Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James Swanson Flashcards
Who assassinated Lincoln and when and where was he assassinated?
Where: Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C.
Who: John Wilkes Booth
When: April 14, 1865 (Friday before Easter)
Why was Lincoln assassinated?
Booth was sympathetic to the Confederate cause (keeping slavery) and was absolutely crushed at the South’s surrender to the North.
Who was John Wilkes Booth
Booth was a famous actor on the stage. He was well known to many. He was depressed after the surrender of the South and all of the celebrating surrounding him in Washington.
What did Booth originally plan to do to Lincoln?
He created a plot to kidnap President Lincoln and use him for leverage in exchange for Confederate prisoners. He recruited several others to help in this plot. His plot failed accidentally, when Lincoln’s travel plans changed.
Why did Booth choose to kill Lincoln instead?
After the fall of the Confederacy, he then planned to kill Lincoln and in doing so, urge on the South to keep fighting and reverse the Emancipation Proclamation – reinstate slavery.
What was Booth’s complete plan on the night Lincoln was killed?
Booth planned to kill Lincoln, vice president Johnson and Secretary of State Seward (the key government of the North).
- Lincoln: Booth acted alone
- Johnson: Atzerold never made the attempt to kill Johnson. He was scared and left without word to any of his co-conspirators.
- Steward: Lewis Powell attacked Steward and his household. David Herold accompanied him to
Steward’s house and waited outside. Herold was scared by all the screaming and took off on horseback before Powell left the house
Booth felt in taking out many key people in the Northern government, the South would have a better chance to fight back and reverse the decisions of Lincoln regarding slavery.
What was the result of Booth’s plan, as he and his co-conspirators did not succeed in their original plan?
- Lincoln was killed
- Johnson was not killed, nor was he attacked
- Seward was seriously injured as were members of his household (including his daughter and son), but survived.
How was Booth was injured during the assassination?
He broke his leg jumping from the balcony, making his escape slow-moving
How long did the hunt for Booth last?
It lasted for 12 days. Booth led the manhunt on a search that covered Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
How was Booth’s actions viewed by the public?
While in hiding Booth reveled in the reports of his assassination of Lincoln. He looked forward to reading each day’s newspapers to hear what the world thought of his act. To his dismay, he found that the public did not feel that his actions were heroic or that he killed a tyrant as he had hoped. Instead, Booth was treated as the world’s most hated man in the newspapers, and Lincoln was touted as a martyr and a hero.
How did the manhunt finally end?
It ended at the Garrett farm in Virginia. The Garret family had agreed to house and feed Booth and Herold, thinking they were Confederate soldiers on their way to join a Confederate unit and continue fighting.
They grew uncertain of their visitors the Garrett’s asked them to move to the bard to sleep for the night. They locked them in the bard, fearful they would steal their horses.
Before dawn the cavalry arrived and cornered Booth and Herold in the barn.
Herold eventually gave himself up and Booth was shot as the barn burned around him. He was shot by Boston Corbett.
What happened to all of those who helped Booth in his cause?
Many who helped Booth on his escape were imprisoned. All but eight were eventually released. Four served jail time and four were hung for their part in the assassination conspiracy. Those hung were: Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt.
