Abraham Lincoln's Tears for a Broken Nation

In the spring of 1865, Abraham Lincoln visited the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, just days after its fall. Witnesses described a man who looked far older than his fifty-six years — his face deeply lined, his shoulders stooped beneath a weight no military victory could lift. When an aide congratulated him on the Union's triumph, Lincoln reportedly gazed across the smoldering ruins and said quietly, "This is not a time for rejoicing."…