Lincoln · written by Tony Kushner · 2012

Lincoln rides across the battlefield outside Petersburg, seeing Union and Confederate corpses at close range.

Scene 94 of 102 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act three

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:57 into a 2:06 film

The story so farBefore scene 94

In the final winter of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln risks a fragile coalition and the chance of an early peace to force an amendment abolishing slavery through a divided House of Representatives.

Scenes 1–7
The reelected president balances military command, popular affection and a household wounded by grief.
Scenes 8–13
Lincoln needs a durable constitutional abolition measure and commits to passing it before the term ends.
Scenes 14–16
Radical allies and discreet patronage operatives join the campaign as the amendment enters House debate.
Scenes 17–84
Lincoln bargains, delays peace commissioners, confronts family costs and defends the vote against postponement.
Scenes 85–90
The House passes the amendment and the victory enters the private lives of Lincoln and Stevens.
Just before
Scene 91
Sailors cheer as Lincoln boards the River Queen at Hampton Roads and meets Seward.
Scene 92
Lincoln tells the Confederate commissioners that slavery is finished and asks them to stop the bleeding.
Scene 93
Artillery consumes a southern river city in fire.
Scene 94
This scene

94EXT. SIEGE LINES BEFORE PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA - MORNING

The morning is grey, and a dense fog covers a vast field. Lincoln, his stovepipe hat atop his head, is mounted on a horse on a rise at one end of the field. Behind him, several UNION OFFICERS are also mounted. It's chilly; the breath of the men and the horses is visible.

TITLE: OUTSIDE PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA

APRIL 3

Lincoln flicks the reins of his horse, which starts down the slope. The officers follow behind him. No one speaks.

Lincoln rides slowly, his focus on the ground before him. Debris is scattered all around him, along with the bodies of fallen soldiers.

He looks up and across the battlefield; a terrible battle has concluded a couple of hours ago.

Looking down, as he rides, he sees soldiers killed by artillery fire, whose bodies lie twisted, burned, headless, limbless, torn in two, blown out of their clothing or charred too badly to tell. He sees soldiers killed by rifle and bayonet, whose corpses are intact.

At the beginning of his ride, all the dead and wounded are in Union blue, the casualties of Confederate cannon fire, felled as the Union army, about six hours earlier, began its final, successful drive to break through Confederate lines.

As Lincoln and his escorts move across the battlefield, grey and blue uniformed corpses and badly wounded men intermingle.

He reaches the other side of the field, passing a Confederate flag to enter the now-ruined town of Petersburg.