Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). 1868 illustration of the 16th President of the United States Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln is best known as the president who led his country through the Civil War (1861-1865) and who liberated the southern slaves through issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. He served from 1861 until he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in 1865. His distinctive appearance was due to him having Marfan's syndrome, a hereditary disorder characterised by excessive tallness, long slender fingers and heart defects.