On the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

There were an estimated 3.25 million to 4 million soldiers enlisted in the service of the Union and the Confederacy during the Civil War, with some 620,000 deaths among them from wounds in battle or disease.

It has been estimated that the Civil War had an economic cost of $7 billion 1860 dollars, including a direct cost to the Union government of $2 billion.

The District of Columbia freed slaves in 1862, "reimbursing the "owners" for the value of their "property" and giving the newly freed persons the choice of staying in the United States or being emigrating to Africa.

Lincoln considered paying $400 per slave freed. For the estimated 4 million slaves, that would have been $1.6 billion. Cheap at twice the price!