McHenry County Civil War Round Table-- Part 1: Lincoln Assassination

August 12, 2014, meeting.

The talk was given by Richard Stilling who spent 22 years as an FBI agent and also collects Civil War firearms.  He also worked the Kennedy assassination although his name is not in history books.  He finds lots of similarities between the two assassinations.

There was much political intrigue involved in both.

Then, there was the situation of the empty chair, a man of mystery and a simple letter.

At the time of Lincoln's death, the U.S. was having problems with relations with France, Spain, Britain and Russia.  Russia was expanding its sphere of influence in the Pacific.  (After all, the U.S. bought Alaska from Russia a few years after the war.)

Parts of Mexico had been taken over by England and France.  And France had really made its mark by installing Emperor Maximilian.

--Old Secesh