On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was finalizing arrangements to see the comedy Our American Cousin at the WashingtonΓÇÖs FordΓÇÖs Theater that evening. They decided to go with Senator Ira Harris and her fiancee Major Henry Rathbone.
The President had requested a special guard from the War Department to watch over him during the play. He was refused and instead was watched by a member of the Washington police force who was known as a drunkard.
Meanwhile, actor John Wilkes Booth had been planning the assassination of the President for several months. Booth was a strong Southern sympathizer and felt guilty for not serving in the military during the war. Together with several others, he had wanted to kidnap the president and forcefully bring him to Richmond, Virginia and Robert E. Lee where Lincoln could see the damage he had inflicted. His plans were dropped when Lee surrender earlier in the week. Booth decided his best bet was to kill the President himself while some of the other conspirators murdered Secretary of State William Seward.
On the day of the assassination, Booth spent the day in the bar next to the theater. The PresidentΓÇÖs bodyguard had walked over to the bar as well and the two shared a drink. At 10:00 Booth left the bar and headed into the theater. He walked up to the unguarded box and shot the Lincoln in his left ear. Booth shouted Sic semper tyrannis (Ever thus to tyrants!) and dropped the gun. He then pulled out a dagger and tried to kill major Rathbone. Booth fell out of the box shouting The South is avenged! breaking his leg. He managed to get out of the theater where he mounted his horse and quickly rode off.
The injury slowed Booth down a great deal. He was unable to cross the Potomac and meet with Southern soldiers. David Herold, another conspirator, caught up with Booth and brought him to Dr. Samuel Mudd. While his leg was being set, Herold told Booth how the other assassination attempted had failed. They waited for an opportunity to cross the river and escape into the South.
The search was on for the assassins. But due to internal problems, Booth and Herold were not found until April 26th. Union troops surrounded them outside of a tobacco shed on a farm near Port Royal, Virginia. The troops ordered them to surrender or be burned out. Booth asked the to let us have a little time to consider it.
Booth shouted that he refused to come out. Herold, fearing for his life, ran out of the shed. The Union troops set it on fire and saw Booth hobbling about. A shot was fired by Boston Corbett, a Union soldier and Booth fell down dead.
In all, nine people were named in the assassination plan. Booth,. Herold, George Atzerodt, Lewis Paine, Mary Surratt, John Surratt, Edward Spangler, Dr. Mudd, and Michael OΓÇÖLaughlin. John Surratt fled to Europe and eluded capture. The conspirators were tried before a military commission on the grounds that Lincoln as Commander in Chief, had died in service at the time of war.
The trial went from May 9th to June 30th. It was a show of postwar hysteria. They were linked to crimes committed by the Confederate government that had nothing to do with the assassination itself. Many felt that Mary Surratt was not guilty. But she was ordered to death along with Paine, Herold, and Atzerodt. OΓÇÖLaughlin, who were hung on July 7, 1865. Arnold and Mudd received life sentences. Spangler got off easily with only a six year term. After an absence of several years, John Surratt returned to the United States and was given a full pardon due to the unfortunate death of his mother.
