Few Americans know this, but there is growing acceptance among “Civil War” historians that Lincoln’s assassination on Good Friday in 1865 was probably revenge for Lincoln’s own foiled plot to assassinate Jefferson Davis. It’s known as the “Dahlgren affair,” so named after Union Army Col. Ulric Dahlgren, who was killed on March 2, 1864 during a failed raid on Richmond. On his body were found orders to assassinate Davis. The government originally denied this, but today, distinguished historians such as Stephen W. Sears, author of a fantastic book on the Battle of Chancellorsville, among others, insist that the story is true. The papers were authentic. There is also much agreement that this is what motivated John Wilkes Booth.
The sickening deification of Lincoln began almost immediately, and was instigated by New England preachers and their pals in the Republican Party. They said Abe was born in a log cabin, close enough to a manger; he was a “railsplitter,” close enough to a carpenter; he died on Good Friday; he supposedly died for the sins of the nation, just as Christ died for the sins of the world; and there were even rumors and reports that his tomb was empty. War + religion = insanity.
9:30 am on April 14, 2006