Today is President Abraham Lincoln's Birthday. We spent some time talking about Lincoln in the White House. The Civil War ends on April 9, 1865 and President Lincoln is assassinated just five days later on April 14, 1865. When he died in a boarding house across the street from Ford's Theater the next morning, Secretary of War, Edmund Stanton said, "Now, he belongs to the ages." President Lincoln was a self-educated lawyer and a simple family man from Illinois. When he and his family first arrived in the White House,they were astonished by its immense size. Lincoln and his wife Mary, had three sons: Robert, Tad and Willie. The U.S. was engaged in the horrific Civil War for the entirety of Lincoln's presidency. This took an immense toll on the President and his efforts and resolve to keep the U.S. a unified nation. Perhaps no other president in U.S. history aged more in four years of office than President Abraham Lincoln. While Lincoln's oldest son was off fighting the war, his younger sons, Tad and Willie became sick with typhoid fever in 1862. While Tad recovered, Willie did not. The President had to find a way to deal with his grief and lead a nation at war. He did this nobly. American history has many great heroes. But no other President had faced such a national crisis, or endured such personal tragedies, yet the President dealt with both with compassion and greatness.

We explored the National Park Service websites for the Lincoln Memorial, Ford's Theater and the Peterson House where President Lincoln was taken and died hours later. Elle was very interested in learning about these three places. She says she has never been to Washington, D.C., but she would like to go one day.