{"id":2017,"date":"2015-03-05T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-05T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/?p=2017"},"modified":"2025-04-18T10:23:47","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T14:23:47","slug":"lincoln-flags-death-approached","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/lincoln-flags-death-approached\/","title":{"rendered":"Lincoln and flags as his death approached"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lincoln<\/a>One hundred and fifty years ago, in the closing weeks of his life, Abraham Lincoln was focused on the finale of the Civil War \u2013 and on flags. On March 17, 1865, for example, he issued an address to the 140th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which had captured a rebel flag during a battle in North Carolina.<\/p>\n

Saying he was \u201cglad\u201d about the flag\u2019s being taken, Lincoln went on to quip that \u201cwhenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Confederate<\/a>
Confederate flag flies over Fort Sumter in 1861.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ten days later, with the Confederacy near collapse, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton informed the President that the same U.S. flag lowered when Fort Sumter surrendered to the rebels in 1861 and the war began would be raised again on April 14, precisely four years after the loss.<\/p>\n

In reply, a lawyerly Lincoln called attention to a flaw in the plan. \u201cThe surrender of Fort Sumter was on the 13th of April,\u201d he said. But the date of the upcoming commemoration was fine, he added, because \u201cthe evacuation actually took place\u201d on the 14th.<\/p>\n

\"Fort<\/a>
Fort Sumter under attack in 1861.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On March 31, with Lincoln\u2019s assassination just two weeks away, General U.S. Grant telegraphed the President to promise, \u201cI will send you a rebel flag captured by our troops in driving the enemy back. There has been four flags captured today. The one I send you was taken from a [Virginia] regiment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"U.S.<\/a>
U.S. flag is restored to Fort Sumter in April 1865<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is a tragic irony that Lincoln was shot on April 14, 1865, the same day as the restoration of the American flag<\/a> to Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. A newsman wrote that \u201cthe great event of raising the old flag attracted a large number of visitors.\u201d He added that \u201cthe national flag was suspended from all the public and many private buildings\u201d in Charleston.<\/p>\n

In the harbor, the journalist continued, \u201cthe national ensign floated from all the old rebel forts\u2026except Fort Sumter\u201d until the formal ceremony was held to mark the end of the War Between the States.<\/p>\n

\"'Our
‘Our Banner in the Sky’ by Frederic Church, painted after Fort Sumer fell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After much ceremony, several hands \u201cunfurled the glorious old banner amid the deafening cheers of the assemblage\u201d in the fort, he said.<\/p>\n

If Lincoln knew those happy details, it wasn\u2019t for long. He was assassinated that same evening and died the next morning. Flags that had been so joyously raised were then lowered in sorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One hundred and fifty years ago, in the closing weeks of his life, Abraham Lincoln was focused on the finale of the Civil War \u2013 and on flags. On March 17, 1865, for example, he issued an address to the 140th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which had captured a rebel flag during a battle in North… continue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[82,43,273],"class_list":["post-2017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-lessons","tag-abraham-lincoln","tag-civil-war","tag-fort-sumter"],"yoast_head":"\nLincoln and flags as his death approached<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One hundred and fifty years ago, in the closing weeks of his life, Abraham Lincoln was focused on the finale of the Civil War \u2013 and on flags.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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