Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on this date, in 1865. Here’s a story about him that you might not know.
Before the American Civil War, 60% of the cotton picked in the US South went to Manchester, which was the textiles capital of the world at the time. When the Civil War started, the mill workers refused to accept cotton picked by slaves even though in so doing they ruined their own industry, and most lost their jobs.
The factory owners (Confederate supporters because they made all their money on cotton imports) lobbied for the Royal Navy to break President Lincoln’s naval blockade of the South, but were refused.
The Cotton Famine (as it came to be known) nearly ruined Manchester, but the city was helped in part by ships carrying provisions sent by Lincoln in 1863, not long before he was assassinated.
And now you know why there is a statue of President Lincoln in the middle of Manchester city centre today.
