Abraham Lincoln: The Final Casualty Of The War
National Museum of Health and Medicine
nmhm.washingtondc.museum
In the last hours of Lincoln’s life, the physicians who took care of him did as much as they could to save his life. This exhibit presents a look into Lincoln’s last hours and the physicians who cared for him. Review the autopsy results, bone fragments from Lincoln’s skull and the bullet that took the president’s life. 6900 Georgia Avenue and Elder St., NW. Daily – Permanent Exhibit.

Being Lincoln
President Lincoln’s Cottage at the Armed Forces Retirement Home
www.lincolncottage.org
Lincoln’s iconic image has been depicted on stage, in photographs, and on the silver screen.
Explore the ways Lincoln has been commemorated in images, and what it means to look like and be like Lincoln. Make sure to get the chance to "Lincoln Yourself" at the exhibit. 8/21/2010 – 7/31/2011. 3700 North Capitol Street NW.

Clara Barton National Historic Site
www.nps.gov/clba/
Founder of the American Red Cross cared for Civil War soldiers at the site of injuries, Clara Barton earned herself the moniker “Angel of the Battlefield.” A bullet nearly ended her career at Antietam on September 17, 1862. The museum in Glen Echo was her home for the last 15 years of her life and is full of items that illustrate her dedication to the care of others. It is open daily from 10 am-4 pm; closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Admission is free. 5801 Oxford Rd., Glen Echo, MD 20812. (301) 320-1410

Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture
www.reynoldscenter.org
This imposing Greek Revival building was constructed between 1836-1868 to serve as the U.S. Patent Office. The ball following Lincoln's second Inauguration took place in the grand hall on the second floor - the first time a government building was used for the celebration – on the evening of March 6, 1865. The president would be dead five weeks later. Today the structure houses two of the Smithsonian Institution’s world-class art collections: the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Both hold significant collections of Civil War era art. The National Portrait Gallery’s collection of official presidential portraits is the only complete collection outside the White House. Open daily from 11:30 am-7 pm; closed Dec. 25. Admission is free. 8th and F Streets NW. (202) 633-7970.

Ford’s Theatre National Historical Site
www.fordstheatre.org
On April 14, 1865, President and Mrs. Lincoln were attending a performance of “Our American Cousin,” when Confederate activist and actor John Wilkes Booth shot the president. Lincoln died the next morning at Petersen House, located directly across the street. The theater closed its doors after the assassination and served as a warehouse, museum and office building for 90 years until President Eisenhower authorized its restoration in 1954. Ford’s reopened in 1968 and has since become a theatre known for staging classic American plays. Renovated in 2008, Ford’s waslargely restored to its 1865 appearance. The site also houses a museum packed full of artifacts such as Booth’s 44-caliber Deringer, and displays examining the assassination conspirators and their trials. Set to open in February 2012, the Center for Education and Leadership will explore the lasting effect Abraham Lincoln’s presidency—and its untimely end—have had on our country.Ford’s Theatre is open from 9 am-5 pm (except during matinee performances). Admission is free. 517 10th St. NW. 202-426-6841.

Frederick Douglass National Historic Site
www.nps.gov/frdo/
The former slave who became one of the giants of the Civil War era, purchased this 21-room home in 1877. Known as Cedar Hill, Douglass’s final home is located across the Anacostia River, and offers spectacular view of Washington. Refurbished in 2007, the site offers exhibits, interpretive programs, and a film which tells the story of Douglass’ life. Open daily 9 am-4 pm between mid-October and mid-April, Cedar Hill closes an hour later in summer months. 1411 W St. SE. (202) 426-5961.

Historic Theater: The Student Sit-Ins At The Greensboro Lunch Counter
National Museum of American History
americanhistory.si.edu
Meet a civil rights activist in 1960, just after the Greensboro student sit-in began. Take part in a training session -- based on an actual 1960s manual -- to prepare for your first sit-in and decide if you would have the courage to fight for justice. These 15- to 20-minute performances reveal the people behind the objects on view and the emotions in their stories. Meet at Greensboro Lunch Counter, 2nd Floor of the East Wing. Daily throughout November at 11:30 am, 3 pm, 4:30 pm; no shows Nov, 26-28. 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW.

International Spy Museum
www.spymuseum.org
Learn about Civil War spies such as Belle Boyd and Rose Greenbow. Time-travel forward into the twentieth century to see Cold War gadgets like buttonhole cameras, lipstick guns and cipher machines, or to take part in Operation Spy, the museum’s new hour-long, immersive espionage experience. The museum’s hours vary by season, opening as early as 9 am, and closing as late as 8 pm. 800 F St. NW. (202) 393-7798.

National Building Museum
www.nbm.org
A 1,200-foot terra cotta frieze depicting a parade of Civil War military units wraps the exterior of what is today the National Building Museum. The frieze commemorates the war dead.
At War’s end, Congress commissioned Montgomery Meigs, the Union’s quartermaster general, to build a pension headquarters in brick to protect soldiers’ records from fire. The stairs are wide and low to accommodate wounded soldiers collecting their pensions. The expression “red tape” may refer to what sealed pension documents. The glorious building that was once the Pension Building is now the National Building Museum. Free historic building tours are available daily at 11:30am, 12:30pm, and 1:30pm. 401 F Street NW, 202-272-2448.

Library of Congress
www.loc.gov/visit
With a jaw-dropping 650 miles of book shelves, the Library of Congress may be the world’s largest library but it’s more than just a collection of books. Housed in one of Washington, DC’s most spectacular spaces, the library is a treasure-trove of priceless national and international artifacts on paper as well as film, photographs and recordings. Although special exhibitions revolve, the Civil War is always a theme in the Library’s “American Treasures’gallery, and researchers find it an invaluable resource for deeper investigations into pivotal events in American history. Admission is free. Independence Ave. at 1st St. SE. (202) 707-8000.

Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Portraits
Library of Congress
www.loc.gov
The lives of Civil War soldiers and civilians are brought into focus by more than 350 Civil war-era ambrotypes and tintypes portraits. The images, collected and donated by the Liljenquist family of McLean, VA, contain rich details from life in the 1860s: uniforms, belts, and guns as well as campaign badges, Bibles and wooden toys. April 12, 2011- August 1, 2011. 101 Independence Ave. SE.

National Archives
www.archives.gov
Keeper of America's most significant documents, the Archives’ holdings include Civil War records,photographs,and letters. The National Archives are home to the official records of the federal government including the original Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The original handwritten Emancipation Proclamation is kept here and is annually displayed over the Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. The National Archives is also a repository for Civil War buffs. Find draft records, court martial case files, Matthew Brady photographs and key pieces of correspondence, including a letter from Lincoln to his General-in-Chief Henry Halleck in 1863 suggesting that if General George Meade could follow up his victory at Gettysburg with another defeat of Robert E. Lee and his southern troops, the war would be brought to an end.7th St. & Pennsylvania Ave. NW. (866) 272-6272.

National Gallery of Art
www.nga.gov/exhibitions/shawinfo.shtm
Among the priceless masterpieces is the “Memorial to Shaw and the Fifty-fourth” by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The bas relief depicts the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, the fifth African-American troop to be organized during the Civil War. The regiment included Frederick Douglass' two sons Lewis and Charles; James Caldwell, the grandson of Sojourner Truth; and William H. Carney, the first African-American to win the Medal of Honor. National Mall at 7th St. & Constitution Ave. NW. (202) 737-4215.

National Museum of American History
americanhistory.si.edu
It is little wonder that the Smithsonian Institution is known as “America’s Attic.” This museum collects artifacts of all kinds—from gowns to locomotives—to preserve for the American people an enduring record of their past. The Civil War-era is represented by artifacts including Abraham Lincoln’s top hat and chairs from the courthouse at Appomattox. Items including the Woolworth’s lunch counter, site of the student sit-in in Greensboro, NC, preserve the history of the civil rights movement. The museum is open daily; closed Dec. 25. Admission is free. 14th St. and Constitution Ave. NW. (202) 633-1000.

National Museum of Health and Medicine
www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum
Now a repository for medical artifacts, anatomical and pathological specimens and other health-related materials, the Army Medical Museum opened in 1862 to help improve medical procedures during the Civil War. There's a significant collection of Civil War relics, including furniture from Appomattox Court House, the bullet that killed Abraham Lincoln, and the probe used in his autopsy. One of the more unusual items on display is the shattered leg bone of Major General Daniel Sickles, who murdered Francis Scott Key’s son, Philip Barton, in 1859. Sickles was acquitted, in the first successful application of the “temporary insanity” defense. When war broke out, Sickles joined the Army to restore his reputation. He was struck by a cannonball at the Battle of Gettysburg and subsequently lost his leg. He donated the bone to the Army Medical Museum. Ever the character, Sickles would visit his leg on the anniversary of its amputation. Open daily, 10 am-5:30 pm. Closed Dec. 25. Admission is free. 6900 Georgia Ave. NW. (202) 782-2200.

The Phillips Collection
www.phillipscollection.org
A modern museum of art, this Dupont Circle gem houses many masterpieces including the multi-paneled “Migration” series by Jacob Lawrence (1941) depicting the movement of hundreds of thousands of African-Americans from the south to the north between the First and Second World Wars. Lawrence was an impassioned chronicler of the twentieth century African-American experience. 1600 21st St. NW. (202) 387-2151.

The Price Of Freedom: Americans At War National Museum of American History
americanhistory.si.edu/index.cfm
Surveying the history of US military conflict, this exhibit includes a campaign ribbon from Lincoln’s 1864 electioneering; the stump of a tree shot to pieces at on the battlefield at Spotsylvania; and the chairs that Generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant used during the surrender ceremony at the Appomattox Court House. 1400 Constitution Ave NW.

Renwick Gallery of Art
americanart.si.edu
Now the Smithsonian Institution’s museum of decorative American arts and crafts, the Renwick building served as a supply depot for Union forces during the Civil War and as headquarters for General Montgomery C. Meigs, Army Quartermaster, in 1865. Today, magnificent paintings and crafts hang where uniforms, tents and other essentials were once meted out to soldiers on their way to fight in Virginia. The gallery, directly across the street from the White House, is open daily, 10 am-5:30 pm, except for December 25. Admission is free. 17th Street and Pennsylvania Ave. NW. (202) 633-2850.

Spirit of Freedom and Wall Of Honor at the African American Civil War Museum
African American Civil War Museum
afroamcivilwar.org
The 10-foot Spirit of Freedom sculpture, the first major piece of art by a black sculptor to be placed on federal land in the District, memorializes African Americans in uniforms and their families. Also find, the Wall of Honor, which lists more than 200,000 names of who served in the Civil War.1816 12th Street NW

To Bind Up The Nation's Wounds: Medicine During The Civil War
National Museum of Health and Medicine
nmhm.washingtondc.museum/index.html
Through the eyes of battlefield surgeons, explore the stories and science of tending to the sick and wounded during the Civil War. 6900 Georgia Avenue and Elder St., NW Daily, 10 am-5 pm; closed: Dec. 25.

Tour the Decatur House Slave Quarters
Decatur House
www.decaturhouse.org
Visit the historic home of naval hero Stephen Decatur, which contains one of Washington’s slave quarters. A permanent exhibit tells the story of two slaves who lived here when U.S. Representative Henry Clay lived in the house in 1827. 1610 H Street, NW.