Dozois, Gardner. "Counterfactual"
Divergence: 1865 CE
What if: Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in March 1865.
Summary: A writer of counterfactuals from another timeline considers how to write a story in which the CSA lost the Civil War, but in a different manner more peacefully than it actually did.
Published: In The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction June 2006; Year's Best SF 12 (eds. David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer), Eos 2007 (0061252085BUY); and When the Great Days Come, Prime 2011 (1607012782BUY, 1607012308BUY).
Awards: Winner: 2006 Sidewise Award for best short-form alternate history.