Damn'd on Earth: Was Abraham Lincoln's Martyrdom a Form of Suicide?

“Allow me respectfully to ask you to consider whether you ought to expose the Nation to the consequence of any disaster to yourself…If it was a question concerning yourself only I should not presume to say a word – Commanding generals are in the line of their duty in running such risks. But is the political head of a nation in the same condition.” (Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton telegram to President Lincoln, 10:20 a.m., April 3, 1865.) “Yours received. Thanks for your caution…I will take care of myself.” (Lincoln’s response from City Point, Virginia at 5 p.m. that day.)Twelve days later Lincoln was dead. Having eschewed security throughout his administration, his disregard of personal safety led directly to his assassination. Washington, D.C. was in the South! The wonder was not that he was assassinated, but that he lasted as long as he did. Why did Lincoln needlessly expose the Nation to the consequences of a disaster to himself?And suffer the Nation did, from his premature departure.With his 1860 election prairie lawyer Abraham Lincoln, who suffered from depression, found himself in the middle of a national crisis of unprecedented ferocity. The pressures on Lincoln from the war, his personal life, marriage, and politics, were stupendous. Damn’d on Earth documents a story of astonishing resilience while living with a potentially disabling condition, and the limits on resilience. Why would a man so profoundly capable, and who rendered such incomparable service to his country, and to history, give himself up to be murdered? Was martyrdom a species of suicide?The theme of this work has been hiding in plain sight since April 14, 1865. The author’s challenge: Show me where I’m wrong!