Assassination of Abraham Lincoln: Difference between revisions

Line 72:

==Aftermath==

Booth eventually was cornered at a farm. Booth refused to surrender. After a short firefight, a sergeant named Boston Corbett crept up behind the barn and 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." 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 henchmen are tried for the conspiracy to kill President Abraham Lincoln. While 2 of Booth's childhood friends, Doctor Mudd (doctor who set Booth's leg on the morning before Lincoln's death), and Ned Spangler (stage handler of Ford's Theater) are sentenced to life imprisonment at 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 govenment.

==~~Triva~~==

==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 [http://real-life-villains.wikia.com/wiki/Andrew_Johnson 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.

@@ Line 72: / Line 72: @@
 ==<span style="font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;">Aftermath</span>==
 Booth eventually was cornered at a farm. Booth refused to surrender. After a short firefight, a sergeant named Boston Corbett crept up behind the barn and 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." 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 henchmen are tried for the conspiracy to kill President Abraham Lincoln. While 2 of Booth's childhood friends, Doctor Mudd (doctor who set Booth's leg on the morning before Lincoln's death), and Ned Spangler (stage handler of Ford's Theater) are sentenced to life imprisonment at 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 govenment.
-==Triva==
+==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."
 *<span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:small;">Approximately seven hours before shooting the president, Booth dropped by the Washington hotel which was Vice-President [http://real-life-villains.wikia.com/wiki/Andrew_Johnson 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. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:small;">Did Johnson and Booth know each other? In the 1997 publication </span>''"Right or Wrong, God Judge Me" The Writings of John Wilkes Booth''<span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:small;"> 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 </span>''Civil War Echoes''<span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:small;"> (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.  </span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:small;">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: </span>"...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..."<span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:small;">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. </span>