Thanks for posting, Bill, and your thought about it depending on who was pulling the strings at any given time was what I was hoping you would say. I also question (without having a lot of information) whether Lincoln really was as popular with the people in 1865. Wasn't his re-election helped tremendously by allowing soldiers to vote in states where they happened to be -- such as Massachusetts guys walking into Maryland voting houses and casting a vote for Mr. Lincoln - or intimidating the citizens into deciding not to vote...