Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

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“	And they said there were five, and they said there were ten. Some say there was never more than just one man, who would smile to see Mr. Lincoln dead, in the name of God and Dixie in the name of God and Dixieland.	„
	~ Tony Rice, "John Wilkes Booth"

The assassination of Abraham Lincoln was a plot by John Wilkes Booth and three co-conspirators assigned to simultaneously eliminating the top three people in the administration, Booth and his co-conspirators hoped to sever the continuity of the United States government as revenge for the capitulation of the Confederate States of America at the end of the American Civil War.

Booth's co-conspirators were Lewis Powell and David Herold, who were assigned to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward, and George Atzerodt who was tasked to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson. By simultaneously eliminating the top three people in the administration, Booth and his co-conspirators hoped to sever the continuity of the United States government.

At 10:14 P.M., Booth shot Lincoln, who was watching the production of Our American Cousin with his wife Mary Todd Lincoln and two substitute guests at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.. He died early the next morning on April 15. Beyond his death, the rest of the conspirators' plot failed; Powell only managed to wound the bedridden Seward in his mansion, while Atzerodt lost his nerve and fled, rather than attempting to assassinate Johnson at the Kirkwood Hotel. The funeral and burial of Abraham Lincoln was a period of national mourning. Only months after Booth was murdered in a tobacco barn by Boston Corbett on April 26, four of the eight remaining conspirators were sentenced to be hanged; Powell, Atzerodt, Herold and their landlady Mary Surratt were hanged on July 7, 1865

Members of the plot

• Samuel Arnold (kidnapping plot)

• George Atzerodt (assassination plot)

• John Wilkes Booth (President Lincoln's assassin)

• David Herold (assassination plot)

• Michael O'Laughlen (kidnapping plot)

• Lewis Powell (assassination plot)

• Edmund Spangler (kidnapping plot)

• John Surratt (kidnapping plot)

• Mary Surratt (assassination plot)

Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Preparations

President Lincoln awoke the morning of April 14^th, in a pleasant mood. Robert E. Lee had surrendered nine days before to Ulysses Grant, and now the President was awaiting word from North Carolina on the surrender of Joseph E. Johnston. The morning papers carried the announcement that the President and his wife would be attending the comedy, Our American Cousin, at Ford's Theater that evening with General Grant and his wife.

At 11 o'clock that morning, Lincoln held a meeting with Grant and the Cabinet about the future plans of Reconstruction. Following the conference, Grant gave his regrets that he and his wife could no longer attend the play that evening. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton pleaded with the President not to go out at night, fearful that some rebel might try to shoot him in the street. Disappointed, the Lincolns went out for a carriage ride to the Washington Navy Yard, talking about their future and the death of their son, Willie, along the way.

At the same time when Lincoln was in a meeting with his cabinet members, John Wilkes Booth went to Ford’s Theater to pick up his mail when he learned that the Lincolns would attend Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater instead of Aladdin at Grover’s Theater. Throughout the entire afternoon, he told his conspirators about his change of plan. He became busy all day and night making preparations for his finalized plot and was also informed by his girlfriend, Lucy Hale, that her father was appointed as Ambassador to Spain.

At dinner, the President told his wife the news about the Grants, but decided to maintain their announced plans and asked Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancee, Clara Harris, to join them. After his last meeting, Lincoln told members of Congress that “I suppose it’s time to go, though I would rather stay” before leaving the White House with Mrs Lincoln to pick up Major Rathbone and Clara Harris.

Arriving late to the play at 8:30 p.m., the two couples go up the stairs and into their seats as the band started playing “Hail to the Chief”. The box door was closed, but not locked. It was 8:45 pm at the Herdon House when Booth and his henchmen were in a meeting about their finalized plan to save the South. Lewis Powell was assigned to kill Secretary of State William Seward at his mansion and David Herold to accompany Powell out of Washington to the Navy Yard Bridge. A German immigrant, George Atzerodt, was assigned by Booth to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson at the Kirkwood Hotel. The only change in the plan is that Booth will kill Lincoln at Ford’s Theater. All the attacks were planned to happen at about fifteen minutes past ten pm. Back at Ford’s Theater, as the play progressed, police guard John Parker left his post in the hallway leading to the box and went to a saloon next door for a drink with Lincoln's valet, Charles Forbes and the coachman, Francis Burke. It was the same bar where John Wilkes Booth waited his time by having a few drinks. During the third act, he re-entered Ford’s Theater through the front door at 10:10 pm. Showing his calling card to Forbes, Booth slowly made his way to the box where Mr and Mrs Lincoln were holding their hands. Once inside the box, he jammed the door with a wooden bar that he placed it earlier in the day. He waited until Actor Harry Hawk said what Booth thought would be the funniest line of the comedy play.

Failed Attempts on Seward and Johnson

While Booth waited for his moment to shoot Lincoln at Ford's Theater by making his way to the box, Lewis Powell and David Herold were at the home of State Secretary William Seward, who was recovering from a carriage accident nine days early that left him with his jaw broken. As a result, he was required to wear a metal canvas split that would hold his broken jaw in place. His black waiter, William Bell, answered the door when Powell knocked at 10:10 P.M, who was covering up his excuse by pretending to be a messenger.

After forcing his way up to the second floor to meet Frederick Seward, who told him that he can't see his injured father, Powell knocked Frederick in the skull, leaving him unconscious. After shoving Seward's daughter Fanny, he managed to stab Seward at his face. Though Seward was badly disfigured for life, the metal brace he wore saved his life.

This caused George Robinson and Seward's son Augustus to wrestle with Powell while David Herold left the home and escape the city without him.

After Powell beat both the sergeant and the son, he managed to escape the house by stabbing a messenger and ran out of the house, yelling “I’m mad! I’m mad!” He got onto his waiting horse and tried to escape Washington D.C. Within three days, he would later be forced to hide in a cemetery before being arrested on April 17 at the boarding house of Mary Surratt, who was also arrested.

Meanwhile, George Adzerodt couldn't have the courage to shoot Vice President Andrew Johnson and ended up losing his nerve before wondering off the city to hide in his cousin's home, where he was later arrested for his role in the plot to kill Lincoln.

Booth Shoots Lincoln and Escape

Back at Ford’s Theater, it was the last seconds of 10:14 P.M. when Booth entered the state box, with a derringer in his right hand.

When Harry Hawk said his now infamous line, Lincoln was laughing at this line when he was shot by Booth. Katherine M. Evans, a young actress in the play, who was offstage when Lincoln was shot but rushed onstage after Booth's exit stated "I looked and saw President Lincoln unconscious, his head dropping on his breast, his eyes closed, but with a smile still on his face".

Major Rathbone jumped to his feet and grabbed John Wilkes Booth, who dropped his pistol. They wrestled for a moment, but Booth pulled out the knife and stabbed Rathbone near his left shoulder before pushing him against the wall. Booth then turned to jump from the balcony. Rathbone sat up and grabbed onto Booth's coat, causing him to dangle over the balcony. Booth fell down to the stage, allegedly breaking his leg. He yelled the Virginia state motto, "Sic semper tyrannis!" ("Thus always to tyrants" in Latin.) However, there are different “earwitness” accounts of what he said. While most witnesses recalled hearing Booth shout “Sic semper tyrannis!”, others — including Booth himself — claimed that he only yelled “Sic semper!” Some didn’t recall hearing Booth shout anything in Latin. Some witnesses state that he also yelled "The South's is avenged!" Others thought they heard him say "Revenge for the South!" or "The South shall be free!" Other few people claimed Booth yelled "I have done it!"

Nevertheless, he escaped across the stage just when Rathbone shouted "Stop that man!" and exited out the side door. On his way, he bumped into William Withers, Jr., the orchestra leader, and Booth stabbed at Withers with the knife. Upon leaving the building, Booth approached the horse he had waiting outside a half hour early. Booth struck Joseph "Peanuts" (also called "Peanut Johnny") Burroughs, who was holding Booth's horse in the forehead with the handle of his knife, leaped onto the horse, apparently also kicking Burroughs in the chest with his good leg and rode away out of the city and into the Maryland countryside by using the Navy Yard Bridge, just a half hour after the shooting.

He later caught up with Herold at Soper’s Hill. Together, they head to the Surratt tavern to pick up weapons and within four hours, they must stop to arrive at the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who splinted Booth’s broken left leg, just three hours before Lincoln’s death.

Abraham Lincoln’s Death and Funeral

Meanwhile, back in Washington D.C., chaos broke out in the theater. Several people enter the box, including an army surgeon who happened to be at the theater, Charles Leale. Inside the box, he found Lincoln unresponsive and lower him on the floor. At first, he thought that Lincoln was stabbed, recalling that he saw Booth on stage with a dagger. With William Kent, he cuts off the collar and necktie, but ripping open the front of his shirt and waistcoat revealed no wounds. At this point, Doctors Charles Taft and Albert King arrived when Leale then opens Lincoln’s eyelids, signifying brain damage. Within minutes, the young surgeon discovered the bullet hole in the back of Lincoln’s head. After giving him artificial respiration and brandy, he allowed Actress Laura Keene to cradle Lincoln’s head and declared the wound mortal. Fearing that Lincoln wouldn’t survive a carriage ride to the White House, the decision was made to move the president to the nearest location on Tenth Street. So when the three doctors and four soldiers slowly carry him out of the theater, they were considered to bring him to the same bar next door where Booth had just spend. After being denied by the bartender, they were summoned by a young border with a lantern at the Petersen House across the street. His name was Henry Safford. Under his orders, the doctors and soldiers carefully brought Lincoln into the house. Since the rooms were locked, the only available bedroom was at the end of the dark hallway. There, at about 10:45 pm, they lay him diagonally on a small bed because of his large height. At this point, Dr Leale ordered everyone out, including Mrs. Lincoln, as he and the doctors need to undress Lincoln in order to re-examine him for any other additional wounds. Once the doctors were alone with their dying patient, they quickly removed all of his clothing, starting with his long froak coat and boats. But after discovering no other injuries, they apply hot water bottles, mustard plasters, and blankets to make him comfortable. Within fifteen minutes after Lincoln was brought into the house, more doctors and cabinet members arrived, except Secretary Seward (who was nearly attacked in his house by Lewis Powell while Booth prepared to shoot Lincoln at Ford’s Theater). Surrounded by his cabinet members and friends, they knew that there was no hope that Lincoln could survive and all they could do is wait for Lincoln to take his last breath. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton arrived and took charge of the situation and begin ordering a manhunt for Booth and his henchmen, hoping they would be taken alive and punished. At 12:15 pm, they begin to take eyewitness testimonies of the shooting at Ford’s Theater, along with Harry Hawk and Corporal James Tanner, who lost both legs at the Second Battle of Bull Run. Shortly before 7 am, Mary Lincoln was allowed back in the room one last time to see her husband. Lincoln’s heavy dying breath made Mary go into a meltdown. Having enough of this, Stanton told Robert to “Take that woman out and don’t let her come in again!”. As she was led away, Corporal James Tanner overheard her to say “Oh my God! I have given my husband to die!”. Finally, at 7:22 am on April 15, 1865, 56-year-old Abraham Lincoln dies from a gunshot wound. Edwin Stanton famously says “Now he belongs to the Ages”. His body was taken back to the White House for an autopsy and funeral preparations. Andrew Johnson later became America's seventeenth president upon Lincoln's death. On April 18, Lincoln’s body lies in state in the East Room of the White House before his funeral procession took place on April 19. And on April 21, his body leaves Washington by train, along with his son Willie, who died in 1862. The train route lasted from New York to Illinois for two weeks until Lincoln’s body was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield Illinois on May 3.

Aftermath

After being on the run for two weeks, John Wilkes Booth and David Herold were eventually cornered at a farm by Richard Garrett on the morning of April 26, 1865. While Herold surrendered and got captured by the Union officers, Booth refused to surrender and remained inside the barn. After a short firefight, a rebellious sergeant named Boston Corbett crept up behind the barn and fatally shot Booth, severing his spinal cord with the bullet wound being in "the back of the head about an inch below the spot where his [Booth's] shot had entered the head of Mr. Lincoln". Booth was carried out onto the steps of the barn. A soldier poured water into his mouth, which Booth immediately spatting out, unable to swallow. Booth told the soldier: "Tell my mother I die for my country." Within a few hours, Booth lay in agony. Unable to move his limbs, he asked a soldier to lift his hands before his face. His last words were "Useless, useless." when he asked for his hands to be raised to his face. 26-year-old John Wilkes Booth died at 7:29 A.M.

In the coming months, Booth's conspirators were tried for the conspiracy to kill President Abraham Lincoln. All of the defendants were found guilty on June 30. Michael O’Laughlin, Samuel Arnold (two of Booth's childhood friends during the failed kidnapping attempt on Lincoln), Doctor Samuel Mudd, and Ned Spangler (an employee at Ford's Theater) are sentenced to be transferred to the Dry Tortugas. Herold, Atzerodt, Powell, and Mary Surratt are sentenced to be executed on July 7, 1865, making Mary Surratt the first and only woman ever executed by the federal government. Michael O’Laughlin died in 1867 during a Yellow Fever at Fort Jefferson. Andrew Johnson pardoned Dr. Samuel Mudd, Ned Spangler and Samuel Arnold.

Tad Lincoln learned of his father’s assassination, while attending Aladdin at Grover’s Theater. He died in 1871.

Henry Rathbone recovered from his wounds but his mental state deteriorated in the years following Lincoln's death as he anguished over his perceived inability to thwart the assassination attempt. His mental decline culminated in his murdering his wife, Clara Harris (who was also in the box with Lincoln) on December 23, 1883, fatally shooting her then stabbing her several times. After he killed Clara, Rathbone attempted to kill himself. When the police arrived, the bleeding Rathbone claimed there were people hiding behind the pictures on the wall. The couple's children, who were also almost killed by their father, were taken to live with their uncle, William Harris, in the United States. Rathbone spent the rest of his life in the asylum until his death in 1911. It was as if John Wilkes Booth continued to kill way beyond that fateful evening. 

Secretary of State William Seward returned to work as Secretary of State under President Johnson and his purchase of Alaska from Russia was dubbed as Seward’s Folly, but was permanently disfigured for life. He died in 1872.

Mary Todd Lincoln never recovered from her husband’s assassination and Tad’s death in 1871. She was committed to an asylum in 1875 and died seven years later in 1882.

Robert Todd Lincoln later served as Ambassador to Great Britain and as Secretary of War for Presidents James Garfield and witnessed the assassinations of Garfield in 1881 and William McKinley in 1901, respectively. He lived into the 20th Century until his death in 1926.

Trivia

• Lincoln watched Booth perform in numerous plays, including one called the Marble Heart at Ford’s Theatre on November 9, 1863. Lincoln enjoyed Booth’s performance so much he sent a note backstage inviting him to the White House so they could meet. Booth refused the invation, later telling his friends “I would rather have the applause of a Negro to that of the president!” According to actor Frank Mourdant; "Lincoln was an admirer of the man who assassinated him. I know that, for he said to me one day that there was a young actor over in Ford’s Theater whom he desired to meet, but that the actor had on one pretext or another avoided any invitations to visit the White House. That actor was John Wilkes Booth."
• Approximately seven hours before shooting the president, Booth dropped by the Washington hotel which was Vice-President Andrew Johnson's residence. Upon learning from the desk clerk that neither Johnson nor his private secretary, William A. Browning, was in the hotel, Booth wrote the following note: "Don't wish to disturb you Are you at home? J. Wilkes Booth." Browning testified before the military court that he found the note in his box later that afternoon. 
  
  Did Johnson and Booth know each other? In the 1997 publication "Right or Wrong, God Judge Me" The Writings of John Wilkes Booth edited by John Rhodehamel and Louise Taper it is stated on p. 146 that Booth had previously met Johnson in Nashville in February, 1864. At the time Booth was appearing in the newly opened Wood's Theatre. Also, author Hamilton Howard in Civil War Echoes (1907) made the claim that while Johnson was military governor of Tennessee, he and Booth kept a couple of sisters as mistresses and oftentimes were seen in each other's company.  Lincoln had essentially ignored Johnson after Johnson's embarrassing behavior on Inauguration Day. Mary Todd Lincoln felt Johnson was involved in her husband's assassination. On March 15, 1866, she wrote to her friend, Sally Orne: "...that, that miserable inebriate Johnson, had cognizance of my husband's death - Why, was that card of Booth's, found in his box, some acquaintance certainly existed - I have been deeply impressed, with the harrowing thought, that he, had an understanding with the conspirators & they knew their man... As sure, as you & I live, Johnson, had some hand, in all this..."Some members of Congress also thought Johnson was involved and a special Assassination Committee was established to investigate any evidence linking Johnson to Lincoln's death. Nothing suspicious was ever found by the committee; yet a belief by some Americans that Johnson was somehow involved with Booth continued for many years. 
• Some researchers have speculated that John Wilkes Booth had a double named James William Boyd died in Booth's place and that John Wilkes Booth committed suicide in 1903 in Enid, Oklahoma, under the alias "David E. George".
•  Booth originally planned on kidnapping the President and holding him for ransom. However, on April 11, 1865, two days after Lee's army surrendered to Grant, Booth attended a speech at the White House in which Lincoln promoted voting rights for blacks; he became so fed up, that it eventually led him to murder.
• Just about a month before the deaths of Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth, Robert Todd Lincoln, Abraham’s son, was saved from falling into the train tracks by Edwin Booth, John’s oldest brother.