On July 12 , 1864 , while the United States is being torn apart by the Great Rebellion , President Abraham Lincoln is killed by a sharpshooter at Fort Stevens while inspecting the ramparts . Meanwhile , Vice President Hannibal Hamlin , who had retired to Bangor , Maine after being passed over for renomination as Vice President in favor of Andrew Johnson , receives an emergency telegram to summoned him out of Bangor to Washington , D.C. to assume the Presidency . Nine days later on July 21 , Hamlin becomes the 17th President and at his inaugural speech , he promises severe retribution on the Confederate States
killed
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Counting Up, Counting Down