Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

The assassination of Abraham Lincoln was a plot by John Wilkes Booth and three co-conspirators were who were 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.

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)

Attack on Lincoln

President Lincoln awoke the morning of April 14 in a pleasant mood. Robert E. Lee had surrendered several 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. 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. At lunch the President told his wife the news about the Grants. Disappointed, the Lincolns nonetheless decided to maintain their announced plans and asked Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancee, Clara Harris, to join them.

Arriving after the play had started, the two couples swept up the stairs and into their seats. The box door was closed, but not locked. As the play progressed, police guard John Parker, a notorious drinker, left his post in the hallway leading to the box and went to a saloon next door for a drink. During the third act, the President and Mrs. Lincoln drew closer together, holding hands while enjoying the play. When Actor Harry Hawk said his now infamous line, Lincoln was laughing at this line when he was shot. 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".

Triva

• 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."