The Long Grasp of War

The Long Grasp of War

Abraham Lincoln wanted peace, for the war to end. He expressed his desire to “bind up the nation’s wounds” in his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865. In a meeting at City Point, Virginia, three weeks later, he urged his generals to “let ‘em up easy” when accepting the anticipated surrender of Confederate military forces. Photo: Peter Goldberg Lincoln lived to see the surrender of General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia but knew …