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February 13, 2015
A Near Miss
During the drive on Washington city in July 1863, Confederate sharpshooters were unknowingly presented with a particularly high-value target.
Captain Robert E. Park wrote: ‘The sharpshooters and the Fifth Alabama, which supported them, were hotly engaged; some of this enemy, seen behind their breastworks, were dressed in civilians’ clothes, and a few had on linen coats. I suppose they were “Home Guards” composed of Treasury, Post Office and other Department clerks.’ Park’s ‘Home Guards’ were in fact President Abraham Lincoln and his retinue, who had left the White House to inspect the defences around Washington. A doctor standing a few feet away from Lincoln was hit, and only prompt action by a nearby Union officer in throwing the president to the ground prevented a sudden and dramatic change in the course of Civil War history.— John Anderson Morrow, The Confederate Whitworth Sharpshooters, 2002
Posted by gerardvanderleun at February 13, 2015 1:54 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
Some people just fuck up a one car parade.
Posted by: Vermont Woodchuck ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://americandigest.org/sidelines/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 14, 2015 4:14 AM
The year was 1864, not 1863, and this incident took place during Confederate Maj. Gen. Jubal Early's drive on Washington. The 6th Corps of the Army of the Potomac had been hurriedly pulled back from Virginia to stiffen the defenses of the city. One of its veteran infantry captains noticed a tall, top-hatted civilian repeatedly peeking over the parapet at the action. The captain shouted at him, "Get down, you damned fool, before you get shot!" The civilian was, of course, President Lincoln, who, while amused at the captain's assertiveness, got down and stayed down. And the captain? That would be future Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Posted by: waltj at February 14, 2015 7:48 AM
Is it possible to send a couple claymores back in time?
Posted by: ghostsniper at February 14, 2015 1:45 PM
Although he was a pretty decent speech writer I have never cared on whit for Abe. His "war" to preserve the Union only ensured that every State would be and would remain a colony under the control of Washington bureaucrats. What a damn sorry mess that man made of things.
Posted by: Jack at February 16, 2015 12:31 PM