This is an I-Heart podcast.

And we continue with our American stories.

Up next, the short, happy life of Abraham Lincoln, his final days.

By all accounts, Good Friday, just two days before Easter on April 14, 1865, was the

happiest day of President Abraham Lincoln's life. It had most certainly been the happiest few weeks of his

life. According to James Swanson, author of the New York Times bestseller, Manhunt, the 12-day

chase for Lincoln's killer. Here is what Swanson wrote. Lincoln had won the war.

Richmond fell on April 3rd.

Lee surrendered on April 9th.

And Lincoln gave his final speech from the White House grounds the evening of April 11th.

The night before the night Lincoln was shot by his assassin,

local newspapers reported it being the most beautiful night in the history of Washington as the city celebrated the ending of the bloodiest and costliest war ever fought on American soil.

Fireworks, flares, and other sources of every imaginable variety

illuminated the evening sky.

Again, James Swanson.

One of the papers said that the Capitol Dome was so beautiful that night

that it looked like a second moon had descended upon the earth as a sign of God's favor

for the union and for the victory.

The very next morning, an idyllic spring morning on April 14, Lincoln met his son,

who'd been working for General George Mead, and then he met with his cabinet. A rare visitor

joined that last meeting Lincoln would ever hold with his

staff, none other than General Ulysses S. Grant. They discussed affairs of state and things ended

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