My Journey on Lincoln's Assassination

[Susan Higginbotham]

Actually, if I have the correct entry, French says the very opposite. His entry for Saturday, April 15, 1865, reads, "We went to bed about 10, & I slept well till about daylight, when I awoke and saw that the streetlamps had not been extinguished. I lay awake, perhaps 1/2 an hour, & seeing that they were still burning, I arose and saw a sentry pacing before my house. I thought something wrong had happened, so dressed & went down & opened the front door." (Witness to the Young Republic," ed. by Donald B. Cole and John J. McDonough, p. 469).

Thank you for your kind remark, Laurie!

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Ah, here may be what the "Dark Union" author was referring to: "One very singular thing took place at the Capitol at about the hour of the attack, which was the sudden extinguishment of all the lights on the terrace of the Western front. The police discovered it immediately and caused them to be relighted. Nothing further occurred about the Capitol to excite suspicion." (Same entry, p. 471).

So not streetlights, but the Capitol lights, were briefly off.