1865 - Political Events

Political Events

The American Civil War ends, President Lincoln dies by an assassin's hand, and a 12-year era of Reconstruction begins in the South with state legislatures run by "carpetbaggers" and "scalawags."

Union forces under Connecticut-born Brig. Gen. of Volunters Alfred H. (Howe) Terry, 37, capture Fort Fisher at Wilmington, North Carolina, January 15; Union forces occupy Columbia, South Carolina, February 17, and Charleston falls to a Union fleet February 18.

President Lincoln delivers his second inaugural address March 4, stating that the nation's postwar posture should be "with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right."

Petersburg, Virginia, surrenders April 3 and Grant takes Richmond the same day with help from local Yankee sympathizer Elizabeth Van Lew, who has brought supplies to imprisoned Union officers and helped many to escape (see 1862). Affecting peculiar dress and behavior in order to divert suspicion, "Crazy Bet" has maintained five relay stations between the Confederate capitol and Grant's headquarters.

Confederate secretary of state Judah P. Benjamin disguises himself as a clergyman and escapes to the West Indies following the fall of Richmond April 3. Now 54, he sails for England, will be admitted to the bar at London next year, and in 1869 will become Queen's Counsel.

The War of the Rebellion ends April 9 with General Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. "Let us have peace," says General Grant. The 4-year Civil War has cost the country 620,000 lives: the Union has lost 360,222 men (110,000 of them in battle), the Confederacy 258,000 (94,000 in battle), with 471,427 wounded on both sides. Men with missing arms and legs are everywhere to be seen, the nation is full of widows and orphans, and marriageable young women have trouble finding husbands.

Confederate secretary of war John C. Breckenridge flees south with other high-ranking officials, escapes to Cuba, and makes his way to England, where he will remain until 1868, when an amnesty proclamation will permit him to return to Lexington, Kentucky.

The end of the Civil War makes it possible for President Lincoln to ship arms and clothing across the border to Mexico, where supporters of exiled President Juárez put them to good use against French forces of the emperor Maximilian (see 1864; 1866).

President Lincoln is shot in Ford's Theater at Washington, D.C., April 14 (Good Friday). Actress Laura Keene recognizes actor John Wilkes Booth, 27, as the assassin and holds the dying president's head in her lap until he is taken from his box at the theater to a house across the street. A son of the late English-born actor Junius Brutus Booth and a brother of the eminent Shakespearean actor Edwin Thomas Booth, young Booth has climbed the stairway to Lincoln's box, shot the president in the head with a .44-caliber Derringer pistol, leapt to the stage crying, "Sic semper tyrannis! [Thus always to tyrants!] The South is avenged!" and escaped, dragging a broken leg. One of his accomplices has tried to kill Secretary of State Seward, who is recovering from a fractured arm and jaw sustained 9 days earlier when he was accidentally thrown from his carriage (the pistol misfired and the stab wounds administered by the would-be assassin were not fatal). Lincoln dies April 15 at age 66; told of the president's death, Secretary of War Stanton takes charge of the government, saying, "Now he belongs to the ages." Police search the boardinghouse of Mrs. Mary E. Jenkins Surratt, 45, and she is arrested April 17 on conspiracy charges in connection with the president's murder. Her son John, a Confederate courier, has met in the house with Booth and others but has evidently distanced himself after learning of Booth's plan. Booth is not found until April 26, when he is either killed by his captors or dies by his own hand. President Lincoln is succeeded by his Democratic vice president Andrew Johnson, now 56, whom he selected as his running mate last year with a view to reconciling North and South.

Former Confederate president Jefferson Davis is captured at dawn May 10 near Irwinville, Georgia, and placed in leg-irons at Fort Monroe, Virginia, where he is confined in a damp casemate. News of his treatment produces a wave of outrage in the North, and he is transferred to more comfortable quarters, but he will be held under guard until May 1867.

Assassin John Wilke Booth's alleged conspirators go on trial beginning May 12; all are found guilty, including Mrs. Surratt, and hanged July 7. Intelligence chief LaFayette C. Baker was in New York when the assassination took place and had no direct responsibility for protecting the president; he is accused of negligence but has directed the pursuit and capture of Booth with such quick results that he is promoted to brigadier general. Baker continues his police and undercover work, discovering a large and lucrative trade in pardons of former Confederate officers and men that extends into the White House. Congress will soon refuse to fund his operations, Baker will resign, and the secret service will be disbanded.

President Johnson announces plans for a Presidential Reconstruction of the former Confederacy May 29, drawing widespread censure for his leniency toward the rebels and widespread relief among Southerners, but while he issues blanket pardons to most he requires officers and plantation owners to write personal letters requesting clemency. A group of radical Republicans headed by Thaddeus Stevens favor enfranchisement for former slaves and a restructuring of Southern society, but hordes of planters descend on Washington to petition the president for pardons; by fall he has granted between 15,000 and 20,000 of them their requests.

Confederate guerilla leader William C. Quantrill dies in a Louisville, Kentucky, prison June 6 at age 27; Union Navy Rear Admiral (ret.) Samuel F. Du Pont at Washington, D.C., June 23 at age 61 (Washington's Du Pont Circle will be named for him); former Texas governor (and two-time Republic of Texas president) Sam Houston dies at Huntsville, Texas, July 26 at age 70 (opposed to secession, he refused to swear allegiance to the Confederacy, and was deposed in March 1861).

Confederate naval officer James I. Waddell prepares to attack San Francisco, learns in August that the war has ended, docks at Liverpool, and remains with his crew in England until an amnesty is granted.

The "carpetbaggers" who move into the South are so called with contempt by Southerners, who say that the newcomers can put all they own in the common hand luggage called carpetbags. Some become state legislators and U.S. congressmen, some are missionaries sent to help the freedmen, who are helped in some cases also by "scalawags"—Southerners who join with the ex-slaves to establish a new order in the South.

Paraguay seizes a small Argentinian river port in April (see 1864); a treaty signed at Buenos Aires May 1 creates a triple alliance (Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay) to oppose the Paraguayan dictator (see 1866).

Peruvian general Mariano Ignacio Prado ousts President Juan Antonio Pezet, who has created a furor by agreeing to Spanish demands for an indemnity (see 1864). Prado obtains support from Bolivia, Chile, and Ecuador, forging an alliance against the Spaniards (see 1866).

Colombia's President Mosquera wins reelection, reassumes dictatorial powers soon thereafter, and will be ousted in 1867.

Spain gives up the Dominican Republic, having occupied the country since 1858, and former president Buenaventura Báez returns from Europe to begin a third term. He will be toppled by a second coup d'état in May of next year but will serve two more terms as he renews efforts to have the United States annex his country, mostly to protect his own business interests (see 1878).

Swedish liberal leader Carl Henrik, Greve Anckarsvärd dies at his native Stockholm January 25 at age 82, having fought for a modern parliamentary system (achieved only this year), open government fiscal policy, free trade, and mass public education; Italian patriot general Manfredo Fanti dies at Florence April 5 at age 57.

The Convention of Badgastein signed by delegates from Prussia and Austria August 20 provides that the Prussian kaiser and Austrian emperor shall have sovereignty over their respective duchies of Schleswig and Holstein that have been seized from Denmark (see 1864; Erfurt Union Parliament, 1850). Both duchies are to be admitted to the Prussian-led customs union (Zollverein), even though Austria is not a member, and although the accord postpones the struggle for hegemony over Germany it will lead to disputes (see 1866).

Britain's prime minister Viscount Palmerston dies at Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, October 18 at age 80. He is succeeded by Lord John Russell, now, 73, who will resign next June after his reform bill fails.

The king of the Belgians Leopold I dies at Laeken December 10 at age 74 after a 4-year reign that has established the Belgian monarchy. He is succeeded by his 30-year-old son, who will reign until 1909 as Leopold II, expanding Belgian interests (and his own) in the Congo.

Boers in the Orange Free State begin a war with the Basutos that will continue until next year.

Japan's shōgunal regent Keiki Tokugawa sends another expedition to Choshu Province in August with orders to destroy the rebellious feudal fief (see 1864). Shinsaku Takasugi has brought his military units under central control and armed them with Western weapons; Tokugawa fails to gain support from the other great feudal lords, many of whom feel that he has tried to reassert his authority at their expense, and his forces are routed (see 1866).

Bhutan signs a treaty ceding control of her southern passes to the British, who went to war with the Bhutanese last year and have defeated them. The British agree to an annual subsidy to the Bhutanese, who reciprocate by agreeing to accept British mediation in any future disputes with their neighbors (see 1910).