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Article:  Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination



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  • April 14, 1865

    • John Wilkes Booth, famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C.

    • The attack came only five days after General Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House in Virginia, ending the Civil War



Who was John Wilkes Booth?



  • Famous Actor

  • Confederate sympathizer 

  • Civil War:  

    • Didn’t serve, pursued an acting career

  • Near the end of the war: 

    • He and associates planned to kidnap President Lincoln take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital

  • March 20, 1865:

    • Day of the planned kidnapping 

    • Lincoln failed to appear at the spot where Booth and his conspirators waiting 

    • 2 weeks later: Richmond fell to Union forces 


  • April 9, 1865:

    • General Lee surrenders

    • Booth grew desperate, and planned to assassinate Lincoln 



Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre



  • “Our American Cousin”

    • Lincoln was to 

  • Goals of the conspirators:

    • The assassinations of          , Vice President                   and Secretary of State                      would send the U.S. government into a tailspin

  • Lincoln at the show:

    • Arrived late

    • Occupied a private box

    • Accompanied by young army officer                   and his fiance Clara Harris, daughter of a NY senator.



The Lincoln Assassination



  • 10:15 AM:

    • Booth slipped into the box and shot Lincoln in the back of the head

    • Stabbed 

    • Jumped from the private box, onto the stage, and shouted “”

    • Booth broke 

      • Managed to escape on                from Washington D.C. 

  • Charles Leale

    • 23 year old doctor in the audience

    • Found Lincoln 

    • Lincoln is carried to

    • Surgeon general arrives, says Lincoln 



Lincoln’s Death and Autopsy 



  • Lincoln pronounced dead at 7:22 AM, on April 15, 1865.

  • Surgeons perform an autopsy



Lincoln’s Funeral: A Nation Mourns



  • Flags across the country 

  • Tens of thousands of Americans lined                                          to pay their respects

  • Fate of Mary Todd Lincoln


    • In this time period, upper class women were expected to suppress their emotions in public.



John Wilkes Booth’s Capture and Death



  • Wilkes Booth was immediately 

  • Received treatment for his 

  • April 26, 1865:

    • Union troops surrounded 

    • The troops set fire to it, 

    •                   surrendered,               remained inside

    • As the fire spread, a sergeant 

      • Carried out of the barn alive

      • Died 3 hours later

    • 4 of Booth’s conspirators were convicted and executed 

      • Included the first woman put to death by the federal government