In partnership with the National Park Service, the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia invites everyone to a special series of events on Saturday, March 7, 2015 where we’ll celebrate the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural Address. Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Lincoln will take the oath of office on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and recite his famous inaugural address.
The inauguration begins a full day encompassing three separate events. More details here.
Event 1: Inaugural reenactment at the Lincoln Memorial, 9:15 – 11:30 am [Free]
Chuck Todd, the current moderator of Meet the Press and former chief White House Correspondent will deliver the keynote address. Dr. Lucas Morel of Washington and Lee University and Dr. Edna Greene Medford of Howard University will also speak. Mr. Lincoln will take the oath of office from Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, after which we’ll have wide ranging musical entertainment by the Military District of Washington; multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and music historian Bobby Horton; and the Washington Performing Arts Society’s Children of the Gospel Choir.
This event is free and open to the public. Music begins at 9:15 am at the Lincoln Memorial.
Event 2: Lincoln Inaugural Banquet at the Willard Hotel, 1:00 – 4:00 pm [Tickets]
After the inauguration, join us at a special inaugural banquet at the historic Willard Hotel. In addition to a fantastic meal, Lucas Morel and Edna Greene Medford will discuss the impact of Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural to the past, present, and future…as well as the 50th anniversary of Selma’s “Bloody Sunday,” the topic of a recent Oscar-nominated movie co-produced by Oprah Winfrey. Bobby Horton will provide the musical entertainment!
Tickets are necessary. If you would like to hear the Bobby Horton concert but not the banquet, you can do that too! Check out the details here (scroll down for all three events).
Event 3: Bobby Horton Concert, New York Ave. Presbyterian Church, 7:30 pm [Tickets]
Cap off the day with an amazing concert at the church Abraham Lincoln called home, the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. Bobby Horton will regale us with a full concert in this historic building beginning at 7:30 pm. For those who don’t know him, you’re in for a treat, as in his most entertaining style he will lead us in songs of the Civil War soldier, both norther and southern. More about him:
A seasoned performer, Horton is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and music historian. He has performed with the musical- comedy trio Three On a String, throughout the United States and Canada for 40 plus years. He has also produced and performed music scores for sixteen PBS films by Ken Burns – including “The Civil War”, and “Baseball,” two films for The A&E network, and twenty-one films for The National Park Service. His series of recordings of authentic period music has been acclaimed by historical organization and publications through America and Europe.
You can join us for one, two, or all three events. A shuttle bus is available for transport between the Lincoln Memorial and the Willard hotel (see links for details and tickets).
This is an incredible opportunity to take part in history at three of the city’s most historic landmarks – Lincoln Memorial, Williard hotel, and Lincoln’s Church. Please join us Saturday, March 7th for one or all of these great events.
More information and tickets can be found here.
See you on March 7th!
David J. Kent is a lifelong Lincolnophile and is currently working on a book about Abraham Lincoln’s interest in science and technology. He is also the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and an ebook Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time. His next book is about Thomas Edison.
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Today is the 206th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, our 16th and perhaps most well known President. And as usual, I’m chasing Abraham Lincoln.
Elizabeth Varon, Professor of History at the University of Virginia, then provided some insights on the election from the South in her talk “Catastrophe or Setback? The Election of 1864 in Confederate Eyes.”
“The Summer of ’64” was a critical time period that significantly impacted the election, said University of Kansas Professor Jennifer Weber, author of Copperheads. Grant’s overland campaign had even die-hard Unionists war weary; Weber explored many reasons how military disasters turned into Union – and Lincoln’s – victories.
Speaking of the military, the soldier vote was crucial to Lincoln’s electoral victory in November. Christopher Newport University Professor and historian Jonathan W. White examined voting dynamics that possibly changed the outcome of the election in “Emancipation and the Soldier Vote of 1864.”
Following these great talks was our keynote speaker, noted historian Michael Burlingame, author and editor of numerous books on Abraham Lincoln. In a wide-ranging talk, Burlingame brought us into the opposition Lincoln faced in reelection, including many in his own party. His “Radicals, Abolitionists, and Lincoln’s Reelection” explored the fickleness not just of the public, but of the lawmakers and generals who worked for and against Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln was reelected for a second term in 1864, which surprised everyone, 
As the Civil War raged on, things weren’t looking so good for the reelection of Abraham Lincoln. In August 1864 Lincoln asked his entire cabinet to sign the back of what became the “
After a delightful open-air lunch at the Urbana Park, we were on to Fort Stevens. Located inside the District line from Silver Spring, Maryland (and not far from the modern day horror of the “DC sniper”), Fort Stevens is a series of low dirt mounds lined with Union cannon. Here was not only the repelling of Early’s forces but the site of one of Abraham Lincoln’s most famous incidents.
Living not far away at the Soldier’s Home, Lincoln had decided to see the action first hand. Ignoring the risk, Lincoln stood his 6-foot, 4-inch frame (plus tall top hat) on top of the mound to get a view. A medical officer standing beside him was hit with a bullet, after which the infamous (and possibly apocryphal) line was blurted out: “Get down you fool.” Whether it was this or a more respectful imploring for the President to get out of the line of fire we will likely never know, but thankfully he did get down and was unharmed.
Our last stop was at Fort DeRussy, another of the small forts that served as a perimeter around Washington DC during the war. Earthenwork like Fort Stevens, DeRussy also boasted a “100-pounder,” a rifled Parrott cannon that could fire accurately for up to 4 miles.Many thanks to Craig Howell for being such a fantastic and knowledgeable tour guide, to Beltway Transportation for the comfortable bus and daring driver, and to Karen Needles, Susan Dennis, and everyone else in the Lincoln Group who arranged the tour. As the saying goes, a great time was had by all.
