I believe that somewhere I read (I believe on this board) that Lincoln had several attempts upon his life. I believe that in one such case, Lincoln was taking a buggy ride outside the capital, I believe in 1862, when someone took a shot at him and hit his top hat,(certainly not the one in the museum).

If Lincoln had been killed in 1862, I don't believe that the Northern War attitude would have carried the war out to it conclusion it reached 1865. The death of Lincoln coupled with the string of southern victories of 1862 from Richmond to Fredericksburg would have been a severe blow to Northern moral.