President Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States, was mortally wounded on April 14, 1865 by a gunshot to the back of his head. His assassin was a Confederate advocate and famous stage actor John Wilkes Booth. Booth had been plotting to kidnap the president on March 20, 1865 and use him as ransom in exchange for Confederate leaders who were imprisoned by the Union. Lincoln, however, did not show up to the show he was supposedly attending and Booth lost his chance. Two weeks later, in the beginning of April, Confederate forces fell to General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union Army in Richmond, Virginia. Booth became desperate to try and revive the dying Confederacy and his last resort was to kill the president of the United States.
On April 14, 1865, Lincoln was scheduled to attend the play “Our American Cousin” at the Ford Theatre in Washington D.C. Booth saw this as his chance to save the Confederacy. As a well-known actor, Booth used that cover as the reason why he was at the theatre in the first place. Booth and his coconspirators Lewis Paine, George Atzerodt, David Herold, and Mary Surratt, also planned the assassination of Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William S. Seward. Booth had hoped that once the two successors to the presidency and the president himself were dead, the Confederacy would have an opportunity to overthrow the federal government.
At 10:05pm on April 14, Lincoln, along with his wife Mary Todd Lincoln and a young army officer Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée Clara Harris, were seated in the Presidential Box at Ford Theatre in D.C. Booth entered the theatre and was able to slip up to the presidential box, unnoticed by members of the audience due to his actor status. At 10:15pm, Booth pulled out his .44 caliber single shot derringer pistol and fired into the back of President Lincoln’s head during a scene in the play that would be well received. Booth had planned this, knowing the play already, and hoped the audience’s laughter would cover up the sound of a gunshot. Lincoln slumped over in his chair and his wife starting to scream, alerting the crowd. Major Rathbone jumped up to fight Booth but was stabbed in the arm and shoulder with a knife Booth had also brought with him. Rathbone managed to push Booth over the balcony of the box and Booth broke his ankle in the process. Booth ran on stage, holding the bloody knife and all, and shouted “Sic semper tyrannis!” which was the state motto of Virginia, meaning “thus ever to tyrants”. By then the crowd realized what had happened to the president, and after a few attempts at capturing him, Booth escaped on horseback to Maryland.
Meanwhile in the Presidential Box, a few doctors who had come to attend the show tried to help Lincoln. It was decided a journey across D.C. in a carriage would be too much, so they brought him to the house across the street from the theatre. The surgeon general arrived at the house and said that the wound was fatal and the president could not be saved. Lincoln died Saturday April 15, 1865 and was pronounced dead at 7:22am. By midday on the 15th, flags were at half-staff across the country because news had traveled so quickly of the president’s death.
Booth and accomplice David Herold managed to escape to Virginia before Union soldiers found them hiding at a farm on April 26. They set fire to the barn where the men were hiding and shot Booth in the head. He did not die for a few more hours, but his last words, while staring at his hands were “useless, useless.” Later, many of Booths accomplices were hanged or sentenced to life imprisonment. * A first-hand account of the assassination can be found here.
The President’s assassination shocked Americans everywhere. What people had thought was to be a period of rebuilding under the leader that changed America turned into the Reconstruction Period under Vice President turned President Andrew Johnson. Lincoln had been a leader for the country and a person Americans could count on. Now, he was dead and the country would not only need to rebuild after the end of the Civil War, but also mourn the death of the leader of their country. Johnson was left vulnerable and even though Lincoln had outlined a plan that favored leniency towards the South, including the ten percent plan, Johnson was left to deal with a Congress that would not seat Southern representatives and also the Radical Republicans ideas for a new America. Johnson also provoked a serious issue within checks and balances between the federal branches of government. It is not known what would have happened if President Lincoln had not been shot, but it is most likely that the country would have been brought back together a bit differently. A New York Times paper dated a few days after the president's assassination discusses the possible impacts Lincoln's death will have on the country here. The death of Lincoln shocked America and turned a period from rebuilding together into one that was in grief. President Lincoln’s work in the Civil War and for the rights of slaves with never be forgotten by Americans then or now.
President Lincoln’s Assassination 1865
President Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States, was mortally wounded on April 14, 1865 by a gunshot to the back of his head. His assassin was a Confederate advocate and famous stage actor John Wilkes Booth. Booth had been plotting to kidnap the president on March 20, 1865 and use him as ransom in exchange for Confederate leaders who were imprisoned by the Union. Lincoln, however, did not show up to the show he was supposedly attending and Booth lost his chance. Two weeks later, in the beginning of April, Confederate forces fell to General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union Army in Richmond, Virginia. Booth became desperate to try and revive the dying Confederacy and his last resort was to kill the president of the United States.
On April 14, 1865, Lincoln was scheduled to attend the play “Our American Cousin” at the Ford Theatre in Washington D.C. Booth saw this as his chance to save the Confederacy. As a well-known actor, Booth used that cover as the reason why he was at the theatre in the first place. Booth and his coconspirators Lewis Paine, George Atzerodt, David Herold, and Mary Surratt, also planned the assassination of Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William S. Seward. Booth had hoped that once the two successors to the presidency and the president himself were dead, the Confederacy would have an opportunity to overthrow the federal government.
At 10:05pm on April 14, Lincoln, along with his wife Mary Todd Lincoln and a young army officer Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée Clara Harris, were seated in the Presidential Box at Ford Theatre in D.C. Booth entered the theatre and was able to slip up to the presidential box, unnoticed by members of the audience due to his actor status. At 10:15pm, Booth pulled out his .44 caliber single shot derringer pistol and fired into the back of President Lincoln’s head during a scene in the play that would be well received. Booth had planned this, knowing the play already, and hoped the audience’s laughter would cover up the sound of a gunshot. Lincoln slumped over in his chair and his wife starting to scream, alerting the crowd. Major Rathbone jumped up to fight Booth but was stabbed in the arm and shoulder with a knife Booth had also brought with him. Rathbone managed to push Booth over the balcony of the box and Booth broke his ankle in the process. Booth ran on stage, holding the bloody knife and all, and shouted “Sic semper tyrannis!” which was the state motto of Virginia, meaning “thus ever to tyrants”. By then the crowd realized what had happened to the president, and after a few attempts at capturing him, Booth escaped on horseback to Maryland.
Meanwhile in the Presidential Box, a few doctors who had come to attend the show tried to help Lincoln. It was decided a journey across D.C. in a carriage would be too much, so they brought him to the house across the street from the theatre. The surgeon general arrived at the house and said that the wound was fatal and the president could not be saved. Lincoln died Saturday April 15, 1865 and was pronounced dead at 7:22am. By midday on the 15th, flags were at half-staff across the country because news had traveled so quickly of the president’s death.
Booth and accomplice David Herold managed to escape to Virginia before Union soldiers found them hiding at a farm on April 26. They set fire to the barn where the men were hiding and shot Booth in the head. He did not die for a few more hours, but his last words, while staring at his hands were “useless, useless.” Later, many of Booths accomplices were hanged or sentenced to life imprisonment. * A first-hand account of the assassination can be found here.
The President’s assassination shocked Americans everywhere. What people had thought was to be a period of rebuilding under the leader that changed America turned into the Reconstruction Period under Vice President turned President Andrew Johnson. Lincoln had been a leader for the country and a person Americans could count on. Now, he was dead and the country would not only need to rebuild after the end of the Civil War, but also mourn the death of the leader of their country. Johnson was left vulnerable and even though Lincoln had outlined a plan that favored leniency towards the South, including the ten percent plan, Johnson was left to deal with a Congress that would not seat Southern representatives and also the Radical Republicans ideas for a new America. Johnson also provoked a serious issue within checks and balances between the federal branches of government. It is not known what would have happened if President Lincoln had not been shot, but it is most likely that the country would have been brought back together a bit differently. A New York Times paper dated a few days after the president's assassination discusses the possible impacts Lincoln's death will have on the country here. The death of Lincoln shocked America and turned a period from rebuilding together into one that was in grief. President Lincoln’s work in the Civil War and for the rights of slaves with never be forgotten by Americans then or now.
An engraving of President Lincoln's Assassination can be found at this web address:
http://lincoln200.delaware.gov/information/20_AssassinationPrint.shtml