The first killing of a President in American history, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln shook the nation with grief and rage. This study refutes the elaborate conspiracy theories that have surrounded Lincoln's death and uncovers evidence about the murder and its aftermath. The author examines public opinion of the time - as reflected in newspapers, diaries, letters, sermons and transcripts of the pre-trial investigation and the trial itself - to understand how and why the public and the military reacted as they did.

After considerable scouring of musty and dusty files in courtroom storage cellars, the research project in Springfield, Illinois discovered more than 70,000 documents directly linked to Abraham Lincoln's twenty-four years as a practicing lawyer. Having access to that wealth of information, A. Lincoln Esquire: A Shrewd, Sophisticated Litigator presents unique insight into Lincoln's legal career in a distinctive book that presents detailed stories about Lincoln's cases using actual trial document, uses Lincoln's cases to examine the social and political climate of the time, shows how...