Lincoln

Some of us was in the Second Kansas Colored.

We fought the Rebs at Jenkins' Ferry last April

just after they killed every Negro soldier

they captured at Poison Springs.

So at Jenkins' Ferry,

we decided warn't takin' no Reb prisoners.

And we didn't leave a one of 'em alive.

The ones of us that didn't die that day,

we joined up with the 1 1 6th U.S. Colored, sir,

from Camp Nelson, Kentucky.

What's your name, soldier?

Private. Harold Green, sir.

I'm Corporal Ira Clark, sir.

Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry.

We're waiting over there.

We're leaving our horses behind

and shipping out with the 24th Infantry

for the assault next week on Wilmington.

How long have you been a soldier?

Two years, sir.

The Second Kansas Colored Infantry,

they fought bravely at Jenkins' Ferry.

That's right, sir.

They killed a thousand Rebel soldiers, sir.

They were very brave.

And making $3 less each month than white soldiers.

Us Second Kansas boys...

Another $3 subtracted from our pay for our uniforms.

That was true, yes sir, but that's changed.

Equal pay now, but still no commissioned Negro officers.

I'm aware of that, Corporal Clark.

Yes, sir. That's good that you're aware, sir...

Do you think the Wilmington attack...

Now that white people have accustomed themselves

to seeing Negro men with guns

fighting on their behalf,

and now that they can tolerate

Negro soldiers getting equal pay

maybe in a few years, they can abide the idea

of Negro lieutenants and captains.

In fifty years, maybe a Negro colonel.

In a hundred years, the vote.

What will you do after the war, Corporal Clark?

Work, sir.

-Hm. -Perhaps you'll hire me.

Perhaps I will.

But you should know, sir,

that I get sick at the smell of boot black

and I cannot cut hair.

I've yet to find a man could cut mine

so that it'd make any difference.

You got springy hair for a white man.

Yes, I do.

My last barber hanged himself.

And the one before that.

Left me his scissors in his will.

President Lincoln, sir.

Good evening, boys.

We saw you, and...

-We were at... -We was at Gettysburg.

You boys fight at Gettysburg?

No, didn't fight there, we just signed up last month.

We saw him two years ago at the cemetery dedication.

Yeah. We heard you speak... Goddamn.

Uh, hey, how tall are you, anyway?

Aw, jeez, shut up.

Could you hear what I said?

No, sir. Not much.

It was...

"Four score and seven years ago,

"our fathers brought forth from this continent

"a new nation, conceived in liberty

"and dedicated to the proposition

"that all men are created equal."

That's good. Thank you.

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war,

"testing whether that nation or any nation

"so conceived and so dedicated,

"can long endure.

"We are met on a great battlefield of that war."

That's good, thank you.

"We come to dedicate

"a portion of that field

"as a final resting place for those who here

"gave their lives that that nation might live."

His uncles, they died on the second day of fighting.

I know the last part. It is, uh...

Company up! Moving out!

You boys best go and find your company.

-And thank you. -Thank you, sir.

-God bless you. -God bless you, too.

God bless you.

"That we here highly resolve that these dead

"shall not have died in vain.

"That this nation, under God,

"shall have a new birth of freedom

"and that government of the people, by the people,

"for the people

"shall not perish from the earth."

It's nighttime.

Ship's moved by some terribie power

at a terrific speed.

And though it's imperceptible in the darkness,

I have an intuition that we're headed towards a shore.

No one else seems to be aboard the vessel.

I'm very keenly aware of my aloneness.

"I could be bounded in a nutshell

"and count myself a king of infinite space

"were it not that I have bad dreams."

Hmm.

I reckon it's the speed that's strange to me.

I'm used to going at a deliberate pace.

I should spare you, Molly.

I shouldn't tell you my dreams.

I don't want to be spared if you aren't.

And you spare me nothing.

Perhaps it's...

It's the assault on Wilmington Port.

You dream about the ship before a battle, usually.

How's the coconut?

Beyond description.

Almost two years, nothing mends.

Another casualty of the war.

Who wants to listen to a useless woman

grouse about her carriage accident?

-I do. -Stuff.

You tell me dreams, that's all.

I'm your soothsayer.

That's all I am to you anymore.

I'm not to be trusted

even if it was not a carriage accident.

Even if it was an attempted assassination.

It was most probably an accident.

It was an assassin whose intended target was you.

How are the plans coming along for the big shindy?

I don't want to talk about parties.

You don't care about parties.

Not much, but they're a necessary hindrance.

I know.

I know what it's about, the ship.

It's not Wilmington Port. It's not a military campaign.

It's the amendment to abolish slavery.

Why else would you force me

to invite demented radicals into my home?

You're going to try to get the amendment passed

in the House of Representatives

before the term ends?

Before the Inauguration?

Don't spend too much money on the flubdubs.

No one is loved as much as you.

No one's ever been loved so much by the people.

You might do anything now.

Don't... Don't waste that power

on an amendment bill that's sure of defeat.

Did you remember Robert's coming home for the reception?

Mm?

I knew you'd forget.

That's the ship you're sailing on,

the 1 3th Amendment.

You needn't tell me I'm right. I know I am.

-(DOOR CREAKING) -Oh!

Oh, it's late, Mrs. Keckley.

Well, she needs this for the grand reception.

It's slow work.

Good night.

Did you tell her a dream?

-Papa. -Mm-hmm.

Papa, I want to see Willie.

Me, too, Taddie, but we can't.

Why not?

Willie's gone.

It's three years now he's gone.

The part assigned to me is to raise the flag.

Which, if there be no fault in the machinery, I will do.

And when up

it'll be for the people to keep it up.

That's my speech.

(SINGING) We are coming, Father Abraham

Three hundred thousand more

From Mississippi's winding stream

And from New England's shore

We leave our plow and workshops

Our wives...

Even if every Republican in the House votes yes,

far from guaranteed. Since when has our party

unanimously supported anything?

But say all our fellow Republicans vote for it.

We'd still be twenty votes short.

Only twenty?

"Only twenty?"

We can find twenty votes.

Twenty House Democrats who'll vote to abolish slavery?

In my opinion...

To which I always listen.

-Or pretend to. -With all three of my ears.

We'll win the war soon.

It's inevitable, isn't it?

Well, it ain't won yet.

You'll begin your second term with semi-divine stature.

Imagine the possibilities peace will bring.