Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination A+E Networks Introduction On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War. Google Abraham Lincoln’s killer, John Wilkes Booth , was a Maryland native born in 1838 who remained in the North during the Civil War despite his Confederate sympathies. As the conflict entered its final stages, he and several associates hatched a plot to kidnap the president and take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital. However, on March 20, 1865, the day of the planned kidnapping, Lincoln failed to appear at the spot where Booth and his six fellow conspirators lay in wait. Two weeks later, Richmond fell to Union forces. In April, with Confederate armies near collapse across the South, Booth came up with a desperate plan to save the Confederacy. Did You Know?

The search for John Wilkes Booth was one of the largest manhunts in history, with 10,000 federal troops, detectives and police tracking down the assassin. Learning that Lincoln was to attend Laura Keene’s acclaimed performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington , D.C., on April 14, Booth—himself a well-known actor at the time—masterminded the simultaneous assassination of Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward. By murdering the president and two of his possible successors, Booth and his co-conspirators hoped to throw the U.S. government into disarray. Lincoln occupied a private box above the stage with his wife Mary, a young army officer named Henry Rathbone and Rathbone’s fiancé, Clara Harris, the daughter of New York Senator Ira Harris. The Lincolns arrived late for the comedy, but the president was reportedly in a fine mood and laughed heartily during the production. History Channel Online Course – Lincoln Assassination At 10:15, Booth slipped into the box and fired his .44-caliber single-shot derringer into the back of Lincoln’s head.

After stabbing Rathbone, who immediately rushed at him, in the shoulder, Booth leapt onto the stage and shouted, “Sic semper tyrannis!” (“Thus ever to tyrants!”–the Virginia state motto). At first, the crowd interpreted the unfolding drama as part of the production, but a scream from the first lady told them otherwise. Although Booth broke his leg in the fall, he managed to leave the theater and escape from Washington on horseback. A 23-year-old doctor named Charles Leale was in the audience and hastened to the presidential box immediately upon hearing the shot and Mary Lincoln’s scream. He found the president slumped in his chair, paralyzed and struggling to breathe. Several soldiers carried Lincoln to a house across the street and placed him on a bed. When the surgeon general arrived at the house, he concluded that Lincoln could not be saved and would die during the night. Vice President Andrew Johnson, members of Lincoln’s cabinet and several of the president’s closest friends stood vigil by Lincoln’s bedside until he was officially pronounced dead at 7:22 a.m. The first lady lay on a bed in an adjoining room with her eldest son Robert at her side, overwhelmed with shock and grief.

The president’s body was placed in a temporary coffin, draped with a flag and escorted by armed cavalry to the White House , where surgeons conducted a thorough autopsy. Edward Curtis, an Army surgeon in attendance, later described the scene, recounting that a bullet clattered into a waiting basin during the doctors’ removal of Lincoln’s brain. He wrote that the team stopped to stare at the offending weapon, “the cause of such mighty changes in the world’s history as we may perhaps never realize.” During the autopsy, Mary Lincoln sent the surgeons a note requesting that they clip a lock of Lincoln’s hair for her. News of the president’s death traveled quickly, and by the end of the day flags across the country flew at half-mast, businesses were closed and people who had recently rejoiced at the end of the Civil War now reeled from Lincoln’s shocking assassination. The president’s corpse was taken to the White House, and on April 18 it was carried to the Capitol rotunda to lay in state on a catafalque. On April 21, Lincoln’s body was boarded onto a train that conveyed it to Springfield, Illinois , where he had lived before becoming president.

Tens of thousands of Americans lined the railroad route and paid their respects to their fallen leader during the train’s solemn progression through the North. Lincoln and his son, Willie, who died in the White House of typhoid fever in 1862, were interred on May 4, 1865, at Oak Ridge Cemetery, near Springfield. As the nation mourned, Union soldiers were hot on the trail of John Wilkes Booth, who many in the audience had immediately recognized. After fleeing the capital, he and an accomplice, David Herold, made their way across the Anacostia River and headed toward southern Maryland. The pair stopped at the home of Samuel Mudd, a doctor who treated Booth’s leg. (Mudd’s actions earned him a life sentence that was later commuted). They then sought refuge from Thomas A. Jones, a Confederate agent, before securing a boat to row across the Potomac to Virginia. On April 26, Union troops surrounded the Virginia farmhouse where Booth and Herold were hiding out and set fire to it, hoping to flush the fugitives out. Herold surrendered but Booth remained inside.

As the blaze intensified, a sergeant shot Booth in the neck, allegedly because the assassin had raised his gun as if to shoot. Carried out of the building alive, he lingered for three hours before gazing at his hands and uttering his last words: “Useless, useless.” Four of Booth’s co-conspirators were convicted for their part in the assassination and executed by hanging on July 7, 1865. They included David Herold and Mary Surratt , the first woman put to death by the federal government, whose boarding house had served as a meeting place for the would-be kidnappers. Tags Assassination of President Lincoln | Theatre Assassination Powered By VerisignTM Assassination of Abraham Lincoln On Friday April 14, 1865, the United States of America was shocked when President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The president was at Ford's Theater attending a play called Our American Cousin, and he was assassinated by an actor named John Wilkes Booth. But John Wilkes Booth was no ordinary actor at Ford's Theater. Booth was a highly respected actor who used his charisma, charm, and good looks to forge a very successful career on stages around the country.

The assassination of the president was only one part of a conspiracy that Booth concocted to overthrow the entire United States government. Booth had targeted the vice president and several other members of the federal government for assassination by his cohorts on the same night he was to kill the president, but Booth would be the only person who would succeed in eliminating his target. Prior to the assassination, on March 17, 1865, Booth and his group attempted to kidnap President Lincoln as the president left Campbell Military Hospital after attending a play called Still Waters Run Deep. But the plan was thwarted when the president decided to attend a different military ceremony instead of attending the play. It was at that point that Booth indicated that he had plans to kill the president as the president gave his inaugural address, but he could not get close enough to the president to pull off his plan. Booth vowed to get the job done, and he chose April 14 as his date. Approximately 10 days before the assassination, President Lincoln revealed to his wife, Mary Todd, that he had a dream about people weeping in the White House over the death of an important figure.

When the president asked a soldier in his dream who everyone was crying about, the solider said, "the president." The timing of that dream was never lost on Mary Todd Lincoln, and she often referred to it when discussing the assassination in subsequent interviews. The day of the assassination, Booth had awoken at around midnight and started writing letters to his mother and other family members indicating that he was about to make a decisive move for what he called "their important cause." He spent the day making arrangements with his conspirators and then headed over to Ford's Theater to collect his mail and make his plans for the night. The president had a very pleasant day leading up to the assassination, but he had been disappointed when his son decided to stay home for the night and sleep. Lincoln's son had fought in the Civil War and had just arrived home to the White House a few days earlier. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his wife were supposed to accompany the president to the theater that night, but they had to cancel for personal reasons. In the general's place was sent Maj. Henry Rathbone and his wife. While the major was not necessarily sent as a security guard, his military experience was thought to offer the president an additional layer of security.

At approximately 10:25 p.m., Booth used his status as a familiar actor to the theater's staff to gain access to the outer lobby of the president's box. Booth was surprised to see that there were no security guards anywhere in the lobby, so he slowly opened the door to the president's box and prepared his Philadelphia Derringer pistol to be fired. Booth waited for a line in the play that elicited a particularly loud round of laughter from the audience, and that is when he lurched forward and shot President Lincoln once in the back of the head. After firing the fatal shot, Booth leaped from the box to the stage shouting the Virginia state motto, "Sic semper tyrannis!", which is Latin for "Thus always the tyrants!" As Booth leaped to the stage, he caught the spur of his boot on the American flag that draped over the president's box and fell to the stage in an awkward manner. He broke his leg and limped off the stage as quickly as he could. The entire theater, audience and theater staff included, thought that what had happened was part of the show.

But when Mary Todd Lincoln shouted out, "He's shot the president!" and Rathbone shouted, "Stop that man!", the audience and actors slowly realized that what had happened was real. By the time everyone was able to grasp the situation, Booth had escaped the theater and was headed for what he thought was safety in the former Confederate States of America. References To learn more about the Lincoln assassination, look at the following sites: The Peterson House : After Booth shot President Lincoln, the president was rushed across the street to the Peterson House, where he died the next morning. Historical Medical Sites in the Washington, D.C., Area : It is not widely known that two years after the assassination of the president, the U.S. Army turned Ford's Theater into a temporary hospital. The Assassination of President Lincoln : This is a quick review of the assassination of the president using some of the more famous images inspired by the event. The Lincoln Assassination: Selected Images From the Library of Congress : It can be chilling to look at actual photographs and see the artists' renderings of the people and events that took place in Ford's Theater that night.

The Case of Abraham Lincoln's Assassination Pistol : Even though the FBI was not operating in 1865, that did not stop the federal investigators of today from putting together a case file on the gun used in the assassination of President Lincoln. Andrew Johnson : Immediately after the assassination of President Lincoln, Andrew Johnson was sworn in as president of the United States. The Autopsy of President Lincoln : Read the actual autopsy report from the assassination of President Lincoln here. Death of Abraham Lincoln, April 15-26, 1865 : Sometimes, seeing the actual documents that were handwritten to announce the tragic death of President Lincoln can give a historical perspective on the event. Biography of John Wilkes Booth : John Wilkes Booth enjoyed a life of fame and luxury before deciding to give it all up for a cause that only he believed in. Character and Death of Abraham Lincoln : You can get a very good understanding of how people felt about President Lincoln when you read newspaper accounts of his life and death from 1865. The Assassination of President Lincoln : The assassination of Lincoln was so enthralling to the public that it appeared in a chapter of the book "Behind the Scenes," published in 1868.

The Lincoln Presidency: Last Full Measure of Devotion : When President Lincoln was assassinated, even the South realized it had lost someone who would fight for the rights of every human being. Diary Account of the Assassination of President Lincoln : Otis Keene was a Civil War veteran who wrote about the pain the whole country felt when President Lincoln was assassinated. Lincoln's Last Night : The Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association brings together a wide variety of resources to give as many details as possible about the life and death of President Lincoln. Theater Seating Lincoln Assassination Lincoln Assassination Abraham Lincoln Quotes Lincoln Assassination Good Friday, April 14th 1865 at 10pm President Abraham Lincoln was attending “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s theatre, with his wife and two guests, but no bodyguard. Lincoln was shot in the back of the head at point blank range by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln died the next day, after never waking from the coma. However, this wasn’t the initial plot. Originally Lincoln was to be kidnapped when he was attending a play named “still waters run deep” at Campbell Military Hospital.

Booth had planned to kidnap Lincoln, hold him hostage to force the government to use their earlier policy of exchanging prisoners. He had got together a group of conspirators to assist him, who gathered in a restaurant near town in order to ambush the presidents ride home from the hospital. However, Lincoln had instead organised to attend a ceremony at the National Hotel that night. Booth’s plan was postponed, but after he attended a speech by President Lincoln outside the white house, Booth became furious at the prospect of Lincoln giving support for voting rights for black people. At this point, Booth changed his plan from a kidnap and hostage, to assassination; but not just of President Lincoln, but his Vice President and Secretary of State at the same time. When Booth heard of Lincoln attending Ford’s theatre, he assembled his group of conspirators. Booth knew the Ford’s theatre well, and upon arriving at the backdoor at 9pm, he handed his horse to Joseph Burrows, also known as peanuts. Booth made his way into the theatre and into the hallway between Lincoln’s box and the Balcony, barricading the door behind him. As Booth knew the play he waited for the right moment, which he hoped the laughter would muffle the gun shot.

Mrs Lincoln whispered to Abraham “What will Miss Harris think of my hanging on to you so?” as Abraham Lincoln replied “She won’t think anything about it.” – Lincolns last words. Booth shot Lincoln in the back of the head, causing him to slump over his chair unconscious, as Booth attempted to escape; Major Rathbone tried to stop him, but was violently stabbed with Booth’s knife. As Booth vaulted over the rail, his riding spur caught on a decorative flag, causing Booth to fall face first into the audience, breaking his left foot. He then shouted “Sic semper tyrannis” which stands for “Thus always to tyrants” before charging out the door, onto his horse before he galloped off to the Navy Yard Bridge to meet his conspirators. Lincoln had no pulse, but once Charles Leale, an army surgeon got to him, and removed a blood clot, his breathing improved. Lincoln was in a deep coma, and was moved across the street, however not much could be done to save him. The next day, at 7:22 am Lincoln was pronounced dead.

Attending Ford’s Theater with the Lincoln’s: the tragic lives of Clara Harris and Henry Rathbone Blog Icon About New-York Historical Society librarians reveal fascinating stories from the past through exceptional items in the library's collection. Attending Ford’s Theater with the Lincolns: the tragic lives of Clara Harris and Henry Rathbone July 10, 2013 by maurita 5 Comments Henry Rathbone, with Clara Harris, attempting to stop John Wilkes Booth. (PR 052, Currier and Ives Print) Most Americans are familiar with the events of the Lincoln assassination. On the evening of April 14th, 1865 Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln went to see Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. During the play the actor John Wilkes Booth snuck into the Presidential Box and shot President Lincoln. However the details of the other couple in the Presidential Box that night, Clara Harris and her fiancée Henry Rathbone, have largely been forgotten. Unfortunately their tragic future was also determined by the horrors of that night. Clara Harris was the daughter of Senator Ira Harris of New York. After Harris’s mother died, her father married Pauline Rathbone.

Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris were step-brother and sister but still fell in love and eventually became engaged to be married. Henry joined the US Army after the outbreak of the Civil War and saw many bloody battles. He had hoped to come home from the war, marry his fiancée, and move on with his life. Clara Harris had become friends with the First Lady through the Washington social scene. Others had been invited to Ford’s theater that night, including Julia and Ulysses S. Grant, but all had turned down the invitation. Lincoln was reportedly enjoying the play until Act III when John Wilkes Booth came into the Presidential Box and suddenly shot the President in the back of the head. Startled, Henry stood up and wrestled with Booth, who stabbed him severely in the arm hurting him from shoulder to elbow. As Booth began his escape, Henry screamed “Stop that man!” while Clara yelled, “The President is shot!” Seriously injured, Lincoln was moved to a house across the street from the theater and died the next morning with many in attendance, including Clara. Mourners at the death of President Lincoln. Clara Harris is depicted in a lavendar dress at the far right.

(PR 052, Currier & Ives Print) The library at the New-York Historical Society has a letter that Clara Harris wrote to her friend Mary describing that frightful night. She describes Mrs. Lincoln seeing blood on Clara’s dress and screaming, “oh! my husbands blood.” Only later would they learn that it was mostly Henry’s blood on Clara’s dress from his severe stab wound. Letter dated April 25, 1865 from Clara Harris to her friend Mary describing the night of the assassination. She describes how Mrs. Lincoln saw Clara and exclaimed, “oh! my husband’s blood, – my dear husband’s blood- which it was not, though I did not know it at the time. The President’s wound did not bleed externally..” (AHMC Harris, Clara) After the terrible night at Ford’s Theater, Clara Harris and Henry Rathbone married and had three children. However, Henry was never able to get over what happened at Ford’s Theater. He felt guilty for surviving the assassination and believed, as many had gossiped, that he should have done more to prevent the tragedy from happening.

He felt he could never escape attention for being there that night and began to suffer from hallucinations and eventually declined into mental illness. On Christmas Eve in 1883 while living in Germany, he attacked his own family and himself. Almost imitating the assassination of years before, he shot Clara and stabbed himself several times with a knife. Clara died from the attack, and Henry was declared insane. He was committed to an asylum for the criminally insane in Germany and his children were sent to live with their uncle in the United States. Henry died in 1911 and was buried with Clara in a cemetery in Germany. For many years, Clara kept her bloody dress from the night at Ford’s Theater in a closet in their family summer home in Albany. According to family lore, she had the closet walled up with bricks after believing that she saw Lincoln’s ghost. In 1910 their eldest son, Henry Riggs Rathbone, had the dress burned stating that it had been nothing but a curse on his family. The story of the couple’s life is mostly remembered through historic fiction. Clara Harris’s stained dress was the subject Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews’s 1930 book The White Satin Dress .

The story of the ill fated couple is also told in Thomas Mallon’s 1995 book Henry and Clara . Abraham Lincoln's Last Day Abraham Lincoln's Last Day 7:00 A.M. As usual the president arose at seven. Friday, April 14, 1865, began as a lovely spring day in Washington, D.C. The dogwood trees were in bloom, and there was a scent of fresh flowers in the air. The willows along the Potomac River were green. In the parks and gardens the lilacs bloomed. Before breakfast Mr. Lincoln, 56, went to his office, sat down at an upright mahogany desk and worked for awhile. Behind him was a velvet bell cord which he pulled to summon a secretary. The president left instructions for Assistant Secretary of State Frederick Seward to call a Cabinet meeting at 11:00 A.M. (Secretary of State William Seward was confined to bed due to a carriage accident.) Mr. Lincoln also wrote a note inviting General Ulysses S. Grant to attend the Cabinet meeting. 8:00 A.M. Abraham Lincoln ate breakfast.

Normally he had one egg and one cup of coffee. This morning Mary Todd Lincoln , 46, sat at the opposite end of the table with sons, Robert , 21, and Tad , 12, at the sides. President Lincoln listened as Captain Robert Lincoln discussed his brief tour of duty in the Union Army. Robert had been present at the Mclean House in Appomattox when General Robert E. Lee surrendered. Mary said she had tickets to Grover's Theatre, but she'd prefer to see Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre . She also indicated a hope that General and Mrs. Grant would accompany them to the theater. After breakfast the president excused himself to go back to work in his office which was located in the southeast corner of the White House. 9:00 A.M. Lincoln read the morning newspapers. His first visitor of the day was Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax. Lincoln told the Speaker his own ideas as to what the future policy should be toward the Southern states. Colfax expressed a concern that Lincoln would proceed with reconstruction without legislative branch consultation. At the War Department General Grant told Secretary of War Edwin Stanton that the Grants were going to decline the Lincolns' theater invitation.

10:00 A.M. Mr. Lincoln greeted more visitors. One of them was former New Hampshire Senator John P. Hale who had recently been appointed minister to Spain. (Hale's daughter, Lucy, was John Wilkes Booth's fianc�e.) Mr. Lincoln then called for a messenger and requested that he go to Ford's Theatre and reserve the State Box for the evening's performance. He did not yet know General Grant intended to decline the invitation and leave Washington on a late afternoon train. The management of Ford's was elated when they heard the news of their special guests for Good Friday's Our American Cousin performance. 11:00 A.M. The president began the scheduled meeting of his Cabinet. Stanton, as usual, arrived late. Grant was present at the meeting, and Lincoln was expecting important deliberations regarding reconstruction to occur. He admitted he was open to suggestions on this very complex matter. Lots of various ideas were proposed to begin the process of reconciliation between North and South. Also discussed was what to do with the leaders of the Confederacy. Lincoln spoke from the heart when he said, "...

enough lives have been sacrificed." 12:00 Noon The Cabinet meeting continued with more discussion of the process of putting the country on its feet again. 1:00 P.M. Except for minor differences of opinion, the Cabinet seemed agreed that helping the South economically would also be beneficial to the North. At this point, the president asked General Grant to describe the details of General Lee's surrender. Vice-President Andrew Johnson arrived at the White House. With the Cabinet meeting still in progress, Johnson decided to take a walk and wait until Lincoln could see him. 2:00 P.M. The Cabinet meeting ended. Grant got up from his chair and walked over to Mr. Lincoln. The general explained he and his wife would not be going to Ford's Theatre; rather they were taking the evening train out of Washington to visit their children. At about 2:20 Lincoln left the office for lunch with Mary. Although no record of the lunch time conversation exists, it's quite likely Abraham told Mary that the Grants would not be accompanying them to see Our American Cousin. Lincoln, back at work, studied some papers dealing with an army deserter.

He signed a pardon, and made the remark, "Well, I think the boy can do us more good above ground than underground." 3:00 P.M. Andrew Johnson and Mr. Lincoln met for approximately 20 minutes. Then the president met with a former slave named Nancy Bushrod. Her husband had served in the Union Army, but he was missing some paychecks. Lincoln promised to look into the matter. At the War Department, the Stantons decided to "send regrets" about attending Our American Cousin with the Lincolns that evening. 4:00 P.M. Lincoln had finished his day's work. Mary wished to go for a carriage ride. The president met briefly with Charles A. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War. 5:00 P.M. Congressman Edward H. Rollins of New Hampshire stopped by to get a pass for a constituent to go and see his wounded son in an army hospital. The president and his wife came out on the White House porch. A one-armed soldier, hoping to catch sight of Mr. Lincoln, yelled, "I would almost give my other hand if I could shake that of Abraham Lincoln." The president walked toward the soldier and grabbed his hand.

Lincoln said, "You shall do that and it shall cost you nothing." The Lincolns then entered the carriage with Francis P. Burke, their coachman, as the driver. Two cavalrymen followed the carriage as it started down the gravel White House driveway. The carriage arrived at the Navy Yard, and the president took a short stroll on the deck of the monitor Montauk. Then he got back in the carriage for the short trip back to the White House. 6:00 P.M. The carriage pulled into the White House driveway. Two old friends from Illinois, Dick Oglesby and General Isham N. Haynie, greeted the president. He invited them into his office for a friendly discussion of 'old times.' Word that dinner was ready reached Lincoln, and his old friends excused themselves. The Lincolns ate as a family. Mary told Abraham that a young couple, Clara Harris, 20, and Major Henry Rathbone, 28, had accepted a Ford's Theatre invitation. (Rathbone's townhouse at 712 Jackson Place in Lafayette Square still stands.) The Lincolns would pick up the couple at the Harris residence on H Street near Fourteenth. 7:00 P.M.

William H. Crook, the president's bodyguard, was relieved three hours late by John F. Parker . Parker was told to be on hand at Ford's Theatre when the presidential party got there. Crook said, "Good night, Mr. President." Lincoln responded, "Good-by, Crook." According to Crook, this was a first. Lincoln had always previously said, "Good night, Crook." Speaker of the House Colfax visited the president for a second time that day. Lincoln told him he had decided not to call a special session of Congress to deal with reconstruction. Colfax left, and at 7:50 former Congressman George Ashmun arrived without an appointment. Lincoln decided to see Ashmun anyway. 8:00 P.M. At 8:05 Lincoln's business with Ashmun was still unfinished, and he requested a return visit in the morning. Lincoln wrote out the last message of his life: "Allow Mr. Ashmun & friend to come in at 9:00 A.M. tomorrow." The note was signed "A. Lincoln, April 14, 1865." He and Mrs.

Lincoln then went out the front door of the White House to the waiting carriage. (The carriage is on display at the Studebaker National Museum . There is a photograph of it on the museum’s website.) Mary wore a black and white striped silk dress and a matching bonnet; Abraham wore a black overcoat and white kid gloves. Lincoln's coat was made of wool and had been tailored for him by Brooks Brothers of New York. The weather had changed; it was a foggy, misty night. On the way to Ford's, the carriage stopped to pick up Clara Harris and Henry Rathbone. (Both of whom are pictured to the left; the photo of Clara is from the Associated Press, and the photo of Henry is from the National Archives.) The carriage proceeded to Ford's. Clara Harris and Major Rathbone faced the Lincolns, riding backwards. Also in the carriage were Burke, the coachman, and Charles Forbes, Lincoln's valet. They arrived at Ford's at about 8:30 P.M. The play had already begun. John M. Buckingham, Ford's main doorkeeper and ticket collector, greeted the honored guests.

John Parker led the presidential party as it entered the theater and walked towards the State Box. The play stopped, and the orchestra played "Hail to the Chief." People in the audience stood and politely clapped. Once the president was seated, Our American Cousin resumed. His chair was a black walnut one with red upholstery. It had been brought down from the Ford family's personal quarters located on the 3rd floor above Taltavul's Star Saloon. 9:00 P.M. Our American Cousin continued before over 1,000 patrons in the theater. At one point, Abraham Lincoln felt a chill. Mary asked if he wanted a shawl, but the president rose and put on his black coat instead. He sat back in his rocking chair (which was out of view of the vast majority of the audience). During the play's intermission, John F. Parker, the president's bodyguard, left the theater and went next door to Taltavul's Star Saloon for a drink. He was not at his post when Act III of the play began. 10:00 P.M. Our American Cousin was now in its third act.

Mary sat very close to her husband, her hand in his. She whispered to him, "What will Miss Harris think of my hanging on to you so?" The president replied, "She won't think anything about it." It was between 10:15 P.M. and 10:30 P.M. On stage actor Harry Hawk was saying, "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 mantrap!" John Wilkes Booth came up behind Mr. Lincoln and shot him in the back of the head near point blank range. The bullet entered the head about 3 inches behind the left ear and traveled about 7 1/2 inches into the brain. Major Rathbone thought Booth shouted a word that sounded like "Freedom!" (Many accounts have Booth yelling "Sic Semper Tyrannis" in the box, or when he landed on the stage.) Booth struggled briefly with Rathbone , stabbed him with a knife , leaped 11 feet to the stage, broke the fibula bone in his left leg, and escaped from the theater.

(At least one assassination expert, Michael Kauffman, feels Booth did not break his leg in his leap to the stage. Kauffman feels Booth broke his leg later that night when his horse took a fall.) Lincoln's head inclined toward his chest, and Mrs. Lincoln screamed. The first doctor to attend the president was 23 year old Charles Leale . After examining the stricken man he sadly said, "His wound is mortal. It is impossible for him to recover." It was decided to move the president, and his comatose body was carried across the street to the Petersen House whose address was 453 Tenth Street (nowadays 516 Tenth Street). To the right is a contemporary drawing of the Petersen House on the night of the assassination. Armed soldiers guard the house as the president is cared for inside. (The drawing is from the Library of Congress.) The president was placed diagonally on a bed in a room rented by William T. Clark (pictured to the left; the photo of Clark came from p.

49 of WHEN LINCOLN DIED: The Assassination, The Funeral Journey, The Pursuit and Trial of the Conspirators, The Complete Story in Pictures and in the Words of His Day by Ralph Borreson), an army clerk. It was a small, neat room which measured 9 1/2 by 17 1/2 feet. Lincoln's pulse was 44, and his breathing was heavy. He was cold to the touch. A nightlong deathwatch began. Nearly every leading doctor in Washington D.C. stopped by to offer help and assistance. A large crowd gathered outside in front of the Petersen House. The president's breathing grew fainter; although the doctors felt an average man with this kind of wound would die within two hours, Mr. Lincoln lasted for nine. He passed away the next morning at 7:22 A.M. + 10 seconds, April 15th, 1865. Mrs. Lincoln was informed, "It is all over. The president is no more!" Back in Illinois, when Mr. Lincoln's stepmother heard the news, she said, "I knowed they'd kill him.

I ben awaiting fur it." Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton said, "Now he belongs to the ages." The photograph above was taken by Petersen House boarder Julius Ulke shortly after the president died. Shortly before it was taken, Mr. Lincoln's body lay diagonally on this bed. Source: Chicago History Museum. Amazingly, during the previous month, John Wilkes Booth had rested on this exact same bed. In March 1865 actor Charles Warwick had rented the room. One day Booth visited Warwick and fell asleep on the very same bed President Lincoln later died upon. CLICK HERE to visit USA TODAY's interactive timeline of Lincoln's last hours. NOTE #1: In 1956 the last surviving person who was in Ford's Theatre the night of the assassination passed away. His name was Samuel J. Seymour. He was 96 years old when he died. He lived in Arlington, Virginia. At age 5 his godmother, Mrs. George S. Goldsborough, had taken him to see Our American Cousin. The two sat in the balcony on the side opposite Lincoln's box.

SAMUEL JAMES SEYMOUR NOTE #2: The marriage of Clara Harris and Henry Rathbone took place July 11, 1867, in Albany, New York. Living in Germany in 1883, Henry went berserk two days before Christmas, shot and stabbed Clara to death and spent the rest of his life in an insane asylum. He died in 1911 at the age of 73. NOTE #3: The contents of Mr. Lincoln's pockets on the night of the assassination are on display at the Library of Congress. For more information on this, CLICK HERE . NOTE #4: Andrew Johnson was sworn in as president at 10:00 A.M. on the morning of April 15th. The ceremony took place in Johnson's room at the Kirkwood House, and Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase administered the oath. If Johnson had also been assassinated as Booth planned, Senate President Pro Tempore Lafayette S. Foster of Connecticut would have become acting president pending an election of a new president.

The process of electing a new president could only be set in motion by the secretary of state; thus Booth felt Seward's assassination would throw the Union government into "electoral chaos." A Presidential Succession law passed on March 1, 1792, was still in effect in 1865. It provided that the president pro tempore of the Senate was third in line to the presidency and the Speaker of the House was fourth. This law didn't make any succession provisions beyond the Speaker. NOTE #5: Over the years there have been several misconceptions about the Petersen House and the Petersen family itself. Robert T. Bain, great, great, great grandson of William Petersen, has tried to set the record straight in his 2005 publication entitled Lincoln's Last Battleground: A Tragic Night Recalled. Click Here if you are interested in obtaining a copy of Robert Bain's book. Although the information contained on this page was gathered using many sources (see the bibliography here ), I have used Jim Bishop's The Day Lincoln Was Shot for the page's basic outline. For many fascinating facts not only about the assassination (and its aftermath) but also about Washington, D.C.

sites in general please see Albert E. Kennedy's excellent book entitled JUST THE FACTS ABOUT WASHINGTON, D.C. The book answers over 2,500 questions about 34 historical sites in and around Washington. To learn details on this valuable publication please CLICK HERE . A new hardback edition of Clara E. Laughlin's The Death of Lincoln: The Story of Booth's Plot, His Deed, and the Penalty has been published. Laughlin's book was originally published on February 9, 1909, the centennial of Lincoln's birth. The new edition contains an index and a preface by Lincoln scholar, Michael W. Kauffman. If you would like to obtain a copy, contact Tony O'Connor's Vt. Civil War Enterprises at (802) 766-4747 or send e-mail to vtcwe@hotmail.com Many thanks to Chris Hunter for sending me the image at the top of the page. The sketch of the stricken president is the work of James Warner. James Warner lives in Cadillac, Michigan and enjoys illustrating, woodcarving and antique collecting. To contact Mr.

Warner for artwork please call (231) 577-4207 or send e-mails to: jameltrib@yahoo.com . Please type "Lincoln" in the subject line of your e-mail. Mr. Warner always enjoys hearing from people. However, all mail without the name "Lincoln" in the subject line will NOT be answered. Sorry for the inconvenience. ARTWORK NOT TO BE REPRODUCED FOR USE ON ANY OTHER SITE WITHOUT PERMISSION! This is not a commercial website. None of the photographs and artwork exhibited herein are being sold by the webmaster. Some photographs and artwork are believed to be in the public domain. Any copyrighted photographs and artwork are used in the context of this website strictly for educational, research and historical purposes only, under the "Fair Use" provisions of the Copyright Act, (US CODE: Title 17,107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair Use Section 107). Anyone claiming copyright to any of the posted photographs or artwork please inform the webmaster of such and it will be duly noted or removed. Questions, comments, corrections or suggestions can be sent to R. J. Norton , the creator and maintainer of this site.

All text except reprinted articles was written by the webmaster, ©1996-2017. All rights reserved. It is unlawful to copy, reproduce or transmit in any form or by any means, electronic or hard copy, including reproducing on another web page, or in any information or retrieval system without the express written permission of the author. The website was born on December 29, 1996. Web design by Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre - smilingbudhalivingcurious smilingbudhalivingcurious Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre President Abraham Lincoln Assassination Ford Theater, April 14, 1865 John Wilkes Booth The Martyr of liberty... [n. p., n. d.] (Library of Congress, Stern Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division.) On the evening of April 14, 1865, while attending a special performance of the comedy, "Our American Cousin," President Abraham Lincoln was shot. Accompanying him at Ford's Theater that night were his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, a twenty-eight year-old officer named Major Henry R. Rathbone, and Rathbone's fiancee, Clara Harris.

After the play was in progress, a figure with a drawn derringer pistol stepped into the presidential box, aimed, and fired. The president slumped forward. The assassin, John Wilkes Booth , dropped the pistol and waved a dagger. Rathbone lunged at him, and though slashed in the arm, forced the killer to the railing. Booth leapt from the balcony and caught the spur of his left boot on a flag draped over the rail, and shattered a bone in his leg on landing. Though injured, he rushed out the back door, and disappeared into the night on horseback. A doctor in the audience immediately went upstairs to the box. The bullet had entered through Lincoln's left ear and lodged behind his right eye. He was paralyzed and barely breathing. He was carried across Tenth Street, to a boarding-house opposite the theater, but the doctors' best efforts failed. Nine hours later, at 7:22 AM on April 15th, Lincoln died. President Lincoln's funeral procession in New York City. From Harper's Weekly, May 13, 1865. (Library of Congress, Stern Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

) At almost the same moment Booth fired the fatal shot, his accomplice, Lewis Paine, attacked Lincoln's Secretary of State, William Henry Seward. Seward lay in bed, recovering from a carriage accident. Paine entered the mansion, claiming to have a delivery of medicine from the Secretary's doctor. Seward's son, Frederick, was brutally beaten while trying to keep Paine from his father's door. Paine slashed the Secretary's throat twice, then fought his way past Seward's son Augustus, an attending hospital corps veteran, and a State Department messenger. Paine escaped into the night, believing his deed complete. However, a metal surgical collar saved Seward from certain death. The Secretary lived another seven years, during which he retained his seat with the Johnson administration, and purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867. There were at least four conspirators in addition to Booth involved in the mayhem. Booth was shot and captured while hiding in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia, and died later the same day, April 26, 1865.

Four co-conspirators, Paine, George Atzerodt, David Herold, and Mary Surratt, were hanged at the gallows of the Old Penitentiary, on the site of present-day Fort McNair, on July 7, 1865. Execution of the four conspirators: Mrs. Surrat [sic], Payne, Harold & Atzeroth. At Washington, D.C., July 7, 1865 . Philadelphia, J.L. Magee, 1865. litho. The artist has taken some liberties in depicting this scene of the execution of Booth's co-conspirators at the site of the current Fort McNair, in Washington, D.C. This print shows a Catholic priest next to the gallows; much attention was given in the popular press, at that time, to the fact that Mary E. Surratt was Catholic. Mrs. Surratt is thought to have been the first woman executed by the U.S. government. Lincoln Papers: Lincoln Assassination: Introduction The Martyr of liberty... [n. p., n.

d.] (Library of Congress, Stern Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division.) On the evening of April 14, 1865, while attending a special performance of the comedy, "Our American Cousin," President Abraham Lincoln was shot. Accompanying him at Ford's Theater that night were his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, a twenty-eight year-old officer named Major Henry R. Rathbone, and Rathbone's fiancee, Clara Harris. After the play was in progress, a figure with a drawn derringer pistol stepped into the presidential box, aimed, and fired. The president slumped forward. The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, dropped the pistol and waved a dagger. Rathbone lunged at him, and though slashed in the arm, forced the killer to the railing. Booth leapt from the balcony and caught the spur of his left boot on a flag draped over the rail, and shattered a bone in his leg on landing. Though injured, he rushed out the back door, and disappeared into the night on horseback. A doctor in the audience immediately went upstairs to the box. The bullet had entered through Lincoln's left ear and lodged behind his right eye. He was paralyzed and barely breathing.

He was carried across Tenth Street, to a boarding-house opposite the theater, but the doctors' best efforts failed. Nine hours later, at 7:22 AM on April 15th, Lincoln died. President Lincoln's funeral procession in New York City. From Harper's Weekly, May 13, 1865. (Library of Congress, Stern Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division. ) At almost the same moment Booth fired the fatal shot, his accomplice, Lewis Paine, attacked Lincoln's Secretary of State, William Henry Seward. Seward lay in bed, recovering from a carriage accident. Paine entered the mansion, claiming to have a delivery of medicine from the Secretary's doctor. Seward's son, Frederick, was brutally beaten while trying to keep Paine from his father's door. Paine slashed the Secretary's throat twice, then fought his way past Seward's son Augustus, an attending hospital corps veteran, and a State Department messenger. Paine escaped into the night, believing his deed complete. However, a metal surgical collar saved Seward from certain death.

The Secretary lived another seven years, during which he retained his seat with the Johnson administration, and purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867. There were at least four conspirators in addition to Booth involved in the mayhem. Booth was shot and captured while hiding in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia, and died later the same day, April 26, 1865. Four co-conspirators, Paine, George Atzerodt, David Herold, and Mary Surratt, were hanged at the gallows of the Old Penitentiary, on the site of present-day Fort McNair, on July 7, 1865.

Question: Which theatre was Abraham Lincoln attending when he was asassinated?
Answer: FORD