Myths After Lincoln

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Those who are very interested in Abraham Lincoln and the history of the American civil war will likely appreciate Lloyd Lewis’ Myths After Lincoln. 

Facts and Rumors

Originally published in 1929, the book describes in detail the events surrounding the assassination of the President in 1865.  Lewis provides comprehensive accounts related to Lincoln, the assassin John Wilkes Booth, the accused conspirators, and the political and religious figures who influenced subsequent events.

This history covers Lincoln’s activities leading up to the visit to Ford’s Theatre; his funeral train; the attempted theft of his remains; and the many times his grave was relocated.  One of the more interesting sections covers Booth and his co-conspirators from their youths through their executions or imprisonments.

This book may be unique in that it not only provides the factual details, but also covers the rumors, misinformation, and myths that followed.  Did Lincoln’s dreams really foretell his imminent death?  Is that really Lincoln’s remains at the Springfield, Illinois, tomb?  Was it really Booth who was killed in that Virginia barn or did he surface later in places like Granbury, Texas, and Enid, Oklahoma?

Carl Sandburg

As an aside, Lloyd Lewis was good friends with poet/author Carl Sandburg.  In fact, Sandburg wrote the Introduction for Lewis’ book.  Sandburg, of course, wrote what many consider to be the definitive biography of Lincoln with the first two volumes published about three years before Lewis’ Myths After Lincoln. 

Sandburg’s Lincoln biography eventually grew to six volumes, but was published as a single volume in 1954. Read that one first, and then enjoy Lewis’ Myths After Lincoln.

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