Lincoln’s behavior in dealing with Colonel Henry L. Benbow is distinctive in a number of ways.
Besides being simple, one-on-one, and bent on reconciliation, it also shows great personal courage.
One could easily imagine that news of an impending presidential visit had made it through the gossip-mill, even to a tent filled with Rebels. One can also imagine someone like Colonel Benbow with, say, a straight-edge razor up his sleeve on the million-to-one chance that he might get a chance to strike a significant blow for the Confederacy [surely John Wilkes Booth wasn’t the only Southerner who thought of killing Lincoln].
Any man who gets close enough to shake another man’s hand risks the threat of just such an attack, or at the very least, being spat at in the eye.
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