Sandy-Lincoln+Assasination

= = **The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln** In April 14, 1865, the 14th president of the United States of America Abraham Lincoln was assassinated while watching a play in Ford's Theater, Washington D.C. The assassin was [|John Wilkes Booth], an actor who was infuriated by the South's loss in the [|Civil War].

=Contents=

6 Aftermath
=The **Planning**= A successful actor from the family of noted actors, John Wilkes Booth was a Confederate sympathizer who was embittered by the Confederacy's misfortunes. In the previous six months, he had concocted several plots to kidnap Lincoln in exchanged for captured prisoners of war. The surrender of Robert E. Lee's Confederate army on April 9 intensified his hatred even more. On April 11, Booth and Lewis Pane were watching Lincoln speak in favor of civil rights for freed slaves, which hinted that an announcement on postwar policy was forthcoming. Booth had urged his accomplice Lewis Pane to shoot Lincoln there, declaring “that means nigger citizenship. Now by God I'll put him through. That is the last speech he will ever make." Later, Booth learned that Lincoln would be at Ford's Theater with his wife, and he recruited veterans of his previous plots to help him.

= **The Assassination** = = = On April 14, 1865, a Good Friday, Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd Lincoln along with Major Henry R. Rathbone and = = his fiancée Clara Harris sat at the President's Booth in the Ford's Theater, Washington D.C. There was a showing of the comedy //Our American Cousin//. John Wilkes Booth was an actor, so he had access to the president's booth. At 10 PM, after the second act, = = when Booth knew there was going to be laughter that would muffle a gun shot, he shot Lincoln with a pistol in the back of his head. Major Rathbone attempted to stop him briefly, but Booth stabbed him with a knife in the arm. Booth then leaped to the stage, breaking one of his legs. He yelled " Sic Semper Tyrannis!”, the motto of the State of Virginia, meaning "Thus Always to Tyrants!" Other witnesses claim that they also heard "The South is avenged!" Booth then escaped outside to a horse waiting in an alley behind the theater. According to a witness, John D. Hutchinson, he heard a man from the orchestra seats say "That's Wilkes Booth!", and he reached the alley, but found it empty. A woman, Mrs. Anderson was watching from the window, and told them that a man rode down the alley on a horse a few minutes ago.

= = = The Escape = = = After escaping Ford's Theater with his horse, Booth, accompanied by Herold, arrived at the Suratt Tavern on April 14, 1865. Herold had left his weapons in the building, and he came to retrieve them. The pair rode off to the house of Dr. Samuel Mudd, a Confederate sympathizer, arriving at 4:00 AM in the morning. He examined Booth's legs and gave him a crude pair of crutches. Mudd claimed to have not learned about the death of Lincoln until after Booth and Herold left, at around 5:00 to 7:00. Booth and Lincoln was originally going to the home of Confederate sympathizer William Burtles, but changed their route to go the house of Samuel Cox. Cox welcomed the two into the house, but they only stayed for 3 to 4 hours. Booth and Herold then hid in pine thickets, where Federal troops were dangerously close. The pair shot their horses to death, to prevent them from giving away their location. They walked to Dent's Meadow, where they took a boat to cross the Potomac River. However, they became disoriented due to the tricky currents and missed the top of Point Mathias, arriving in Blossom, MD. On April 22, 1865, John J. Hughes fed the men and let them stay. At sundown, Booth and Herold departed in a second attempt to cross the river, and succeeded. They reached Elizabeth Quesenberry, a well known Confederate sympathizer, who contacted Thomas Harbin. Harbin took food to the fugitives and obtained horses from William Bryant. Bryant took the two men to the summer house of Dr. Richard Stuart, who was recommended by Dr. Samuel Mudd and was known to be friendly with Southerners. After arriving in Cleydael, Booth and Herold attempted to persuade Dr. Stuart to keep them safe. Aware of the assassination of Lincoln, Dr. Stuart refused to house them and treat Booth's legs. After persisting arguing, Stuart told Bryant to take them to the cabin of William Lucas. Booth and Herold were reluctant to get help from a free black, but saw no alternative. They two forced Lucas and his family to sleep outside. Booth and Herold then went to the Garrett farmhouse on April 24, 1865. They were hiding in the tobacco farm when Federal agents were asking Garrett about the wherabouts of Booth and Herold, and was forced into telling the truth. Both fugitives attempted to flee, but Colonel Lafayette Baker, an agent of the War Department threatened to set the barn on fire. At this time, Herold turned himself in, and he was tied to a tree outside. At around 4:00 AM, Baker set the barn on fire. As Booth was moving towards the door, Sergeant Boston Corbett shot him with his pistol. The bullet pierced his spine, and Booth died shortly on April 26, 1865.

=The Death of Lincoln= After Booth shot the bullet that went through Lincoln's left ear and lodged behind his right eye, Lincoln slumped forward in his seat, with his wife sobbing nearby. Dr. Charles Leale, a doctor in the audience immediately forced his way into the president's box after hearing the commotion. Leale examined Lincoln, and believed that he was dead. Another doctor, Dr. Charles Sabin Taft was lifted by the audience to the president's box to be of assistance. Leale noticed a blood clot near Lincoln's left ear, and with the help of Taft who opened the shirt, he removed it. Leale saw evidence of a brain injury, and that "The assassin of President Lincoln had evidently carefully planned to shoot to produce instant death." Leale, concerned that the president would not even live for an hour, tried to revive Lincoln by [|artificial respiration.]Leale's final statement was " "His wound is mortal; it is impossible for him to recover," which was telegraphed all over the country. Leale then asked to have the president taken to the nearest house on the opposite side of the street, as the White House would be too far away. Taft carried Lincoln on his right shoulder as they walked to the William Petereson House. There, Lincoln lied diagonally on a bed, as he was too tall, and Leale provided artificial heat to warm Lincoln. When Dr. Robert K. Stone, Lincoln's family physician arrived, Leale left him to be in charge. However, as morning came, Lincoln passed away at 7:22 AM on April 15, 1865. Immediately after his death, everyone knelt down and prayed, as Leale took two coins, and placed them over his eyelids and drew a white sheet over the his face.

= media type="custom" key="6043739" align="right" = =**Consequences of the Conspirators**= Anyone who was suspected of having any association with the assassination of Lincoln, or helped Booth and Herold with their flight were put behind bars. It was narrowed down to eight prisoners- seven men and one woman. They were tried by [|military tribunal], which was a military court designed to try enemies during wartime. The trial lasted for about seven weeks, with 366 witnesses testifying. [|Mary Surratt], [|Lewis Powell], [|David Herold], and [|George Atzerodt] were declared guilty of the murder of Lincoln, and were executed in Fort McNair in Washington, DC, on 7th July, 1865. Mary Surratt was the first woman to be executed by the government. Mudd had barely escaped execution by one vote. Dr. Mudd, Arnold, and O'Laughlin were sentenced to life at hard labor in Fort Jefferson. O'Laughlin died in prison of yellow fever, and the rest of the conspirators were pardoned and released in 1869. Edman Spangler, a stagehand at Ford's Theater, got six years of hard labor for holding Booth's horse outside the theater. Mary Surratt's son John Surratt had escaped abroad, and was extradited, but charges against him were dropped after a hung jury failed to convict him in 1867.

=**Aftermath and Preservation**= After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson was sworn in as president. The assassination of Lincoln was the first successful assassination attempt in American history. After Lincoln's death, the North was plunged in a period of public brief. The murder of President Lincoln affected many people in the Northern states. Among those affected, the black population were more upset, as they had viewed him as their liberator. Lincoln's funeral was on April 19, 1865, and then his body was transported on a funeral train to Springfield, Illinois on May 4. Lincoln's wife Mary Lincoln suffered from severe depression and mental illness after his death. A Lincoln Memorial was opened in Washington D.C in 1922. Many of the items around Lincoln during the time of the assassination were preserved in different places. The bullet, pieces of his skull and hair are at the Army Medical Museum. The chair that Lincoln sat in when he was shot is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit, Michigan. The presidential box where Lincoln sat is preserved and is never occupied at the Ford's Theatre National Historic Site. Because of Lincoln's absence, the reconstruction process after the Civil War was delayed. Lincoln's original idea was to give all Southerners full pardon, except for commanders and officers. This would have made the reconstruction quicker, and a good percentage of Congress had agreed. When he died, Congress could not function without its main advocate in the plan.

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