History Spotlight, 4/15

In the early morning hours of April 15, 1865, Abraham Lincoln dies of wounds he received from John Wilkes Booth the previous evening. This would be one of the most influential assassinations of American history, with effects ranging from the Reconstruction of the South, to the assimilation of freed slaves to the relationship between Congress the President.

Booth's plan had been originally to kidnap Lincoln, sprit him away to a safe haven in the South and then hold him hostage in return for the resumption of the prisoner of war exchange program (which had been halted because exchanged prisoners immediately went back to the front lines). Booth attended Lincoln's second inauguration ball in March of 1865 and was astounded at how easy access to the President was. He mused that, if he had been armed, he could have killed him then and there. There were a couple of aborted kidnapping attempts that were called off for various reasons. After hearing Lincoln make a speech on April 11 where he voiced support for giving black people voting rights, Booth was so enraged that he decided that assassination was the only way to proceed. Booth took his kidnapping team and changed it to an assassination team. His plan was to kill Lincoln, Secretary of State William Seward and Vice President Andrew Johnson in hopes that the US government would collapse and give the Confederacy time to regroup. In actuality, Booth was a bit naive and unrealistic (he was an actor, after all). Lee had just surrendered at Appomattox - Lee, the hero of the Confederacy, one of the most tactically brilliant generals of this or any other war had surrendered his army to the Union and other Confederate armies were falling rapidly. The South had lost and the loss of the first three links of the Union chain of command weren't going to change that.

While hanging out at Ford's Theater, Booth overhead that Lincoln and General US Grant were going to be attending a production of the comedy, "Our American Cousin" that evening and realized that was his chance to kill Lincoln and Grant at the same time and, with a little quick planning to do Vice President Johnson and Seward too. Having performed at Ford's Theater on several occasions, Booth was acquainted with the layout so he took that part of the plan. He assigned Lewis Powell to the job of killing Seward and George Atzerodt to Andrew Johnson. The plan was to go down at 10:00 PM. Unbeknownst to Booth, Grant had cancelled at the last minute.

Booth was well-known at the theater and gained admittance through the stage door. Booth made his way via a back passage to the Lincoln's box and barricaded the door. Mrs. Lincoln was holding Lincoln's hand and asked him, "What will Mrs. Harris think of my hanging on to you so?" Lincoln replied, "She won't think anything of it." These were the last words spoken by President Lincoln. Booth was familiar with the play and waited for a suitable laugh line to mask the sound of the gun. The line was: "Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal; you sockdologizing old man-trap!" No, I don't get it either, but it had the crowd in stitches. Booth burst through the door, shot Lincoln, stabbed his bodyguard and attempted to leap from the box to the stage below. On the way down, his spurs caught on some bunting hung for the occasion of the presidential visit and he landed awkwardly on the stage, breaking his leg. He uttered his immortal line, "Sic semper tyrannis!" the Virginia state motto, Latin for "Thus always to tyrants." Booth then made his escape out the back door.

Seward managed to survive his assassination and Atzerodt, who had always said that he was a kidnapper, not a murderer, didn't go through with his attempt on Johnson. Lincoln suffered through the night, never regained consciousness and died the next day, April 15, 1865. Booth fled into Maryland and was cornered in a barn on April 26th. He refused to surrender and was shot by Union troops.