Death of Lincoln

On Monday, April 3, 1865, after the evacuation of the Confederate government from their capital city, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln made a triumphant visit to Richmond, Virginia.  The American Civil War (or as I prefer to call it, the War of the Rebellion) was almost over.  

On Sunday, April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee of the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered to his counterpart, Ulysses S. Grant, Commanding General of all Union forces, at Appomattox Court House, Virgina, effectively ending the war.

On Friday, April 14, 1865, President Lincoln could afford to relax and enjoy an evening of entertainment at Washington's Ford's Theater.  He was accompanied by his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancee, Clara Harris.  The four sat in the presidential box, above the main level of seating and to the left from the point of view of the actors on stage.

During the years of his presidency which overlapped the Civil War, Lincoln was a visitor at both Grover's (1321 Pennsylvania Avenue NW) and Ford's (511 10th Street NW) theaters more than a hundred times.  He "delighted at the chance to sink into his seat as the gaslights dimmed and the action on the stage began."

On Lincoln's last visit, Ford's was presenting the comedy, Our American Cousin.  At about 10:15 PM, the actor Harry Hawk, alone on stage, delivered the following line which drew great laughter, "Don't know the manners of good society, eh?  Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal-you sockdologizing old mantrap."

At that moment, the well-known actor, John Wilkes Booth, a southern sympathizer, shot Lincoln with a single bullet to the back of his head, near his left ear.  Booth had entered the presidential box left unprotected when the policeman (John Parker) assigned to protect Lincoln went to get a drink at the bar (Star Saloon) across the street.

After shooting Lincoln, Booth jumped down to the stage, breaking his leg and shouted, "Sic semper tyrannis (Thus always to tyrants)."  He ran, as best he could, to the rear of the theater where an accomplice was waiting for him with a horse.  The two escaped into the Maryland country side.  Twelve days later, Booth was killed by Union soldiers at a farm in Virginia.  

The Lincoln assassination was part of a conspiracy to disrupt the Union government, a last ditch attempt to save the Confederacy.  Booth, the mastermind, had assigned accomplices to kill both Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward.  The two failed in their missions, although Seward was badly wounded from a knife attack.  The conspiracy failed.  

Lincoln, not yet dead, was carried unconscious across the street to a boarding house, the Peterson House, where he died the next morning, Saturday, April 15, 1865,  153 years ago today.  As Secretary of War Edwin Stanton said, "Now he belongs to the ages."  

My son Bret and I once visited both Ford's Theater and the Peterson House, still preserved in Washington, D.C.  Fascinating!