Surely we can say this in the Land of Lincoln. It used to be in the 70s that this was a school holiday in Illinois, along with Washington's Birthday on Feb. 19th, before President's Day on the 19th remained the day that is observed. I don't agree that all the Presidents should be honored together on that day. Some of them shouldn't be honored at all. None of them measure up to Lincoln, except Washington.
Attending Lincoln's funeral on April 19, 1865, Commander of the Union Armies, Ulysses S. Grant, stood alone and wept openly; he later said Lincoln was "the greatest man I have ever known."
The poem, "O Captain! My Captain" by Walt Whitman was about the death of Lincoln.
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
