Midnight on the Potomac Quotes

“An outer door to the department swung open. Light spilled onto the icy walkway, and, indistinctly, he could hear voices. Two men then emerged. One was short and heavy. The other, wearing a top hat and with a shawl draped about his shoulders, was lean and tall. They lingered for a minute in the light of the doorway, chatting. Then they said goodbye to the guards, who pulled the door closed behind them, and started on their way across the ice-covered snow toward the White House. Here was his chance. A well-aimed shot, even from behind the bushes, might work. That, or a quick dash for one at close range. But he had not counted on the second man. Probably a bodyguard, and more than likely armed. And then there was the ground itself. Could he even run on it at all? What if he fell? Powell hesitated. The two men walked away. The moment was lost.”
― Scott Ellsworth, Midnight on the Potomac: The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America

“Slavery had always been the underlying cause of the war, but by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, President Lincoln had turned the cause of the loyal citizens of the North and West into a war both to preserve the Union and to end slavery. There was another major change as well. Black soldiers had joined the Union army.”
― Scott Ellsworth, Midnight on the Potomac: The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America