One of the last public moments of Abraham Lincoln at the White House in 1865, shortly before his assassination. Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln are shown greeting Union generals, cabinet members, and guests during a formal reception near the end of the Civil War. The room is crowded but orderly, reflecting the traditions and social rituals of the time, even as the nation was exhausted by four years of fighting. Seen today, the image feels like a pause before history turned, showing Lincoln in a rare moment of calm as the war ended and the country stood on the edge of loss and change.