Lincoln's Avengers: Justice, Revenge, and Reunion after the Civil War.

Lincoln's Avengers: Justice, Revenge, and Reunion after the Civil War. By Elizabeth D. Leonard. (New York and London: W.W. Norton and Company, c. 2004. Pp. xviii, 373. Paper, $14.95, ISBN 0-393-32677-2; cloth, $25.95, ISBN 0-393-04868-3.)

Elizabeth D. Leonard has chosen the title of her most recent study very wisely, for it is a story of revenge and reunion. Joseph Holt, judge advocate general of the United States, was the chief prosecutor of those involved in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Holt's commitment to bringing other so-called war criminals to justice provides the common link that ties many of the events of the spring and summer of 1865 together in this compelling and engaging narrative. The emphasis on Holt's activities throughout the investigation, capture, and trial of the Lincoln conspirators distinguishes Professor Leonard's study from the earlier work of Edward Steers Jr. in Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (Lexington, Ky., 2001). In the final analysis Lincoln's Avengers: Justice, Revenge, and Reunion after the Civil War tends to support the larger conspiracy theory that the Confederate leadership, including Jefferson Davis and Judah P. Benjamin, was involved in the plot to murder Lincoln. It is through the words and actions of Joseph Holt that Leonard provides evidence to support the criminality of the southern leadership.

Leonard views the assassination trial and execution of Henry Wirz, the commander of Andersonville Prison, as the final event of the war and the opening of Reconstruction. She is careful to point out the weaknesses of the procedures employed by Holt to prosecute the defendants in both cases but justifies Holt's excesses as a reflection of public opinion committed to avenging the death of Abraham Lincoln. Joseph Holt and his longtime friend Edwin Stanton, cried out for the punishment and public humiliation of Confederate leaders like Jefferson Davis, Clement Clay, and George Saunders. They blamed the former Confederates for the St. Alban's raid and even the Battle of Gettysburg. Holt and his supporters met opposition from President Andrew Johnson, who did not share their views on Reconstruction or the attempt to prosecute Confederate leaders in a military court. Johnson particularly disagreed with the Radical Republicans on the issue of black suffrage and equal treatment under the law for former slaves in the South. Holt quickly attacked Johnson for his self-serving and overly sympathetic attitudes toward his former Confederate friends. Leonard accepts the traditional view of Johnson and his conflict with the Washington radicals, introduced by Hans L. Trefousse in Andrew Johnson: A Biography (New York, 1989). This view does not always reflect the complexity of Reconstruction and defines Johnson as a bigoted racist without any appreciation of the larger implications of Reconstruction.

Leonard has refined and contributed to the debate on the Lincoln assassination conspiracy theories. Further, she has placed the events of the spring and summer of 1865 firmly on the threshold of the Reconstruction era. These conclusions are firmly documented by careful and thoughtful research in both the secondary and primary sources. This book represents a significant contribution to the history of the period.

CHARLES M. HUBBARD

Lincoln Memorial University