The Day Lincoln Died

On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War.

Lincoln was an incredible President.  No other man in his time could have held this country together as he did.  Without his courage, determination and statesmanship, the United States of America, despite her many and significant flaws, would not be the "Union of States"  it is today.

So I dedicate this flower, from Opuntia macrocentra, the purple prickly pear (or long-spined prickly pear) to his memory tonight.  And with this flower I pray that, 150 years following the death of arguably our greatest President, his vision may become our reality...

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
--November 19, 1863 Gettysburg Address