Civil War & Reconstruction
Civil War
Second Union Occupation
President Lincoln Returned to D.C. from His Stafford Visit
President Lincoln Returned to D.C. from His Stafford Visit
This photo was taken April 17, 1863 — one week after President Lincoln returned from his Stafford visit to the Army of the Potomac. His bond with the soldiers, forged in hospital visits and grand reviews, became solid and permanent. It paid enormous dividends in the election of 1864 and for many decades afterward. Most soldiers when writing letters home used the adjective about the president, “Careworn.” Despite the toll of the war on the president’s appearance, the president won their hearts with his homely, common touch.
