Abraham Lincoln's Assassination
| On April
14, 1865 Abe and his wife went to a play, Our American Cousin, starring
Laura Keene at Ford's Theater. Henry R. Rathbone and Claire Harris
accompanied them. Lincoln's body guard snuck down to see the play.
During the third act a man stepped into the Presidents Bar. He was
carrying a one shot .44 caliber muzzle loading Derringer pistol.
The man pointed it at the back of Lincoln's head and fired. Rathbone
turned around and jumped on the man. But he received a cut by the
man's knife. The man jumped out of the president's box, but one of
his spurs on his boots got caught on the cloth draped over the box's edge.
He tumbled and broke his shin bone. The was wedged behind Abe's right
eye. They carried Abe to the Peterson's Boarding House where he died
the next morning a 7:22 a.m.
The man who shot Lincoln was
John Wilkes Booth. He has been planning to kill Lincoln in 1861.
By January 1865 Booth had organized a group of co-conspirators Samuel Arnold,
Michael O' Laughlin, John Surratt, Lewis Pain, George Atzerodt, and David
Herold. Booth planned a plan for each person. Booth was going
to kill Lincoln at Ford's Theater. Atzerodt was to kill Vice President
Andrew Johnson at the Kirkwood House. Herold and Powell were supposed
to kill Secretary of State William Seward. Booth had planned for
all the killings to take place at 10:45 p.m. As you already know
Booth's part of the plan worked. Atzerodt made no attempt to kill
Johnson. Powell stabbed Seward but failed to kill him. Booth
escaped from the city using the Navy Yard Bridge. At 4:00 a.m. Booth
arrived at Doctor Mudd's house. There Mudd set and splinted Booth's
broken leg. Booth traveled south, there federal authorities caught
up with Booth in Garrett's Farm near Port Royal, Virginia, early in the
morning of April 26, 1865. Booth hid in a barn and wouldn't come
out so they set the barn afire. Booth still wouldn't move so Sergeant
Boston Corbett shot him to death. The remains of Booth's burnt body
were shipped to Washington D.C. for a positive identification and an autopsy
performed. In a few days Booth's co-conspirators were captured and
hung on July 7, 1865. Dr. Mudd was given life in prison.
|
John Wilkes Booth
Booth's Co-conspirators
George Atzerodt is the person that was supposed
to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson.
Samuel Arnold
He is who gave Booth his boarding house so
Booth could meet with his co-conspirators.
Dr. Samuel Mudd was the one who
set and splinted Booth's leg.
Lewis Paine
Weapon's Used During the Assassination
The one shot .44 caliber muzzle loading Derringer
pistol that was used to assassinate Lincoln.
The knife that stabbed Henry R. Rathbone
during his attempt to capture Booth.
The hanging of the co-conspirators on July 7, 1865.
The Ford's Theater's box that President Lincoln got shot in.
This is the house that Lincoln was taken to
after he was shot. He died at 7:22 a.m. the next
morning.
This is where President Lincoln is buried.
