The Conspiracy to Assassinate Lincoln

It was a warm spring evening in Washington D.C. when America's path to healing was violently derailed. On April 14, 1865, just days after Lee surrendered at Appomattox, President Abraham Lincoln settled into his seat at Ford's Theatre to enjoy a comedy called "Our American Cousin."  Lincoln had been having disturbing dreams about death for weeks, even telling his wife Mary about a particularly haunting vision where he saw himself lying in a coffin at the White House. Despite these dark omens, Lincoln was in an unusually good mood that night. His wife Mary even remarked, "Dear husband, you almost startle me by your great cheerfulness."

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Meanwhile, just a few miles away, a British actor and Confederate sympathizer named John Wilkes Booth was busy finalizing the dirty details of a plan to assassinate the president, vice president, and secretary of state. Booth and his three co-conspirators believed that by decapitating the government it would throw the Union into chaos and give the Confederacy a chance to reform.

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Booth made his way behind the area the president would be located and actually drilled a hole in the wall so he could watch his victim and then and he waited.  His co-conspirators were not successful.  A gentleman named Powell was tasked with killing W.H. Seward the Secretary of State.  Seward was sick in bed but proved a difficult target and wrestled with Powell until help arrived.  Seward was stabbed in the process but survived.  Mr. Atzerodt was supposed to kill Andrew Johnson but instead found it much easier to get drunk and never bothered to carry out his part of the scheme.

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Booth was not going to miss his mark.  When the Lincoln’s arrived, Booth was able to situate himself so he could climb the stairs to the area where Lincoln was seated, unnoticed.  He waited until a humorous part in the play filled the house with laughter to make his move, the .44 Derringer pistol in one hand and a knife in the other.  He appeared just behind the president before anyone noticed and fired the weapon within inches of the president’s head.  The .44 ball entered the skull at approximately 600 fps (409 mph) and lodged itself just on the inside of the president’s eye cavity.  He hit the floor never to regain consciousness.

 

Booth then attacked the stunned bodyguard, Major Henry Rathbone, with his knife.  According to witnesses Booth jumped from the balcony, catching his spur on the flag bunting that had been hastily added to the décor.  The snagged spur caused Booth to land heavily on his left leg and it broke.  He stood up and like the actor he was yelled, “Sic Semper Tyrannis!”  And then he “ran” for the getaway horse.  This part has always bothered me. He had a broken leg and an empty pistol.  Why not tackle him and be a hero?  Nope, everyone just sat there.