[center][b][u]Last Blow of the Confederacy[/u][/b]
[i]written by Byrd Man[/i][/center]

1867 saw the United States at peace for the first time in nearly six years, the first year Abraham Lincoln's presidency would not face open rebellion from the south. It would also be the last year in the president's life. On April 14th, 1867 a small group of Southern sympathizers launched a plot to eliminate the president and the high-ranking members of his cabinet, inspiring a new succession movement through the South. Assassin George Atzerodt, tasked with killing Vice President Schuyler Colfax at a Washington hotel, lost his nerve that night and fled without acting. Lewis Powell attacked Secretary of State William Seward at his home. After bludgeoning and stabbing Seward repeatedly in his bed, Powell was driven off by Seward's family and bodyguards. Powell's attack had severely injured Seward, but no major organs or orifices had been punctured by the assassin before he fled.

[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/Ase9KNy.jpg[/img]
[i]Fredrick Seward Wrestles His Father's Would-Be Assassin[/i][/center]

President Lincoln and First Lady Mary Todd were at a showing of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre when actor John Wilkes Boothe infiltrated the Presidential Box. With a single-shot derringer Booth mortally wounded Lincoln with a point-blank shot to the back of the head. Shouting “Sic semper tyrannis” -- Thus Always to Tyrants, the state motto of Virginia -- Boothe leaped from the box and on to the stage, breaking his leg in the process.

[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/a7X9Rzb.png?1[/img]
[i]The Assassination of President Lincoln[/i][/center]

The dying president was transported to the Petersen Boarding House across the street where three physicians attempted to save his life. Although bullet fragments were recovered from the back of his head, the majority of Boothe's shot was too far inside to find and repair. A group of men led by Secretary of War Stanton held a vigil around Lincoln's death bed. Army surgeon Dr. Charles Leale held firmly to Lincoln's hand all through the night in an attempt to provide comfort. President Lincoln was pronounced dead that morning at 7:22 AM. He was fifty-eight years old. At 11 AM that morning Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase swore in Schuyler Colfax as the new president.

[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/Q4rFE3z.jpg?1[/img]
[i]Schuyler Colfax, Seventeenth President of the United States[/i][/center]