Lincoln in Richmond, and Death of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

   

On this day, 150 years ago, Abraham Lincoln took a walk in Richmond, Virginia. At that time it was an amazing event as the leader of the United States walked in the capital of the Confederacy that had tried to break up the Union.

Two days earlier the Confederate army had left Richmond after a 10 month siege, as the Union army overwhelmed them. The next day Union troops, including units of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) entered Richmond, still smoldering from fires set by Confederate troops as they left and after rioting in the street by Southerners.

Despite warnings for his safety, Abraham Lincoln decided he wanted to see Richmond. He held his son, Tad's, hand (it was Tad's 12th birthday) and walked the streets of Richmond with a small guard. A huge crowd of freed slaves couldn't believe their eyes and followed and touched Lincoln, amazed to see him in person.

After a short walk Lincoln and Tad returned to their boat and left, but they had accomplished an amazing feat in Richmond, one very worthy of being remembered.

Exactly 103 years later the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was murdered in Memphis on this date. He, too, had accomplished a great deal during his life and in a sense helped end the work that Abraham Lincoln had started a century earlier.