Mary Boykin Chesnut

Mary Boykin Chesnut is one of the most important voices of the American Civil War with her unique perspective from inside Confederate halls of power. Her husband James Chesnut, Jr, served in the South Carolina legislature, and in 1858 was elected to the U.S. Senate. He resigned from office after Lincoln's 1860 win, then returned south to help draft the ordinance of secession and attend the First Confederate Congress. He was a close aide to Jefferson Davis for much of the war as history unfolded.

Thursday, November 5, 2015

22 April 1865, the Lincoln assassination

"Colonel Cad Jones came with a dispatch, a sealed secret dispatch. It was for General Chesnut. I opened it.

Lincoln—old Abe Lincoln—killed—murdered—Seward wounded!*

Why? By whom? It is simply maddening, all this.

I sent off messenger after messenger for General Chesnut. I have not the faintest idea where he is, but I know this foul murder will bring down worse miseries on us.

Mary Darby says: 'But they murdered him themselves. No Confederates in Washington.'

'But if they see fit to accuse us of instigating it?'

'Who murdered him?'

'Who knows?'

'See if they don't take vengeance on us, now that we are ruined and cannot repel the any longer.'"

*The shooting occurred the evening of 14 April 1865.