Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

On April 14, 1865, American President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. Stage actor and anti-abolitionist John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln at close range in the back of the head while he was attending a performance of the play Our American Cousin. Lincoln was pronounced dead early the next morning. The assassination was premeditated and Booth had several co-conspirators involved in the plot. Booth fled on foot after shooting Lincoln only to be shot and killed by Union soldiers during an attempted arrest several days later. The remaining conspirators were also captured and either imprisoned or hanged based on the severity of their involvement in the crime. Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated in US history.

Overview

On April 9, 1865, the Confederate Army surrendered to the Union Army, effectively ending the American Civil War. Two days later, Lincoln gave a speech outside the White House detailing his plans for peace and the abolition of slavery. Booth, an avid pro-slavery white supremacist, was present for this speech. After hearing Lincoln's plans to liberate slaves, he decided he would assassinate the president. Booth had made two failed attempts at kidnapping the president earlier that year. His new plot was grander in scale and required the involvement of several co-conspirators. Booth and his accomplices also intended to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson as well as Secretary of State William Seward.

On the night of the play, Booth snuck into the president's theater box with a dagger and a pistol. He shot Lincoln in the back of the head and sliced the arm of Major Henry Rathbone, who had accompanied the president to the play that night. Lincoln's wife, Mary, and Rathbone's fiancée, Clara, were also in the theater. After shooting Lincoln, Booth leaped from the box to escape, landing on the stage and breaking his leg. Witnesses stated that Booth then shouted several words at the audience, though the reports of his exact words vary. He then exited the theater and rode off on horseback toward Virginia.

Booth's co-conspirators George Atzerodt and Lewis Powell also intended to set their plans in motion that night. The attempts on Seward's and Johnson's lives were failures, however. Seward survived Powell's attack. Johnson's intended assassin Atzerodt backed out at the last moment. The fatally wounded Lincoln was taken to a boarding house near the theater, where he died the next morning. By that time, Booth had made it to Maryland accompanied by accomplice David Herold. They stayed at the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who helped Booth with his injury. Booth then continued his journey to Virginia and spent the next five days hiding in the woods near the Potomac River in southern Maryland, planning to cross the river into Virginia when it was safe.

Lincoln's funeral was held on April 19 at the White House. Thousands of mourners attended the procession. In the midst of so much grief, authorities worked tirelessly to capture all involved in the assassination plot. Booth's co-conspirators were arrested over the next few days. On April 24, Booth finally crossed into Virginia and hid himself in a barn owned by Richard Garrett. Authorities were eventually tipped off about Booth's whereabouts. On April 26, Union soldiers surrounded the Garrett farm and set the barn on fire. Booth was shot in the neck while trying to get away and died later that morning.

A total of eight conspirators were put on trial for the murder of President Lincoln including Powell, Atzerodt, Mudd, and Herold as well as Michael O’Laughlen, Edman Spangler, Samuel Arnold, and Mary Surratt. Powell, Atzerodt, Surratt, and Herold were found guilty and sentenced to hang. The other four were sentenced to life imprisonment. The four executions were carried out a month later on July 7. Surratt was the first woman to be executed by the US government. Surratt's son, John, was later captured and accused as a ninth conspirator but was acquitted. Andrew Johnson, who had become president after Lincoln's death, pardoned Mudd and Spangler several years later after concluding their involvement was debatable. Arnold was also pardoned because he was not involved in the murder plot, just the previous failed kidnappings.

Booth thought the president's death would help the Confederate cause and put an end to the abolition of slavery. He also believed he would be hailed as a hero for his deed. His actions had the opposite effect, however. The reaction of the North and many occupied southern cities was surprisingly sorrowful. Lincoln was not very popular during his presidency and was often ridiculed by not only radical southern Republicans and various influential newspapers, but also by some of his fellow Democrats in the North. Despite this, angry mobs formed immediately following the assassination and Booth was cast as a coward and traitor. Lincoln, however, was soon being called a martyr and even compared to Jesus Christ. His death was used to wage an aggressive campaign against all remaining Confederate sympathizers. The peaceful reconstruction efforts Lincoln had promised in his April 9 speech were replaced by swift action against the South. Lincoln's Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, was adopted the following December. The president's assassination had a major impact on the course of nineteenth-century America. His death also spawned an endless number of conspiracy theories that were debated long after the case against his conspirators was closed.

Bibliography

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Miller Center. "Abraham Lincoln." Miller Center. University of Virginia. Web. 16 Jul. 2014. <http://millercenter.org/president/lincoln/essays/biography/print>

PBS. "Timeline: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln." PBS. WGBH Educational Foundation. Web. 16 Jul. 2014. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/timeline/assassination/>

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