Most of the residents of Washington , D.C. were shocked and horrified by the assassination of Republican President Abraham Lincoln on April 14 , 1865 . Because of its geographical location , the city was sometimes suspected of being sympathetic to the Confederacy during the Civil War . Since Lincoln was killed in Washington , some of the residents worried Republican congressional leaders would seek revenge on the city . Thirteen days after Lincoln died , in an attempt to show loyalty , city and business leaders decided to erect a memorial honoring the slain president . It was the first Lincoln monument commissioned after his death , but not the first one built . In 1866 , a plaster statue ( later replaced by a metal one ) of Lincoln was erected in San Francisco . It was destroyed during the firestorm that followed the 1906 earthquake
1906 earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Abraham Lincoln (Flannery)