Louis Weichmann

[tom82baur]

My interest in Lincoln, the assassination, and the Civil War was rekindled by the purely serendipitous discovery of Louis Weichmann's book at a local tag sale back in the mid 1980s. I read it immediately, and I was just stunned by it. Shortly thereafter, Ken Burn's Civil War masterpiece appeared on PBS, and I was hooked!

This is my first post here, although I have been a lurker for some 6 months, and I wish to pay due respect to all the contributors! I am the administrator for our local Civil War Roundtable Facebook page, and I have made numerous links to this forum, mainly in regard to the Assassination thread, since that has been so much in the news these past few months.

I continue to be fascinated with Weichmann's role, and, while I confess to being generally sympathetic to him, I think that the jury is still out. My overall impression of his book is that.... to paraphrase The Bard: "Methinks he doth protesteth too much."

But I don't think that we have discovered the whole truth of the matter yet. I find it distressing to see the discussion start to move away from a strict discussion of the facts that have emerged so far, to something that diminishes that. It is my fervent wish that we can step back, take a deep breath, and get back to doing what this forum does so... excellently: post the facts, as best they can be determined! And let the chips fall where they may.

I heartily applaud the forum contributors on all sides, and I cannot express the depth of my appreciation for what I have learned, thanks to you ALL, over the past few months. Please keep up the good work. Kudos!