The Assassination
Wikipedia tells the history of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in dry, textbook form. Through accounts reported at the time, we learn that on Good Friday (April 14) 1865, John Wilkes Booth, put a bullet into the head of Abraham Lincoln, while the president watched a play at Ford’s Theater. The assassin then made his dramatic escape, and died at the hands of Union soldiers while hiding at a farm in Virginia. We know the story. This, along with other major historical events, is part of our education. We’ve been eased into it since childhood through basic information, animated depictions, and colorful sketches. And while Wikipedia gives us a few more details than we may have had previously, all of it seems distant and impersonal. We place ourselves as viewers of paintings and drawings of this terrible scene a few feet from the president’s back as the pistol at the end of John Wilks Booth’s arm discharges....
