announcer: you can watch this and other american artifacts programs anytime by visiting our website. announcer: on april 13, 1865, the day before his assassination, abraham lincoln left the white house on or spec for washington dc this would be his last ride to the cottage before he was shot by john wilkes booth. this past monday they posted a horseback recession -- procession. this is about 15 minutes. [no audio]

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erin: welcome everyone. this is a ride that would have been familiar to abraham lincoln. he first rode out a few days after his inauguration and he

retraced those words daily. he last rode out before his visits to ford's theater. tomorrow, i'll country will market lincoln's death, but today we celebrate his life the profound and lasting impact of his ideals and values. he himself said that if his name goes into history it would be for the the emancipation proclamation, a document that he recognized was also not enough to he celebrates his eagerness to hear the verge and perspectives. the neighborhoods offered that to lincoln and offers that wonderful diversity today. we celebrate the hope that lincoln had for the future. his last ride to the soldiers home reminds us that he was enjoying the present, mindful of the past, and eagerly looking ahead to the future. thank you for joining us on this fine day. as you might imagine, retracing his ride is a bit of an

undertaking. we are pleased to be join in our efforts by the fort myer caisson platoon, affordable farm services, the washington friends of walt whitman, the rainbow history project of washington dc, bruce monroe met -- elementary school. comedies in public libraries and the much politics leased apartment. at this point, we need to divert from our program because the mayor has been held up by a budget hearing. i would also like to offer a special thanks to all of the staff of president lincoln's cottage who help in this effort. [applause] i am delighted to introduce bonnie j morris, on her 20th

year of george washington university, and part-time at georgetown university as well. after earning a bachelor's in jewish history, the first student to minor in women's studies, she completed her phd at binghamton university in 1989, joined the faculty of harvard divinity school. in 2012, students voted her professor of the year. dr. morris is the author of 12 books, has published essays, and written a one-woman play performed in seven countries, 14 years with mother tong, spoken word stage for women. her publications have been finalists for many awards, and won prizes. she has appeared on c-span's book tv author profile.

dr. morris also sits on the board of directors of the rainbow history project you'd it collects preserves relevant to communities. dr. morris will be residing oh captain, my captain by walt whitman. pleas help me welcome dr. morris. [applause] bonnie: thank you for coming out on this solemn occasion to oh captain my captain by walt whitman. o captain my captain our feel for trip is done. the ship has weathered every rack the price we thought is one. the port is near. the bells right here. the people are rejoicing why falling on the steady keel the gristle them and daring. o heart heart, heart the bleeding drops

of red. they're on my captain lies falling, cold, and dead. in my captain, rise up and hear the bells, rise up for you the flag is flung, for you the bugle trills, for you bouquets and ribbons race, for you the shores, for you they call this wing mass, their eager faces turning, here captain, dear father, this army need your head , it is some dream on the deck that you have falling cold and dead my captain does not answer his lips are pale and still my father does not feel my arm he has no pulse nor will the ship is anchored safe and sound its voyage closed and done from fearful trip the victors and ship with objects one ringo bells, but i would morning

-- mournful dread walk the deck my captain lies, full and cold and dead [applause] david: thank you. erin: mayor bowser -- yet another meeting, so we will now welcome garrett pack. he will be reading the essay that walt whitman road, i see the president. [applause] garrett: this comes from an article that walt whitman road for the new york times on august 12 1863, called washington in the hot season. walt had lived here since the beginning of the year and found a lot close to the white house.

he wrote this article for the new york times print he became so proud of this particular article that he kept republishing it. he wrote i see the president almost every day as i happened to live as he passes to her from his lodgings. he never sleeps at the white house during the hot season, but has quarters as a health -- at a healthy location three miles north of the city, the shoulders home. -- soldiers home could i saw him this morning at about 8:30 p.m. near l street. he always has a company of 25-30 calvary with his sabers drawn and held up red over their shoulders. they say the guard was against his personal wish, but he let's his counselors have their way. the party makes no great show in uniform or horses. mr. lincoln is on the saddle, generate rises -- rides a good size fours, dressed in plain

black, somewhat dusty. wears a black stiff hat and looks as bad as ordinary as the commonest man. i see very plainly abraham lincoln's dark brown face with the deep cut lines, the eyes always to meet with a deep latent sadness in the expression. we have got so that we exchanged bows and very cordial ones. none of the artists or pictures have caught the deep subtle, an indirect expression of this man's face. there is something else there. one of the great portrait painters of two or three centuries ago is needed. [applause] thank you. erin: i always have to pause on those lines were whitman says there is something else there because i think that is still true. we are still learning much more

about lincoln today. it's not about capturing it visually, but understanding that lincoln was as a person and the ideas that meant so much to him and how are we altogether have a role to play in finishing lincoln's unfinished work. we will conclude the program today with the replying with the crew of the uss abraham lincoln. thank you. >> uss abraham lincoln attention.

erin: i would like to thank the

riders and the crew of the uss abraham lincoln, as was dr. morris and mr. peck for joining us today. thank you all. i hope this day was as memorable for you as it was for us. [applause]

announcer: today, american history tv is marking the 150th anniversary of the lincoln association. you can find hundreds of programs on president lincoln in c-span's video library at the span.org. here is a brief look at one of them. >> imagine for a moment that the

president of the united states has been assassinated in your workplace by one of your most admired and respected charismatic colleagues as you stood nearby. picture the chaos as her mind races, fearing for your own safety and the fear of being found. the own chosen words you might have uttered the could of been considered hostile to the president, as well as the times that using socializing with the assassin as recently as the drink you took with him in the bar next door a few hours ago. the more that i start thinking, there is a saloon on the south side of ford's theater where secessionist on now. the greenback saloon, which is where the union is hung out, they're what -- were a lot of trips to the saloon that day.

booth alone made seven or eight trips, which gives you some idea about working up the courage to do what he did. from that moment on for those people as well as many of us today, your world would never be the same. it you would be interrogated perhaps in prison, you would have to provide testimony keeping a scrupulously accurate and consistent in interview after interview for weeks months years, retelling, reliving every detail of an event that occurred in less than 30 seconds. for the rest of your life, you would move frequently, avoid reporters, change your name and the words that night would define the rest of your life and headlined your obituary, and precisely that scenario was the terrifying new reality for 46 people hired by ford's theater the night of april 14, 86 the five. -- april 14, 1865.

national park service ranger aaron martin discusses the history of ford theater. announcer: martin also examines the timeline from lincoln's assassination up until the death of ruth and his co-conspirators. posted by the interior department, this program is a little under an hour. [applause] erin: thank you for that introduction. good afternoon. thank you for coming out. as a civil war historian for the national park service, i can say that ford's theatre national historic site is definite need definitive site in federal city and it's been the one site that i really enjoyed in the course of my career and all the interaction i've had with berries historians and scholars who i see coming and going there i'm as well as the camaraderie that i have their daily.

what i want to do is cover a little bit of the history of ford's theater, the general history, and work my way into the assassination. little bit about the historical background of the theater. it was created in 1860 from a baptist church on that location. the ford brothers, originally from maryland, baltimore, where they ran three or four other theaters as well as an opera house, so the theater when it opened from the outset of president lincoln's term in office, it had a rather short lived life. following the assassination of president lincoln, the ford brothers were on a