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The Assassination

1. Ford Theatre
2. Lincoln is assassinated
3. man jumps from balcony
4. lands, breaks his leg, hobbles out of theatre
5. through back alleys and lanes,
6. meets other conspirators, leaves them, moves into back room
7. killer meets John Wilkes Booth, tied up
8. fixes leg, takes back of axe and slams Booth’s leg
9. takes off makeup… agent for British government, Kelly Peeters

- moves from Washington to New York by rail

- Gangs in New York, must get out of city

- Detective investigating assassination smells a rat

- Follows trail of a stranger, man in shadows

- Takes the Erie canal north to Rochester

- Detective is Irish, part of Fenians

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1. flees back to Canada through territory of the six nations,
2. joins a theatre group for cover
3. one detective following his trail
4. confrontation at falls,

Research:

- Lincoln conspiracy

- Six nations

- Map of upper New York

- Washington, D.C.

- Erie Canal

- What is the play, My American Cousin, about?

- What are secret service men called at this time?

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Look up…

http://civilwar.si.edu/resources_si.html

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Trent Affair, incident during the American Civil War that severely tested diplomatic relations between the United States and Britain. On November 8, 1861, Captain Charles Wilkes of the U.S. vessel San Jacinto intercepted at sea the British mail steamer Trent, bound for Europe from Havana, Cuba. He took from the ship two Confederate commissioners who were among the passengers, James Mason, who was accredited to Britain, and John Slidell, who was accredited to France. The two diplomats were subsequently held as prisoners in Boston, but Britain demanded their release on the ground that they had been forcibly taken from a neutral vessel on the high seas upon a voyage from one neutral point to another, and that therefore Wilkes’s action had been illegal. Wilkes had been hailed as a hero in the U.S., and the possibility of war between the two countries seemed imminent. On December 26, however, U.S. Secretary of State William Henry Seward repudiated the capture of the prisoners, who were released the following January.[1]

The North hailed Wilkes as a hero, but by seizing the commissioners from a neutral ship, he had violated principles of international law that the United States had upheld for 50 years and had even gone to war for in 1812. The British ministry demanded an apology and the release of the two men. Many in the North clamored for war with Britain. Lincoln, however, was cautious, and in England, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort, used his influence on behalf of peace. After allowing time for the war fever to cool, the United States admitted that Wilkes had acted without authorization, disavowed him, and liberated the Southern commissioners. A war that might have been fatal to the Union was thus averted.[2]

Assassination

When the second scene of the third act was being performed, and while I was intently observing the proceedings upon the stage, with my back toward the door, I heard the discharge of a pistol behind me, and, looking round, saw through the smoke a man between the door and the President. The distance from the door to where the President sat was about four feet. At the same time I heard the man shout some word, which I thought was “Freedom!” I instantly sprang toward him and seized him. He wrested himself from my grasp, and made a violent thrust at my breast with a large knife. I parried the blow by striking it up, and received a wound several inches deep in my left arm, between the elbow and the shoulder. [3]

The man rushed to the front of the box, and I endeavored to seize him again, but only caught his clothes as he was leaping over the railing of the box. The clothes, as I believe, were torn in the attempt to hold him. As he went over upon the stage, I cried out, “Stop that man.” I then turned to the President; his position was not changed; his head was slightly bent forward, and his eyes were closed. I saw that he was unconscious, and, supposing him mortally wounded, rushed to the door for the purpose of calling medical aid.[4]

On reaching the outer door of the passage way, I found it barred by a heavy piece of plank, one end of which was secured in the wall, and the other resting against the door. It had been so securely fastened that it required considerable force to remove it. This wedge or bar was about four feet from the floor. Persons upon the outside were beating against the door for the purpose of entering. I removed the bar, and the door was opened. [5]

“Our American Cousin.” Play when Lincoln was assassinated

After talking with the manager, I was returning to the orchestra, when I heard the report of a pistol. I stood with astonishment, thinking why they should fire off a pistol in “Our American Cousin.” As I turned round I heard some confusion, and saw a man running toward me with his head down. I did not know what was the matter, and stood completely paralyzed. As he ran, I could not get out of his way, so he hit me on the leg, and turned me round, and made two cuts at me, one in the neck and one on the side, and knocked me from the third entrance down to the second. The scene saved me. As I turned, I got a side view of him, and I saw it was John Wilkes Booth. He then made a rush for the back door, and out he went. [6]

Assassination Theories

1. Andrew Johnson was involved

“…that, that miserable inebriate Johnson, had cognizance of my husband’s death – Why, was that card of Booth’s, found in his box, some acquaintance certainly existed – I have been deeply impressed, with the harrowing thought, that he, had an understanding with the conspirators & they knew their man… As sure, as you & I live, Johnson, had some hand, in all this…”

Mary Todd Lincoln to her friend, Sally Orne, in a letter dated March 15, 1866

while Johnson was military governor of Tennessee, he and Booth kept a couple of sisters as mistresses and oftentimes were seen in each other’s company.

2. simple conspiracy organized by John Wilkes Booth

2. SIMPLE CONSPIRACY ORGANIZED BY JOHN WILKES BOOTH

simple conspiracy theory paints Booth as a Southern patriot and racist who originally planned to kidnap the president, take him to Richmond, and hold him in exchange for Southern prisoners of war. When the kidnapping plans fell through, Booth turned to assassination as his means for revenge

3. grand conspiracy of Confederates

In 1977 a statement conspirator George Atzerodt made before the trial in 1865 was uncovered. In it Atzerodt told of Booth’s knowledge of a Confederate plot to blow up the White House.

Idea that Lincoln had okayed a plot to assassinate Jefferson Davis, leader of south,

4. powerful international bankers

Lincoln was killed as a result of his monetary policies. John Wilkes Booth would be seen as a ‘hired gun.’ In its simplest terms, the theory is that Lincoln needed money to finance the Civil War. He was offered loans at high interest rates by bankers in Europe led by the Rothschilds. Rather than accept the loans, Lincoln found other means to fund the war effort. More importantly, the British bankers opposed Lincoln’s protectionist policies. Some Englishmen in the 1860′s believed that “British free trade, industrial monopoly and human slavery travel together.”

5. Catholic Church

Chiniquy maintained that Jefferson Davis had offered $1,000,000 if someone would “kill the author of the bloodshed.” Chiniquy wrote that the money could be offered, but that “…the Jesuits alone could select the assassins, train them, and show them a crown of glory in heaven…” Booth was the tool of the Jesuits. He was corrupted and directed by the Vatican.

6. secretary of war Stanton

Stanton was against Lincoln’s mild Reconstruction policies and wanted him out of office so a more radical Reconstructionist policy could be employed. On the day of the assassination Ulysses S. Grant was expected to attend Our American Cousin with the Lincolns. Eisenschiml argued that had Grant attended, the military guards who protected him would never have allowed Booth to enter the State Box at Ford’s Theatre. Eisenschiml further argued that Grant’s refusal of the Lincolns’ theater invitation was due to an order by Stanton to change his plans for the evening.

William Seward

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http://home.att.net/%7Erjnorton/Lincoln75.html

In late summer of 1864 Booth began developing plans to kidnap Lincoln, take him to Richmond (the Confederate capital), and hold him in return for Confederate prisoners of war. By January, 1865, Booth had organized a group of co-conspirators that included Samuel Arnold, Michael O’Laughlen, John Surratt, Lewis Powell (also called Lewis Paine or Payne), George Atzerodt, and David Herold. Additionally, Booth met with Dr. Samuel Mudd both in Maryland (where Mudd lived) and Washington, and he began using Mary Surratt’s boardinghouse to meet with his co-conspirators.

On the morning of Friday, April 14, Booth dropped by Ford’s Theatre and learned that the president and General Grant were planning to attend the evening performance of Our American Cousin. He held one final meeting with his co-conspirators. He said he would kill Lincoln at the theater (he had since learned that Grant had left town). Atzerodt was to kill Vice-President Andrew Johnson at the Kirkwood House where Johnson resided. Powell was assigned to kill Secretary of State William Seward. Herold would accompany Powell. All attacks were to take place simultaneously at approximately 10:15 P.M. that night. Booth hoped the resulting chaos and weakness in the government would lead to a comeback for the South.

The presidential party arrived at Ford’s at about 8:30 P.M. Armed with a single shot derringer and a hunting knife, Booth arrived at Ford’s at about 9:30 P.M. Joseph Burroughs, a boy who worked at the theater, held his horse in the rear alley. Booth went next door to a saloon for a drink. He entered the front of Ford’s Theatre around 10:07 P.M. Slowly he made his way toward the State Box where the Lincolns were sitting with Clara Harris and Henry Rathbone. Lincoln’s bodyguard, John Parker of the Metropolitan Police Force, had left his post. At about 10:15 P.M. Booth opened the door to the State Box, shot Lincoln in the back of the head at near point-blank range, and struggled with Rathbone. Booth stabbed Rathbone in the arm and jumped approximately 11 feet to the stage below. When he hit the floor he snapped the fibula bone in his left leg just above the ankle. Many in the theater thought he yelled “Sic Semper Tyrannis” (Latin for “As Always to Tyrants”). Mrs. Lincoln screamed, Booth flashed his knife at the audience, and he made his way across the stage in front of more than 1,000 people. Everything happened so fast no one had time to stop him. Booth went out the back door, climbed on his horse, and escaped from the city using the Navy Yard Bridge.

Atzerodt made no attempt to kill Johnson, and Powell stabbed Seward but failed to kill him. Herold escaped from the capital using the same bridge as Booth. The two met in Maryland and stopped briefly around midnight at Mary Surratt’s leased tavern in Surrattsville where Mrs. Surratt had earlier left the message to have supplies ready and had dropped off a wrapped package that contained Booth’s field glasses. About 4:00 A.M. Booth and Herold arrived at Dr. Mudd’s home where Mudd set and splinted Booth’s broken leg. Back in Washington Lincoln never regained consciousness and passed away at 7:22 A.M. on the morning of April 15, 1865, at the Petersen House (across the street from the theater).

Booth and Herold departed from Dr. Mudd’s during the afternoon of April 15 and traveled south. Federal authorities caught up with them at Garrett’s farm near Port Royal, Virginia, early in the morning of April 26. Hiding in a barn, Harold gave up. Booth refused, so the barn was set on fire. Booth still didn’t come out and was shot to death by Sergeant Boston Corbett. Corbett had not been under orders to do this. Booth’s body was searched, and a diary was among the things found. Booth’s remains were returned to Washington where positive identification was made and an autopsy performed.

Within days Booth’s co-conspirators were arrested by the government. They were tried by a military tribunal, and all were found guilty. Mrs. Surratt, Powell, Atzerodt, and Herold were all hanged on July 7, 1865. Dr. Mudd, O’Laughlen, and Arnold were given life terms in prison. Edman “Ned” Spangler, a Ford’s stagehand who was convicted of helping Booth escape from the theater, received a sentence of 6 years in prison. The convictions of Mary Surratt and Dr. Mudd have been hotly debated throughout the years. John Surratt escaped to Canada and then to Europe. He was captured abroad and was tried in 1867 in a civil court. The trial ended with a deadlocked jury, and Surratt went free. O’Laughlen died in prison (Ft. Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas near Key West) in 1867. Dr. Mudd, Arnold, and Spangler were all pardoned by President Andrew Johnson early in 1869.

Photos of the times

http://home.att.net/~rjnorton2/abrahamgallery.html

map of booth’s escape

http://www.abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org/Map_Room/index.asp

press’s treatment of assassination

http://members.aol.com/historn/index.htm

execution of 4 members of conspiracy

http://712educators.about.com/cs/historycw/l/blcwphlincoln18.htm