. Burnett; Ambrose E. Burnside; Joseph Burroughs ("Peanuts"); H. S. Burton; Benjamin F. Butler; J. George Butler; Simon Cameron; Edward R. S. Canby; Louis J. Carland; Edward C. Carrington; Lewis Cass; Roy Chamlee; Salmon P. Chase; John W. Clampitt; John Clarvoe; Clement Claiborne Clay; Henry Clay; Virginia Tunstall Clay-Clopton (as Virginia Clay); William Cleary; David R. Clendenin; Howell Cobb; Everton Conger (as Everton J. Conger); Sanford Conover (Charles Dunham); George E. Cooper; William Cooper; Boston Corbett; George Cottingham; Walter S. Cox; Margaret E. Crosby; Charles A. Dana; Charles Davis; Henry Winter Davis; Jefferson Davis; Varina Howell Davis; Charles Dawson; Appolonia Dean (as Appollonia Dean); William Dennison; David DeWitt; John Adams Dix (as John A. Dix); Levi A. Dodd; W. C. Dodge; William H. Doherty; William E. Doster; Stephen A. Douglas (mentioned); H. T. Drinkhouser; J. N. Dunbarry; T. H. Duval; Joseph M. Dye; Jere Dyer; Bernard J. Early; William Eaton; James A. Ekin; Estwick Evans; William M. Evarts (as William Evarts); Thomas Ewing, Jr.; William Failing; William Pitt Fessenden; George P. Fisher; Francis Fitch; Honora Fitzpatrick; John Fletcher, stable foreman; John B. Floyd; Eric Foner; Henry Clay Ford (as Harry Clay Ford); John T. Ford; Nathan Bedford Forrest; John A. Foster; Lafayette S. Foster; Robert S. Foster; James H. Fowle; Richard Garrett; Zachariah W. Gemmill; James Gifford; D. H. Gleason; William H. Gleason; Ulysses S. Grant; Horace Greeley; Charles G. Halpine; William Hanchett; Winfield Scott Hancock; Emerick Hansell; James A. Hardie; James Harlan; Clara Harris Rathbone (as Clara Harris); Thomas M. Harris; John F. Hartranft; John Hay; D. P. Henderson; Adam Herold; David Herold; Mary Porter Herold; Harrison Hiss; John Hitz; Joseph Hoare (William Campbell); William Woods Holden; Elizabeth Holohan; Joseph Holt; Margaret Holt; Mary Holt; Robert Holt; D. H. Hoopes; Eaton G. Horner; Oliver O. Howard; Alvin P. Howe; Augustus Howell; David Hunter; William Hunter; Harold Hyman; M. W. Jacobus; Archibald Jenkins; Elizabeth Anne Jenkins; John Zadoc Jenkins (as J. Z. Jenkins); Andrew Johnson; Reverdy Johnson; Richard M. Johnson; Joseph E. Johnston; Robert R. Jones; August V. Kautz; Horatio King; Rufus King; Frank Klement (mentioned); Henry S. Lane; Peter Lanihan; John Lee; Robert E. Lee; Francis Lieber; Abraham Lincoln; Mary Todd Lincoln; John M. Lloyd (as John Lloyd); Alexander D. Lovett (as Alexander Lovett); J. M. McAlpine; Leonidas McAleer; George B. McClellan; James McDevitt; Francis McFall; John McGill; Lewis J. A. McMillan; James L. McPhail; James M. McPherson; Stephen R. Mallory; William Marvin; James E. Matterson; Richard T. Merrick; John Miles; Nelson Miles; Lambdin P. Milligan; John Singleton Mosby (his guerrillas referenced); George D. Mudd (as George Mudd); Henry Lowe Mudd; Nettie Mudd Monroe (as Nettie Mudd); Samuel A. Mudd; Sarah Mudd; Tom Mudd; William Mudd; George Munger; J. Naylor; Charles H. Nichols; W. A. Nichols; John G. Nicolay; John Nothey; Captain Noyes; Charles O'Conor (sic); Emma Offutt; Michael O'Laughlen; H. S. Olcott; Osborne Oldroyd; Betty Ownsbey; Wendell Phillips; Francis Harrison Pierpont; Edwards Pierrepont; Benn Pitman; Pius IX, Pope (Beatified, Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti, 1792–1878); Gary Planck; Leonidas Polk; John Pope; Fitz-John Porter; Benjamin Powell; George Powell; George Cader Powell; Lewis Powell (as Lewis Thornton Powell); Oliver Powell; Patience Powell; Roger A. Pryor; Alexander Randall; Voltaire Randall; Christian Rath; Henry Reed Rathbone (as Henry R. Rathbone); David C. Reed; Ellen Renshaw; Almarin C. Richards (as Almarin Colley Richards); Ernest Hartman Richter; Albert Gallatin Riddle; J. L. Ripple; George F. Robinson; Andrew Rogers; Henri B. de Saint-Marie (as Henri Beaumont de Ste. Marie); George N. Sanders (as George Sanders); Louis Schade; John Schofield; Winfield Scott; Raphael Semmes; Rachel Semus; Augustus Seward (as Augustus H. Seward); Fanny Seward; Frederick William Seward (as Fredrick William Seward); William Henry Seward; Horatio Seymour; Tal P. Shaffner; Thomas Shankland; William L. Sharkey; Philip Henry Sheridan (mentioned); William Tecumseh Sherman (mentioned); Daniel E. Sickles (mentioned as Daniel Sickles); Brooks Simpson; Sarah Antoinette Slater; Edmund Kirby Smith; H. W. Smith; W. G. Smethen; Joseph Snevel; Edman Spangler (Ned); James Speed; Joshua Fry Speed; Brooke Stabler; Henry Stanbery; David Stanton; Edwin M. Stanton; Alexander H. Stephens; Mary Stephens; Thaddeus Stevens; K. J. Stewart; Frederick Stone (as Fredrick Stone); Charles H. Stonestreet; Samuel Streett (sic); Charles Sumner; Anna Surratt (as Elisabeth Susanna Surratt); Isaac Surratt; John Harrison Surratt, Jr.; John Harrison Surratt, Sr.; Mary Surratt (as Mary E. Surratt); Mary Victorine Hunter Surratt (mentioned); Charles Sweenay; V. O. Taylor; Benjamin Thomas; Daniel J. Thomas; George H. Thomas; Lorenzo Thomas; Philip F. Thomas; Jacob Thompson; William S. Thompson; Charles H. Tompkins; William P. Tory (as William P. Tonry); George Alfred Townsend; Hans L. Trefousse; Beverly Tucker; L. C. Turner; Thomas Reed Turner; James Underwood; Clement L. Vallandigham; Glyndon Van Deusen; Mary Van Tyne; Benjamin Franklin Wade (as Benjamin F. Wade); James Watson Wallace; Lew Wallace; George Washington (mentioned); Frederick Weichmann; Louis J. Weichmann; Gideon Welles; Henry H. Wells (as H. H. Wells); William Welsh (mentioned); John W. Wharton; Charles A. Wickliffe; Robert Wickliffe; H. Wigand; B. F. Wiget; Louis T. Wigfall; Henry Wilding; James H. Wilson; Nathaniel Wilson; John H. Winder; W. Winthrop; Henry Wirz; William Withers, Jr.; Benjamin Wood; Charles H. Wood; Charles R. Woods; N. D. Young; D. L. Yulee
- Important places
- Ford's Theatre, Washington, D.C., USA; Washington, D.C., USA
- Important events
- Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (1865-04); Reconstruction (1863 | 1877)
- Blurbers
- Winik, Jay; Gallagher, Gary W.; McPherson, James M.; Verge, Laurie
Classifications
- Genres
- History, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir
- DDC/MDS
- 973.81 — History & geography History of North America United States The Gilded Age, Reconstruction, Spanish American War (1865-1901) Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) Reconstruction, 14th Amendment
- LCC
- E457.5 .L46 — History of the United States United States Civil War period, 1861-1865 Lincoln's administrations, 1861-April 15, 1865
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 120
- Popularity
- 270,706
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.75)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
- ASINs
- 1
