Lincoln the Assassination of Lincoln the Assassination

Lincoln

The Assassination of Lincoln

The assassination of Lincoln was part of a greater plot to end the continuity of government, which Lincoln and his aids (Secretary of State William Seward and Vice President Andrew Johnson) represented. Each of these men held one of the top three key positions in the Union. John Wilkes Booth, the stage-actor who killed the President, sought along with his accomplices to assist the South and the Confederate cause by assassinating the leaders of the Confederacy's opposition.

As Michael Kauffman notes, Booth and his co-conspirators had devised a plot to abduct Lincoln, smuggle him to the Confederate states and hold him ransom in exchange for Confederate prisoners whom Gen. Grant of the Union Army was, in 1864, refusing to release.

This "plot," however, was little more than a stunt on Booth's part: by having his co-conspirators gather in a public place where witnesses could confirm their meeting, he was guaranteeing their loyalty. Even though the abduction failed in every way (Lincoln never even appeared at the place Booth said he would show), Booth now had something to hold over the heads of his men: they could not back out; they had been seen together; anyone who tried to defect now would never be acquitted by the courts; Booth should know -- he had some knowledge of the law.

But the plot progressed from one of abduction to one of murder when in 1865, Booth listened to Lincoln give a speech that suggested new rights for ex-slaves. Booth decided then and there that Lincoln was upsetting the balance of order and society in the Southern States -- an order the President had no right to upset. The idea of kidnap and ransom was over (the Confederacy had already lost the war anyway). Assassination now became Booth's predominant thought.

Three days later, on 14 April 1865, Booth lay awake in his hotel bed and wrote to his mother that "something decisive and great must be done."

At that time, Booth still had no definite plan to assassinate the President. That plan would not come for another dozen or so hours, when, visiting Ford's Theatre to retrieve his mail, Booth discovered that Lincoln would be in attendance at the Theatre that very same night. Here was a perfect opportunity: as a known and welcome actor, Booth had easy access to the Theatre; he knew its ins and outs.

Booth made his decision on the spot. He sent word to Mary Surratt, the woman whose boarding house had been the place where Booth and his co-conspirators had met: she was to see that Booth's packages -- guns and ammo -- were available for his men. Insurrection was to happen that night.

Seward was to be killed by Lewis Powell and Johnson by George Atzerodt: those were Booth's orders. Atzerodt protested: he had only been willing to go so far as abduction -- for the sake of Confederate soldiers. Assassination was quite something else and no positive political consequences. Booth insisted that Atzerodt had no choice: his commitment to Booth's gang was already known; there was no quitting now.

Powell did as he was told and went "mad" in the process: Sewell was bed-ridden from an earlier accident; Powell gained admittance to the house by lying about having some medicine to deliver. When Sewell's son became suspicious, Powell attacked him and soon had to attack virtually everyone in the house in order to carry out his deed and make his escape. Although he managed to wound Sewell with a knife, he failed to kill him. (His pistol misfired). He was heard crying as he exited the home, "I'm mad!"

Meanwhile, Booth had gained admittance to the Theatre and just as he planned entered Lincoln's box without problem. With a single-bullet pistol, he fired at point-blank range into the back of Lincoln's head. Cries and a struggle ensued. Booth leapt from the balcony to the stage (breaking his ankle as he did so) and shouted, "Sic simper tyrannis!" (Thus always to tyrants!).

In the chaos that ensued, he managed to flee. A pursuit followed soon after. Lincoln died from his wound early the next morning.