Rep. James Garfield of Ohio—known as “the praying Colonel” during the Civil War—had explained why God had allowed the assassination of “the kindest, gentlest … friend” that the people of the South could expect. It was because Lincoln was too good and too kind. God had made Lincoln his instrument to save the Union, and he had become Christ-like and a martyr, but God would use sterner men to reconstruct the South. Across the North hundreds of Protestant ministers echoed this theme.
