Abraham Lincoln is renowned for his crucial contribution to the abolition of slavery and the maintenance of the Union throughout the American Civil War. Tragically, an assassination attempt resulted in the premature death of this man.

The 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, was killed by renowned theatre actor John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, while seeing the play Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. 

Lincoln was shot in the head while he watched the performance, and the next morning at 7:22 a.m., he passed away from his injuries in the Petersen House, which was next to the theatre. He was the first president of the United States to be assassinated.

The history of America was irrevocably altered by this horrible event. In this essay, we explore the lesser-known details surrounding Abraham Lincoln’s murder in order to provide insight into the events leading up to that tragic evening.

Background of Abraham Lincoln

The failed attempt to abduct Abraham Lincoln continues to be an important turning point in American history. It serves as a moving reminder of the perils and doubts that Lincoln’s administration faced during a turbulent time in the history of the country.

Despite the fact that the plan finally failed, it serves as a reminder of the tremendous lengths to which some were prepared to go in order to influence the course of events during the Civil War. These close calls frequently leave their marks on history, and this abandoned site is a monument to the tenacity and strength of a president whose legacy lives on today.

The attempted kidnapping of Abraham Lincoln is remembered in American history as a sinister forerunner to the terrible events of April 14, 1865. While the 16th President’s killing by John Wilkes Booth will always be remembered, a previous attempt to capture Lincoln highlights the threats he faced as president.

The Confederate Secret Service planned this abandoned operation, which shows a near-miss that may have significantly changed the course of history.

The Secret Service of the Confederacy

During the American Civil War, the Confederate government developed a covert agency known as the Confederate Secret Service. Its main goals were to conduct clandestine operations against the Union and conduct espionage and intelligence gathering. The idea to abduct President Abraham Lincoln was one of their most daring plots.

The Genesis of the Story

Early in 1864, when the Civil War was beginning to turn against the Confederacy, the plan to capture Lincoln was hatched. In order to get Lincoln’s release in return for Confederate prisoners of war and maybe shift the balance in their favor, the Southern commanders thought that they needed to capture him.

The Key Figures

Colonel John Singleton Mosby, a Confederate operative dubbed the “Gray Ghost” for his use of guerilla warfare, was the mastermind behind the scheme. Mosby was picked because of his reputation for boldness and cunning. He was a highly experienced cavalry leader.

Captain Thomas Harney, a former Union soldier turned Confederate sympathizer, as well as a number of skilled cavalrymen, were also involved in the scheme.

The Risky Plan

President Lincoln would frequently spend his summers at the Soldiers’ Home, a retreat outside of Washington, D.C., and it was decided to abduct him while he was there. The conspirators thought the remote setting offered a perfect chance for a clandestine operation.

The effort was planned for August 23, 1864, at night. The conspirators set up shop along the president’s path as he travelled to the soldiers’ home, preparing to kidnap him.

A Coincidence of Fate

As luck would have it, Lincoln’s plans for the evening were altered. He had to change his plans due to an unexpected thunderstorm, so he arrived back at the White House earlier than planned. The carefully crafted preparations of the kidnappers were derailed by this unanticipated turn of events.

Following the Abandoned Plot

The Confederate Secret Service was in shambles after the abduction attempt on Lincoln failed. Although the scheme was almost successful, the unexpected turn of events caused it to fail. Because the would-be kidnappers were unable to get together, their scheme was never carried out.

Lincoln’s Dreams

Ward Hill Lamon claims that three days before he passed away, Abraham Lincoln described a dream in which he rummaged about the White House in search of the source of somber noises:

Lincoln had a dreary, weary appearance for months, but on the morning of the murder, he expressed his joy to the crowd. Mary Lincoln, the First Lady, believed that such a discussion could be unlucky. Before “nearly every great and important event of the War,” including the Union victories at Antietam, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and Vicksburg, Lincoln claimed to have dreamed of being on a “singular and indescribable vessel that was moving with great rapidity toward a dark and indefinite shore.”

The Plot Thickens

John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor and supporter of the Confederacy, carefully planned and carried out the assassination of President Lincoln on April 14, 1865. Booth was a devoted Confederate supporter who wished to get revenge for the South’s Civil War defeat.

Ford’s Theatre: The Stage of Tragedy

Washington, D.C.’s Ford’s Theatre was the scene of the murder. That fateful evening, President Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, went to see the play “Our American Cousin” at the theater.

Preparations

At midnight on April 14, Booth’s daytime began. All seemed good, but he was “in haste,” he said in a letter to his mother. He noted in his journal that “something decisive and great must be done” since “our cause is almost lost.”

The only well-known participant in the plot was Booth. Booth was the only plotter who could have reasonably anticipated being admitted there without trouble since access to the upper floor of the theater holding the Presidential Box was limited.

At midnight on April 14, Booth’s daytime began. All seemed good, but he was “in haste,” he said in a letter to his mother. He noted in his journal that “something decisive and great must be done” since “our cause is almost lost.”

The only well-known participant in the plot was Booth. Booth was the only plotter who could have reasonably anticipated being admitted there without trouble since access to the upper floor of the theater holding the Presidential Box was limited.

Lincoln’s Assassination

Lincoln Arrives at the Theater

Contrary to what Booth had earlier in the day, Grant and his wife, Julia, had rejected going with the Lincolns because Mary Lincoln and Julia Grant did not get along. The offer was repeatedly turned down by others before Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée Clara Harris, the daughter of US Senator Ira Harris of New York, eventually agreed to go.

The presidential party was seated in a box, which was made up of two adjacent boxes with a dismantled barrier, after arriving late. The orchestra began to play “Hail to the Chief” as the performance was halted, and the audience of around 1,700 stood to applaud. Lincoln was seated on a rocking chair that had been specially chosen for him from among the belongings of the Ford family.

Booth Shoots Lincoln

Policeman John Frederick Parker was tasked with watching over the Presidential Box because Crook was off duty and Ward Hill Lamon was not around. During the interval, he went to a local pub with Coachman Francis Burke and Lincoln’s valet, Charles Forbes. Additionally, Booth was waiting in the same pub, filling up on beers to pass the time. Parker could have gone back to the theater, but he was certainly not there when Booth entered the box.

In any case, there is no guarantee that a famous person like Booth would have had his or her admission barred. Booth indicated that he anticipated a guard by preparing a brace to bar the entrance after entering the box. At around 10:10 p.m., Booth returned to Ford’s Theatre for one more time, entering through the front door this time.

He showed Charles Forbes his calling card and walked through the dress circle to the door leading to the Presidential Box. When Booth arrived, Navy Surgeon George Brainerd Todd observed:

Booth, who knew every line of the play “Our American Cousin” by memory, waited until approximately 10:15 p.m. to take his shot when the audience was giggling at one of the play’s most humorous lines, given by actor Harry Hawk. When Booth opened the door, moved forward, and shot Lincoln with his gun from behind, Lincoln was grinning at this sentence.

The bullet fractured both orbital plates as it entered Lincoln’s skull below his left ear, traveled through his brain, and came to rest close to the front of his skull. Lincoln leaned back in his chair before falling to the ground. A yell that Rathbone felt sounded like “Freedom!” was shouted by Booth as he stood amid the gunfire, fewer than four feet behind Lincoln.

Booth Manages to Escape

Rathbone leapt out of his chair and fought with Booth, who then dropped the gun, pulled out a knife, and stabbed Rathbone in the left forearm. As Booth prepared to leap from the box to the stage with a twelve-foot drop, Rathbone again grabbed him. Booth’s riding spur got caught in the Treasury flag adorning the box, and he landed awkwardly on his left foot. Many people in the crowd believed he was in the performance as he started to cross the stage.

Booth screamed something to the crowd while holding his bloody knife above his head. The Virginia state motto, Sic semper tyrannis! (“Thus always to tyrants”), is widely believed to have been screamed by Booth from the box or the stage, but eyewitness versions differ.

Major Joseph B. Stewart followed Booth across the stage as soon as he landed on it by scaling the orchestra pit and footlights. Pandemonium broke out as a result of the screams of Mary Lincoln and Clara Harris, as well as Rathbone’s cry of “Stop that man!”

Booth stabbed orchestra conductor William Withers, Jr., as he was leaving the theater through a side entrance. Joseph Burroughs, who was holding the horse, was shoved aside by Booth as he leapt onto the saddle of his escape horse, hitting Burroughs with the handle of his knife.

Lincoln’s Death

Young Union Army physician Charles Leale made his way through the mob to the Presidential Box’s entrance, but he was unable to open it until Rathbone, who was inside, saw and took out the wooden brace that Booth had used to lock the door shut.

Leale discovered the bullet wound behind the left ear after he and bystander William Kent took away Lincoln’s collar while unbuttoning his coat and shirt and failed to discover any stab wounds. He discovered that the bullet was too deep to be removed, but he managed to dislodge a blood clot, which let Lincoln breathe better. 

He later discovered that removing blood clots on a regular basis kept Lincoln breathing. Actress Laura Keene was given permission to hold President Lincoln’s head on her lap after artificial respiration was administered by Leale. He deemed the injury fatal. Lincoln was unusually tall and was positioned diagonally on a little bed in Petersen’s bedroom on the first level.

The physicians ripped away Lincoln’s garments after evicting everyone from the room, including Mrs. Lincoln, but they found no more wounds. Upon seeing that Lincoln was chilly, they gave him hot water bottles and mustard plasters while also wrapping his body in blankets to keep him warm. Later, additional medical professionals showed up, including Robert K. Stone (Lincoln’s personal physician), Charles Henry Crane, Anderson Ruffin Abbott, and Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes. Everyone agreed that Lincoln could not endure.

Lincoln’s face was initially peaceful, and his respiration was slow and even. Later, the right half of his face turned discolored, and one of his eyes started to swell. Lincoln died at 7:22 a.m. on April 15. Mary Lincoln was not present. In his last moments.

Powell Attacks Seward

To assassinate William H. Seward, secretary of state, Booth had given the task to Lewis Powell. Seward was recuperating from injuries incurred on April 5 after being thrown from his carriage at his residence on Lafayette Square on the evening of the assassination. He was confined to bed at the time. Powell was led by Herold to Seward’s home. Powell carried a Bowie knife and an 1858 Whitney revolver, a big, hefty, and well-liked weapon during the Civil War.

Powell pushed past Fanny as she reopened the door to go to Seward’s bed. He sliced through Seward’s cheek while stabbing at his face and neck.

Fanny’s screams woke up Augustus Seward and Sergeant George F. Robinson, a soldier assigned to Seward, who both struggled with Powell and suffered stab wounds.

Powell hurried downstairs to the door as Augustus reached for a gun when he ran into Emerick Hansell, a messenger for the State Department. Hansell was stabbed in the back by Powell, who then said, “I’m enraged! I’m angry!” Herold was startled by the screams coming from the home and fled, leaving Powell to fend for himself in a strange city.

Atzerodt Fails to Attack Johnson

Vice President Andrew Johnson was residing at the Kirkwood House in Washington when Booth dispatched George Atzerodt to assassinate him. At 10:15 p.m., Johnson was supposed to be shot in his room.

Atzerodt leased the room directly above Johnson’s on April 14. The following day, he showed up at the agreed-upon hour and went to the bar below with a rifle and a knife to question the bartender about Johnson’s personality and conduct. He finally got intoxicated and started wandering the streets, throwing his knife aside sometimes. 

By two in the morning, he arrived at the Pennsylvania House Hotel, where he booked a room and went to bed.

The Manhunt Begins

A major manhunt was immediately started to find and apprehend Booth and his accomplices. Federal officials searched throughout multiple states and offered significant prizes for information that might result in their apprehension.

Reactions

Both the North and the South, as well as the entire globe, grieved the death of Lincoln. On April 15, some foreign countries made proclamations and set aside time for mourning. Easter Sunday, which happened the day following Lincoln’s passing, included sermons that lauded the president.

On April 18, a mile-long line of mourners formed seven abreast to see Lincoln’s walnut casket in the East Room of the White House, which was covered in black. Numerous people from other cities traveled on special trains, some of whom slept out on the grounds of the Capitol. 

On April 19, hundreds of thousands of people attended the funeral procession, and millions more lined the 1,700-mile (2,700-km) rail line that carried the ashes of Abraham Lincoln from Springfield, Illinois, via New York, frequently passing trackside memorials including bands, bonfires, and hymn-singers.

Lincoln was said to be “unquestionably the greatest man I ever knew” by Ulysses S. Grant. Robert E. Lee showed sorrow. Elizabeth Blair, who is of Southern ancestry, once observed, “Those of Southern-born sympathies know now they have lost a friend willing and more powerful to protect and serve them than they can now ever hope to find again.” African-American orator Frederick Douglass referred to the murder as an “unspeakable calamity” while describing it.

Lord Russell, the British Foreign Secretary, described Lincoln’s passing as a “sad calamity.” Prince Kung, the head of China’s foreign affairs department, said he was “indescribably shocked and startled.”

President of Ecuador Gabriel Garcia Moreno said, “Never should I have thought that the noble country of Washington would be humiliated by such a black and horrible crime; nor should I ever have thought that Mr. Lincoln would come to such a horrible end after having served his country with such wisdom and glory under such critical circumstances.”

A declaration from the Liberian government referred to Lincoln as “not only the ruler of his own people but a father to millions of a race stricken and oppressed.” The killing was denounced by the Haitian authorities as a “horrid act.

Capture of Booth and Herold

After leaving Ford’s Theatre, Booth entered Maryland by crossing the Navy Yard Bridge in less than 30 minutes.

When asked about his late-night journey by Silas Cobb of the Union Army, Booth said that he was returning home to the nearby town of Charles. The guard let him through even though it was against the rules for citizens to cross the bridge after 9 o’clock at night.

Less than an hour later, Herold reached the bridge and met up with Booth. Herold and Booth rode to the house of Samuel A. Mudd, a local doctor, after recovering the weapons and supplies that had been kept at Surattsville. Mudd splinted the leg that Booth had injured during his escape and subsequently constructed a pair of crutches for Booth.

Booth and Herold recruited a local to show them the way to Samuel Cox’s home after spending the day at Mudd’s residence. Cox then led them to Thomas Jones, a sympathizer for the Confederacy, who spent five days hiding Booth and Herold in Zekiah Swamp so they could cross the Potomac River.

They landed at Richard H. Garrett’s tobacco plantation in King George County, Virginia, in the late afternoon of April 24. Garrett was informed by Booth that he was a wounded Confederate soldier.

On April 26, Booth and Herold were sound asleep at Garrett’s farm when the 16th New York Cavalry showed up, encircled the barn, and then signaled that they would light it on fire. Booth shouted out, “I will not be taken alive!” as Herold gave up. Booth, armed with a rifle and a handgun, ran for the back door as the troops set fire to the barn.

Booth’s spinal cord was severed when Sergeant Boston Corbett, hiding behind the barn, shot him in the back of the skull “about an inch below the spot where his [Booth’s] shot had entered the head of Mr. Lincoln.” Booth was brought outside and up the barn steps.

Trial and Execution of the Conspirators

Numerous peripheral conspirators and anyone who had even the tiniest touch with Booth or Herold during their journey were among the numerous people who were detained.

These people included Louis J. Weichmann, a lodger at Mrs. Surratt’s home; Booth’s brother Junius (who was in Cincinnati at the time of the murder); theater owner John T. Ford; James Pumphrey, from whom Booth rented his horse; John M. Lloyd, the innkeeper who rented Mrs. Surratt’s Maryland tavern and provided Booth and Herold with weapons and supplies on the night of April 14; and Samuel Cox and Thomas A. All except one was finally released.

366 witnesses testified throughout the seven-week trial. On June 30, the defendants were all found guilty. Samuel Mudd, Samuel Arnold, and Michael O’Laughlin received life sentences in jail; Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt received hanging sentences. Six years were imposed on Edmund Spangler. Five jurors signed a petition urging leniency after Mary Surratt was given a hanging sentence, but Johnson declined to halt the execution; he subsequently claimed he had never seen the letter.

The Old Arsenal Penitentiary executed Mary Surratt, Powell, Herold, and Atzerodt by hanging on July 7.

The Impact of Lincoln’s Assassination on American History

A nation dealing with the fallout from a horrific civil war was dealt a crippling blow by the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. His passing dramatically changed the trajectory of Reconstruction and made a lasting impression on the collective memory of Americans.

Conclusion

One of the darkest episodes in American history is still the killing of Abraham Lincoln. In addition to taking the life of a beloved president, John Wilkes Booth’s act of murder sparked a discussion about justice, retribution, and how to mend a divided country.

The effects of this sad incident have had, and continue to have, an impact on how we see and recall the intricacies of the American Civil War period. By keeping in mind these details, we may respect Abraham Lincoln’s legacy and acknowledge the long-lasting effects of his premature death on the development of American history.

FAQs