DeWolf, W.P. of N. "The President's Assassination." N.p., 15 April 1865. Printed handbill, 8 x 4 1/2 inches.

Surmounting a poem about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln are a beardless portrait of the slain president and italicized text printed sideways, detailing the time and dramatic circumstances of his death:  "The bloody murderer exclaimed as he flourished his knife...'Sic Semper Tyrannis.'"

The poem highlights the juxtaposition of the nation's happiness at war's end with its new, shocking "bitterness" brought by the assassin, a "loathsome fiend." The diction relies the lines drawn by the Civil War, claiming that the true "traitors" and "wayward brothers," regardless of previous allegiance, are now those who refuse to mourn Lincoln. Clearly a staunch supporter of the former President, the author closes by addressing his legacy, writing, "But o'er his ashes there shall rise a bad by duty led, / Who'll guard the sacred rights we've won, then the good man's not dead!"

[Civil War, Union, Confederate]  [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs]