Even The Most Painstaking History Is A

Abraham Lincoln Was Not All Brooding And Melancholy And Patient Understanding. There Was A Hard Core In Him, And Plenty Of Toughness. He Could Recognize A Revolutionary Situation When He Saw One, And He Could Act Fast And Ruthlessly To Meet It.

History Does Not Usually Make Real Sense Until Long Afterward.

It Began With One Act Of Madness, And It Ended With Another. John Brown Heard History's Clock Strike In The Night And Tried To Hurry Dawn Along With Gunfire; Now John Wilkes Booth Heard The Clock Strike, And He Tried With Gunfire To Restore The Darkness. Each Man Stood Outside The Human Community, Directed By Voices The Sane Do Not Hear, And Each Kept History From Going Logically... The Line From Harper's Ferry To Ford's Theater Is A Red Thread Binding The Immense Disorder Of The Civil War Into An Irrational Sort Of Coherence.

Yet There Is A Dignity In The Human Spirit Which Can Become Most Clearly Visible In The Moment Of Defeat And Disaster.

I Think I Was Always Subconsciously Driven By An Attempt To Restate That Faith And To Show Where It Was Properly Grounded, How It Grew Out Of What A Great Many Young Men On Both Sides Felt And Believed And Were Brave Enough To Do