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Bloody Crimes: The Chase For Jefferson Davis And The Death Pageant For Lincoln's Corpse (2010)

by James L. Swanson(Favorite Author)

3.81 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0061233781 (ISBN13: 9780061233784)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

William Morrow

review 1: Well, this was ONE FASCINATING read. While Lincoln's body was wending its way home to be buried in Springfield, the hunt was on for ol' Jeff Davis, the erstwhile "President" of the Confederate States, who was wending his own way southward (with a stack of gold - so what else is new?) towards who-knows-where (Mexico? if he could get across the Mississippi?). Only ONE picture was taken of Lincoln's body in his casket (against STRICT instructions) and it was found in a book in Springfield by my old high school friend, Ron Rietveld. I tell you that was BIG NEWS at East High School in Des Moines.
review 2: I had some issues with this book. In some places it is rambling and overly detailed--to the point where I felt like skimming passages. There were editing disc... morerepancies, too--for instance, on one page it says that Edwin Stanton, who was in charge of picking out the clothes that Lincoln would be buried in, selected a suit that "was new, so the president had not had the opportunity to wear it out." Yet just a few pages later, Lincoln's body is described being on display in his coffin "dressed in the same splendid clothes he wore on March 4, 1865, when he rode in a carriage in a grand procession from the White House to the Capitol, where he swore to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Also, I didn't like the fact that the author seemed very judgmental when reporting on people's actions and/or intentions. Immediately after Lincoln's assassination, the author makes comments about certain things that Mary Lincoln "should" have done. When I'm reading a book of nonfiction about history, I want the facts--I don't want the author to tell me what HE thinks SHOULD have happened. And speaking of Mary Lincoln--it is very obvious that the author does not care for her. There are a number of snarky comments made about Mrs. Lincoln. Granted, by all accounts the woman was mentally unbalanced--but she was also a grieving widow whose husband had been murdered while sitting directly by her side. Who are we to criticize her actions or emotions after the assassination, more than 150 years later? At one point the author is detailing the costs of Lincoln's funeral and death pageant, and includes a notation about a bill for "1 mourning dress ($60)" for Mary Lincoln. He then adds: "Mary Lincoln, who remained in seclusion, had no public use for the black mourning dress and accessories." Really? You want to begrudge the woman a dress to wear so she could mourn her dead husband in private? And the author makes quite a few comments about her "refusal to vacate the Executive Mansion, thus denying its proper use by the new president, Andrew Johnson." Again--really? Is he suggesting that Johnson should have tossed Lincoln's widow out on her ass within days? By the end of the book, these types of comments left a bad taste in my mouth. However, I enjoy the way the book is written with the parallel journeys--Lincoln's body traveling home to Illinois, and Jefferson Davis attempting to escape the Union soldiers. and I learned a lot about Davis and the Confederacy after the war that I didn't know. So...3/5 stars. less

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