Oliver Wendell Holmes, writing of Lincoln’s death, said:
“Dear Lord, with pitying eye behold,
This martyr generation,
Which Thou, through trials manifold,
Art showing Thy salvation!
O let the blood by murder spilt
Wash out Thy stricken children’s guilt,
And sanctify our nation!”
Samuel Francis Smith, author of the national hymn, “America,” in a long poetic tribute wrote:
“Grandly he loved and lived;