On March 20, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a Maryland native and a Confederate sympathizer, attempted to kidnap the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln luckily did not appear at the location where Booth had planned to abduct him. Two weeks after the failed attempt, Union forces took control of the city of Richmond, Virginia. The collapse of the Confederate forces seemed imminent due to the fact that the Union had taken control of most of the Confederate territories. After his failed attempt to kidnap Lincoln, Booth believed that the only way the Confederate forces could regain power was by assassinating President Lincoln. Booth began preparations for his new plan.1
Lincoln had a passion for drama and the theatre, as did Booth who was a well known and successful actor in the United States. Laura Keene, one of the most famous actresses at the time, was going to perform the three act play “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., and after learning that Lincoln would be present at the event, Booth knew it was the perfect opportunity for to carry out his plan. On the evening of April 14, 1865, Lincoln occupied his private box at the Ford Theatre along with his wife, Officer Henry Rathbone and Rathbone’s fiancée. Booth was in the crowd, and when the clock reached 10:00PM, Booth entered Lincoln’s box. He positioned himself behind Lincoln, removed his .44 caliber Derringer and shot Lincoln in the back of the head. In the process he managed to stab Officer Rathbone. After the vicious attack, Booth jumped from the box and onto the stage. Upon his landing, Booth shouted, “Sic temper tyrannis!” which means “I always bring death to tyrants.” The crowd was amazed and thought that it was all part of the play. It was not until Mary, Lincoln’s wife, shouted for help that the crowd took notice of the atrocity. Among the crowd there was a doctor that attempted to care for Lincoln, but unfortunately Lincoln did not make it through and was pronounced dead the next morning.2
Booth managed to escape the premises, and this led to one of the biggest manhunts in the history of the United States. Twelve days later, on April 26th, Booth was found along with two accomplices, David Herold, and Mary Surrat, by the Union army inside a house in Virginia. The house was burned down by the Union troops and Booth was shot in the head. David Herold was sentenced to death as was Mary Surrat. Booth’s plan of “saving” the Confederate forces failed as General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate army to the Union forces on April 9, 1865, five days before Lincoln’s murder.
President Lincoln was one of the most influential people in the development of the United States of America and what it represents today. “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”- Abraham Lincoln.3
- James Orbesen, John Wilkes Booth : Beyond the Grave (Maryland, Landham: Trade Publishing, 2013), 6-14. ↵
- Kim A. O’Connell, “Lincoln’s Last Witness,” Civil War Times, no. 3 (2015): 60. ↵
- George Clack and Michael Jay Friedman, Abraham Lincoln: A Legacy of Freedom (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of State, Bureau of International Information Programs, 2008), 22. ↵
70 comments
Zeresh Haman
This article was very interesting. I have heard the story of Lincoln’s assassination several times, but i didn’t know that Booth was planning on kidnapping him. I also didn’t know that he jumped down on the stage after he shot him, and people thought that it was a part of the play. I also found it interesting that Booth had two accomplices. I had always thought that it was only him that had come up with the plan to kill Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln is one of the most famous presidents in all of history, and I think this article did an awesome job of describing his assassination.
Edward Cerna
This was such a nice article to read because I really like Abraham Lincoln. I like how you included specific details like what time he entered the booth, the type of gun he used and how he had planned to kidnap President Lincoln but that plan had failed. I had known some information about the assassination of President Lincoln prior to reading this article but it definitely expanded my knowledge.
Mariana Govea
Very interesting and informative article! I did know some details of the way the assassination went down but I did not know how it actually played out. It amazes me to know that Booth killed because of the lack of power the Confederates had at the moment. To me, that wouldn’t seem ideal to go and kill such a respected man. Great information I enjoyed the read!
Natalia Zuniga
Interesting article! This is so interesting! I never knew he tried so hard and multiple times to murder Lincoln and even the kidnapping. This a great article because it tells us much more than the basic we always learn in school. The photo of John Wilkes Booth was great and caught my attention, as well as your photo of Lincoln Assassination Headline. Overall great article!
Alyssa Vela
You can tell that a lot of research was put into this article by the way you were with your sentence structure, as well as all of the information within the article itself. Honest Abe is always interesting to learn about, and his falling is just as if not more. There are always different interpretations, and it was great hearing yours! Great article! I look forward to reading more in the near future.
Mario De Leon
I was very interested in reading this article and it did not disappoint. I did not know that John Wilkes Booth had planned to kidnap the President but failed. I have always known that Lincoln was murdered in a theater but this article gave a greater description of the incident. President Lincolns death was a great tragedy in American history.
Cameron Mays
One of the best, if not the absolute best President ever, Lincoln stood for everything a man in that position should. With that said, it’s a tragedy what happened to him. Learning about it is very important in every American’s life, if not just for the respect aspect, but for the learning from history aspect. The first thing that stood out for me about your article was the opening line, as I never knew that Booth tried to kidnap him and failed once before. This kept me into your article the whole time, and really points towards what a good hook can do for an article.
Gabriela Serrato
I very much enjoyed this article because although I was aware of the main outline of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, I was not aware of the details. I did not know that Lincoln had an officer by his side, who was stabbed as well. I also did not know that Booth had accomplices or that he was shot once he was found. I am in shock that this assassination did not seem too hard for Booth to carry out as well, while today it would be nearly impossible to get near the president.
Alyssa Valdez
Very interesting read! I had no idea that President Abe Lincoln was almost kidnapped! I also forgot that the man who assassinated him also planned to kill others with his co-conspirators. It is unbelievable that people are so strong in their beliefs that they are willing to do anything. I wasn’t also aware that it took twelve days to actually catch Abe’s assassin as well. Very informative!!
Marissa Gonzalez
It was a great idea to end the article with a quote from Abraham Lincoln. I also had no idea that it was Booth’s intent to kidnap Lincoln in the first place. I find it quite sad how Booth believes the Confederates would gain more power by killing someone. It is unfortunate how Lincoln was assassinated because of this reason even though Booth’s plan to gain Confederate power had failed; especially because the Confederate army had surrendered five days before Lincoln was killed. Overall this article was very informative.