Lincoln assassination
The Civil War ended with the surrender of the Confederate States of America on April 9, 1865. The country was to undertake the Reconstruction of the South and begin the process of integrating blacks into American society. Five days after the end of the war, on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, at the play "My American Cousin" (at Ford's Theater), a Southern supporter, actor John Wilkes Booth, entered the presidential box and shot Lincoln in the head. The next morning, without regaining consciousness, Abraham Lincoln passed away. Millions of Americans, white and black, came to pay their last respects to their president during the two and a half week journey of the funeral train from Washington to Springfield. The train carried two coffins: a large coffin with the body of Abraham Lincoln and a small one with the body of his son William, who had died three years earlier during Lincoln's presidency. Abraham and William Lincoln were buried in Springfield at Oak Ridge Cemetery. The tragic death of Lincoln contributed to the creation of a martyr halo around his name, who gave his life for the reunification of the country and the liberation of black slaves.
3Clara Harris
Future wife of Henry Rathbone, daughter of a prominent American senator.
3Henry Rathbone
Army Major.
3John Wilkes Booth
American actor, assassin of President Lincoln.
On April 14, 1865, during a performance at the Ford Theater in Washington, DC fatally wounded President Lincoln with a pistol shot. Booth was not busy in the play that day, and in general had previously played at the Ford Theater only twice, but he often visited his friends-actors there and knew both the building and the theater's repertoire well. During the funniest scene in the comedy "My American Cousin," he entered the president's box and shot him after one of the lines, so that the sound of the shot would be drowned out by a burst of laughter. It is believed that Booth exclaimed at the same time: "Such is the fate of tyrants" (Latin "Sic semper tyrannis!" named Mark Junius Brutus).
3Abraham Lincoln
American statesman, 16th President of the United States and first from the Republican Party, liberator of American slaves, national hero of the American people. Included in the list of the 100 most studied personalities in history.
3Mary Ann Todd Lincoln
Wife of the 16th President of the United States Abraham Lincoln, First Lady of the United States from 1861 to 1865.
On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was shot dead in a play at Ford's Theater. The wife, who was next to her husband during the performance, could not recover from the tragedy and soon completely lost her mind. In 1875, her son Robert placed her in a psychiatric clinic. Mary Lincoln spent the rest of her life in France. She died in 1882 at the age of 63.
3It seems that everything is known about this crime, it has been reconstructed minute by minute. And the amount of absurdities, mistakes and overlaps is striking in it. Literally everything, from organizing the president’s security to the arrest of criminals, did not go at all as it seemed to be.
John Booth: actor, southerner, conspirator
John Wilkes Booth, who killed 16 US President, was a hereditary actor. His father played on the stage, one of the older brothers was also a talented actor and teacher (John was the ninth child). In 1913, the Booth Theater was even opened on Broadway.
John studied in a regular school, at the age of 12 he went to a military academy, but two years later he dropped out and decided to continue the dynasty. In 1855 he made his debut in Baltimore, and in 1857 he moved to Philadelphia. There, his career took off, and Booth was sometimes even called "America's most handsome man."
John Booth. (Pinterest)
When the Civil War broke out, Booth was in New York, but he immediately declared his complete loyalty to the southerners. Some sources claim that Booth spied for the south during the war and organized an "underground" channel for the supply of weapons and medical supplies. True or not, Booth was actively plotting conspiracies against Lincoln. And he implemented them.
Initially, he planned not to kill the president, but to kidnap him. To do this, he gathered his like-minded people - the group included former soldiers, a stage worker, a boatman from the Potomac River - only 8 people. According to the plan, they were supposed to take the president somewhere in the southern states, and then conduct an exchange of prisoners between the north and south. But in the end, the plans had to be changed.
The assassination of the president ... +2
When the kidnapping failed, Booth planned the assassinations of three of the country's top leaders at once, and at the same time. Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward were to die along with them.
Booth's associates Lewis Powell and David Herold went to the Secretary of State. Seward was ill at that time: he was injured in a traffic accident and was at home. Powell managed to get into his room and even inflict several blows with a dagger, but the injuries were not fatal. George Acerodt was responsible for the assassination attempt on Vice President Andrew Johnson, and this attempt simply did not take place. The unfortunate intruder got drunk, went drunk to the hotel in Washington, where Johnson lived, and began to ask how to find the vice president. All this aroused serious suspicions among the hotel staff, and Atzerodt was arrested.
George Acerodt. (Pinterest)
Most of all "lucky" Booth, who attempted to assassinate the president: the so-called "security system" at Ford's theater in Washington was organized very badly. On April 14, 1865, the Lincoln couple attended a play based on the play "Our American Cousin" by the British playwright Tom Taylor. The Lincolns were not alone in the box - they were accompanied by Major of the Northerners Army Henry Rathbone and his fiancée Clara, an acquaintance of Mrs. Lincoln. The president was guarded by only one policeman, John Parker, and at the time of the assassination attempt he was in ... a theater buffet in the company of Lincoln the coachman. Actually, he returned to the box only when the wounded president was already being carried out of there.
The presidential box at the Ford Theater. (Pinterest)
At the entrance to the theater, where the guards were stationed, Booth showed some kind of pass, and in the dark, without really making out what kind of piece of paper it was, they let him in. John entered the box during a particularly funny scene and closed the door behind him from the inside so that help would come to Lincoln as late as possible. Booth was not involved in the play, and in general was not a member of the theater troupe at that time, but he knew the play well. After waiting for a remark, after which the audience always laughed and applauded, he shot Lincoln. After that, he also wounded Rathbone with a dagger and jumped from the box onto the stage. He landed, however, unsuccessfully and broke his leg during the fall. But even so, they could not detain him: the president's killer got out of the theater and, together with his accomplice Spengler, who kept the horses ready, fled.
Lincoln died of his injury the next day.
Lincoln's Assassination: In Search of the Criminals
The US Secretary of War Edwin Stanton immediately arrived at the scene of the assassination attempt, who turned out to be in fact the only capable high-ranking official in that situation. He led the police operation to intercept the killer. And here, too, strangely absurd mistakes were made.
Booth's escape from the box. (Pinterest)
For example, Stanton ordered the blocking of roads leading from Washington. There were eight of them in total, but only six were blocked. Booth and Spengler were driving along a road on which there were guards, plus they walked along a dam - a strategic facility. It was about 11 pm, although the current martial law established a curfew at 9 pm. But the guard at the dam did not detain them, as he did not have any special instructions. Moreover, after them, he let in the attempted assassination of Secretary of State David Herold. As a result, the guardian of order detained only the groom, who was chasing the criminals, because they did not return the horses to him on time. And Booth, Spengler and Herold met at an agreed place a few kilometers from the city.
In total, Booth and Herold went into hiding for about two weeks. John even received medical attention: the fracture was treated by physician Samuel Mudd, who would later be prosecuted as an accomplice. But the situation was serious: Booth's act was condemned because he shot the president from behind - an act unworthy of a gentleman. He did not really get help, although he had his own "agents" who were supposed to help Booth escape.
Two weeks later, the criminals reached Virginia. They were eventually tracked down to Richard Garrett's farm. The police arrived there, surrounded the barn in which Booth was hiding, and the building was set on fire. It was obvious that within a few minutes Booth would surrender himself or simply burn out. But one of the police officers named Boston Corbett shot him, later justifying his act by the order of "a voice from above." Historians draw parallels here with the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald, who attempted to assassinate Kennedy: he was also shot before trial.
Boston Corbett. (Pinterest)
After the injury, Booth lived for another three hours, and the doctor who was on the spot warned: if there is a need to interrogate the killer, this must be done. Not a single question about the assassination attempt, however, was asked. By the way, Booth kept a diary, in which, among other things, he described the preparation of the assassination attempts. But the document first fell into the hands of Secretary of War Stanton, and from him to the investigators. 18 pages on which Booth described the preparation of the assassination attempts were missing.
According to the laws of wartime: in the dock - 8 people
The trial in this case took place already in May. The case was considered by a military tribunal, although all the defendants were civilians. This decision was made because martial law was in force in the territory of the District of Columbia, and in addition, the assassinated President Lincoln was the supreme commander.
Nine judges sat in the military tribunal - all from the army elite. There were no civil juries on it. To pass an indictment, a simple majority was needed - 5 votes against 4. The decision on the death penalty was adopted by a two-thirds vote: 6 against 3. The trial was held in an open manner, the public could be present at the sessions.
Eight accused were brought before the judges: Samuel Arnold, Lewis Powell, Edmund Spengler, Michael O'Loughin, David Herold, Samuel Mudd, George Acerodt and Mary Suratt. We have already mentioned some of them, let's say also about Mary Suratt - practically the oldest, and besides, the only woman. The conspirators lived in her boarding house and they gathered in her "safe house", so Mary was accused of complicity in the conspiracy. Her son John was also one of the conspirators, but managed to escape to. When he was found, he was tried by a jury and acquitted.
Execution of conspirators. (Pinterest)
The trial lasted 7 weeks, during this time 366 witnesses passed before the court (at that time the investigative proceedings could be conducted directly in court, therefore the process was delayed). As a result, four - Powell, Herold, Acerodt and Surratt were sentenced to death. With one vote of the judges, Dr. Mudd escaped the death penalty. He, Arnold and O'Loughin received life sentences. Edmund Spengler got 6 years. O'Loughin died in prison, and the three others were pardoned by President Johnson in 1869.
Funeral procession with Lincoln's body. (Pinterest)
P. S. History has developed in such a way that Abraham Lincoln was not the only victim of John Booth. Mrs. Lincoln could not survive the death of her husband and was damaged by her sanity, so she spent the rest of her life in a psychiatric hospital. Major Rathbone, who was with the President that evening and was wounded by Booth, also suffered from mental problems. As a result, during a seizure, he killed his wife and tried to commit suicide. Boston Corbett, who shot Booth, also ended up in an insane asylum at the end of his life.
Abraham Lincoln is one of the most respected historical figures in the United States. His path to the top of the political Olympus, the role he played in uniting the nation at a difficult time for it, the struggle for democratic ideals - all this provided Lincoln with an honorable place in the pantheon of America's national heroes. A significant role in the creation of a real cult of this president was played by his tragic death.
Lincoln was born in 1809 to a poor farmer in Kentucky. The family moved from place to place, ending up in Illinois. Abraham received only primary education, but he read a lot. Natural abilities helped him to become an expert in history, law, literature. In his youth, the future president changed a lot of professions, he worked as a clerk, land surveyor, postmaster. In the early 1830s, he took part in the war against the Indians, and then began a political career. Lincoln was elected several times to the Illinois Legislature. Since 1847, Lincoln has represented his state in the lower house of the United States Congress.
In 1856 he joined the Republican Party, and soon ran (although he did not pass) for the Senator. Even then, Lincoln was a famous politician. He gained particular fame thanks to his performances. He was a talented speaker, many of whose speeches became classics of American literature. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States.
Almost all of Lincoln's reign took place in the context of the Civil War. The President managed to unite the political forces of the North, to strengthen the Republican Party. Lincoln acted harshly at times, resorting to courts and emergency measures. He formulated two main ideas of war - the struggle for the unity of the nation and country and the struggle for the freedom of the American people, that is, slaves. He pushed for the 13th Amendment to the Constitution to abolish slavery. Lincoln also proved to be an outstanding organizer of the army, personally developing an effective concept for the management of military forces.
Elected for a second term, Lincoln, in his inaugural speech on March 2, 1865, spoke about forgiveness, about uniting the efforts of the people of the North and South for the good of America. But it was already his successors who had to build the new state.
One of the most famous political assassinations in history took place five days after General Li's army surrendered. On April 14, Lincoln and his wife gathered at the Ford Theater for the comedy Our American Cousin. The actors were informed in advance that the president would be in the hall. Among the actors was John Wilkes Booth, a southerner by birth, a racist who fiercely hated Lincoln.
The young actor and his associates have long been preparing an attempt on the president's life and even made one attempt, which, however, was thwarted. On April 14, 1865, the daring conspirators were about to kill not only Lincoln, but also his Vice President Johnson, Secretary of State Seward and General Grant, who at the last moment refused to go to the theater.
Booth came to the theater armed with two revolvers and a knife. I must say that the protection of the president was organized simply ugly. Actually, the entrance to the presidential box was guarded by one policeman, who, moreover, at the beginning of eleven in the evening, was absent from his post. Booth entered the box and shot Lincoln point-blank. Then he jumped over the barrier, fell onto the stage and broke his leg in the process. From the stage, the killer shouted: "Death to the tyrants!" The most amazing thing is that with a damaged leg, Booth was still able to leave. When he got to the emergency exit, he jumped on his horse and galloped away. That evening, another conspirator stabbed Seward with a knife, but it was not fatal.
By morning, Abraham Lincoln had died from his injury. Vice President Andrew Johnson became the new president under the Constitution. The funeral procession, which passed through many states to the Illinois capital of Springfield (where Lincoln was buried), watched by millions of people along the road, became a manifestation of the American "civil religion." Thanks to Lincoln's example, the idea of the sacrifice that every American and the American people as a whole must make in order to preserve democratic values has become one of the principles of this "religion."
Booth and one of his associates were overtaken in Maryland. During the arrest, despite the order to take the criminals alive, the president's killer was shot dead by one of the soldiers. This, according to a number of researchers, proves the involvement in the assassination of Secretary of Defense Stanton.
16th President of the United States (1861-1865). The photo was taken five days before his death, on April 10, 1865:
Criminal:
Clara Harris, photographic portrait of the work Matthew Brady, 1861-1865th:
Rathbone retired from the army in 1870, rising to the rank of breve colonel ( brevet-colonel), due to mental illness associated with the attempted assassination of Lincoln. After retirement, he struggled to find work. At the same time, Rathbone became convinced that his wife Clara was cheating on him (his wife turned out to be, as they say "weak on the front end"... There were many scandals about this, and Klara threatened to divorce him and take the children. But, in 1882, the president Chester Alan Arthur appointed Rathbone US Consul in Hanover, Germany. And in 1882 the family moved to Germany, although Rathbone's mental health continued to deteriorate.
On April 14, 1883, Rathbone attacked his children in a fit of insanity. Rathbone fatally stabbed his wife, who was trying to protect the children. Rathbone then stabbed himself five times in the chest, in an attempted suicide. He was charged with murder but was found insane. He was sent to an asylum for the mentally ill in Hildesheim, Germany, where he died on August 14, 1911. The children were sent to live with their uncle, William Harris, in the United States.
Rathbone was buried next to Clara in the city cemetery in Hanover. The cemetery decided in 1952 that Rathbone and Clara's grave could be disposed of. They were both exhumed and their remains were reburied. ( wikipedia)
Lincoln's Guard:
That evening, a Washington police officer was assigned to guard the box in which the Lincoln couple were. John Frederick Parker .
In this photo, he is presumably the third at the bottom right (in the top hat): 
But that evening, after serving the first act of the play, during the intermission, he went down to the "Star Saloon", on the first floor, where they were selling intoxicants, and there he happily sat there with Lincoln's coachman until the wounded president was taken out.
Lincoln's coachman: 
"Star Saloon", on the first floor of Ford's Theater, where Parker drunk most of the performance: 
Witnesses:
Theater troupe. The crime took place in the second scene of the third act of the play, during the uttering of a funny phrase by the hero of the play Asa Trenchard performed by actor Harry Hawk: "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 man-trap. "Killer Booth, being a former theater actor who knew the play well, synchronized the timing of the shot at Lincoln with laughter and applause after this phrase confident that the noise will drown out the sound of the shot.
In the photo - the end of the 3rd act of the play "Our American Cousin" :
Witnesses: viewers:
There was a full house at Ford's theater that day ( OK. 1700 viewers). But almost all the spectators, the appearance of Booth, after the assassination attempt, on the stage, considered it a director's find, and part of the performance, and applauded while Booth was running away, limping, from the stage.
Picture from the press, that time (there was more than one Booth on the stage): 
The poster of the ill-fated performance:
Factual circumstances of the crime:
Booth, having made his way (about his penetration into the theater, you can read (Booth's movements by hours and minutes that day) into the corridor leading to the president's box (below he showed a business card to the doorman), taking advantage (lo and behold!) The absence of a guard at the door, and waiting for a funny remarks from Harry Hawke, opened the door to the box and instantly shot Lincoln in the head with "Derringer" .
Like this: 
Or, like this: 
Then, he slashed Major Henry Rathbone, who was trying to detain him, and jumped from the balcony:
So: 
Or like this: 
Or, like this: 
Jumping, Booth hooked his foot on the balcony decoration, in the form of the USA flag:
Photo taken at Ford's Theater 3-4 days after the assassination attempt. The decoration of the balcony, from which Booth jumped, and which he caught with his foot, hangs down: 
A second later, Booth, relishly plops on the stage (a picture from a comic book, 2003, where the president remains alive):
Then, limping (Booth had a broken fibula, as a result of the fall), Booth disappears from the stage, shouting provocative slogans:
Murder Weapons:
Pistol Derringer, photo from of the Lincoln Assassination Museum(formerly Ford's Theater, Washington): 
This photo is to show the real scale of the murder weapon:
Gun booth used to kill Lincoln. Washington, D.C., Aug. 10. The gun used by John Wilkes Booth to kill President Abraham Lincoln in 1865 is now on display at the Judge Advocate General "s Office in the War Department. Edwin B. Pitts, Chief Clerk of the Judge Advocate General" s Office, is shown holding the gun in this picture, 8/10/37: 
And here it is knife, it was them, Booth wounded Major Henry Rathbone (found at the place of Booth's death): 
Burial of the victim:
Funeral grocery for the president (an interesting detail: on the right there is a poster with a price list, for those wishing to join the army. Check the prices for yourself): 
The funeral train that took the body of the assassinated president to Springfield, to the burial site. 
The culprit's accomplices:
You can read more about all of them here ( Anatomy of the assassination of a president, eight parts, mastrid, I recommend). The personalities of the criminals are something. The topic of a separate study. I don't even want to write about them. A bunch of clowns.
Punishment:
Booth was shot by a sergeant Boston Corbett(still a fruit) from the 16th New York Cavalry Regiment, when capturing Buta and Herald(this one gave up) on a farm in Maryland: 
Four conspirators were hanged :
The rest received various prison sentences. Brother got under the distribution Buta - Junius, as well as Ford Theater Owner, who served 40 days in prison on suspicion of involvement and some others, one way or another connected with this case.
Video related to the assassination of President Lincoln:
Academic, like, that's how it was:
And it could be so (the beginning of the feature film "National Treasure - 2"):
Or maybe so (TV series The Day Lincoln Was Shot):
Well, or, finally, like this (and who knows?):
In addition to the post - forty-page album with fifty photographs and newspaper clippings by a retired colonel, Arnold A. Rand, in the summer of 1865. There were no blogs before, but to concoct a post, you see, even in those days people wanted to. So they did everything they could.
01 Ford Theater: 
02-08 Booth... Two photos bottom-left and bottom-middle - Boston Corbett who shot the killer (if anyone is interested - Corbett on July 16, 1858, to get rid of the temptation at the sight of prostitutes, emasculated himself with scissors): 
09 Sam Arnold, one of the conspirators (was sentenced to life in prison, but pardoned in 1869): 
10-11 Again Booth... On the bottom right is the devil whispering to him the idea of a crime: 
12 And again Sam Arnold(album pages are not confused): 
13,14,15 Announcements for the capture of criminals and a note by a certain James W. Eldridge (why is she here, and who this Eldridge is, you finally did not understand): 
16 Stable James W. Pumphrey, which one Booth hired a horse, on which he escaped from the scene of the crime. Pumphrey was also handed over and spent about a month in jail until his innocence was proven. 
17 Soldiers of the 16th New York Cavalry surrounded and set fire to a tobacco shed on the farm where Booth and Harold :
18, he was charged with the assassination of the vice president Andrew Johnson... I did not cope with the task, swollen all night, out of fear. He was executed with the other three main conspirators: 
19-20 Garrett's farm, Maryland, where Booth was killed (in the bottom picture - all that remains of the tobacco shed where Booth and Harold were hiding) :: 
21 And again George Atzerodt :
22 Booth's murder during arrest: 
23 Preparing the gallows for the rebels, on the territory of the old arsenal in Washington :
24 House Harold :
25 And again, Harold :
26 And yet, he is :
27 Reading out the sentence before execution: 
28 Michael O "Loglin (Jr.), one of the main conspirators. Since he was not charged with any murder (preparation for the attempted assassination General Grant has not been proven), got off with life. But, he died in 1867 from yellow fever.
29 He :
30 Hanging conspirators: 
31, one of the finest conspirators. Soldier Confederate armies who was charged with the murder By William H. Seward, US Secretary of State known as Alaska buyer... In general, it was like this: Siward was lying in his house, all beaten up after an accident (he fell out of the wheelchair the day before), with fractures of his jaw and right arm. Powell made his way into the house and tried to shoot Siward in bed. The pistol misfired and Powell attempted to hit Siward in the head with the butt of the pistol, stabbing him several times in the head. The guards came running to the noise, and Powell grabbed the knife. After knocking out the guard, Powell glanced at the victim, and decided that Siward was dead. After that, Powell went into hiding. He ended his life on the gallows, in Washington.
The assassination of Abraham Lincoln
The assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Tragedy struck at Ford's Washington Theater in 1865. The criminal, a popular actor at that time and the most handsome man in the city (according to the overwhelming majority of women) John Wilkes Booth, entered the presidential box without hindrance and shot the distinguished guest in the back of the head. Lincoln passed away the next morning. Booth himself, who managed to escape from the theater, was killed several days later during an organized chase after him.
One gets the impression that the most dangerous position in the world is that of the President of the United States of America. After all, no security service can guarantee that the next head of the White House will not add to the mournful list of his predecessors, who went to their forefathers ahead of schedule through the efforts of some descendant of Herostratus. The first on the list of attempts on the lives of American presidents is the assassination of Honest Abe - Abraham Lincoln.
The morning of April 14, 1865 began as usual for the owner of the White House. Nothing indicated that this would be Lincoln's last day. Just three years ago, Honest Abe survived another assassination attempt: a hitman's bullet pierced his hat, however, without causing any harm to his health. In general, in America, many did not like this man: by abolishing slavery, Lincoln thereby made himself many enemies among the white planters, who, at his mercy, lost their free labor. In addition, after several assassination attempts, the president himself seems to have resigned himself to the idea that one of his "well-wishers" will nevertheless achieve the set goal and send him to the next world. The first man in America laughed gloomily at the reasoning about ways to strengthen security: they say, the only sure way to save the president is to put him in an iron box; in this case, the security of the head of state, of course, will be ensured, but he will not be able to fulfill his immediate duties. However, Lincoln was the first to have permanent bodyguards. In addition, for some time the president was guarded by detectives of the Chicago detective bureau of Alan Pinkerton, who managed to prevent several attempts on the head of government. Pinkerton, who lived until 1884 (his agency existed until 1999), liked to repeat: if his people were constantly guarding the life of the 16th President of the United States, he would have died unless of extreme old age. But since Lincoln was, in fact, a "military" president, his security was mainly concerned with the army.
After reviewing the mail, as usual, Lincoln went to the cabinet meeting at 11 o'clock in the morning. Civil War hero General US Grant was also present. After the meeting, the president asked him to stay and asked if the general and his wife could accompany him and Mrs. Lincoln to the Ford Theater. There was just Tom Taylor's comedy Our American Cousin, and all of Washington was in awe of the performance of the famous actress Laura Keen. Grant lamented: he would love to accompany a high-ranking couple, but in the evening in New Jersey his sons will be waiting for him. The gallant general had no idea that this refusal to visit the temple of art would save his life. Meanwhile, Lincoln Kennedy's private secretary warned his boss about the dangers of this trip and insisted on canceling the planned theater visit, which the entire city knew about. Unfortunately, Honest Abe brushed off the obsessive advisor.
The Ford Theater actors knew that the president himself was going to see the play on April 14. This was especially aroused by the news of one of the leading artists, John Booth. The handsome man, who was one of the ardent extremists-southerners, fiercely hated Lincoln. He believed that the president's policy, in fact, led the country to the Civil War. So the actor gladly joined the group of conspirators, who set as their goal the elimination of the objectionable head of state. Many options were offered. They even considered the possibility of abducting Lincoln and using him as a hostage to exchange for arrested Confederate Southerners. However, the final verdict of the organizers of the assassination was as follows: Lincoln was to be publicly killed (this variant of the massacre seemed the most spectacular and dramatic), and after that, Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward were sequentially eliminated.
So, on April 14, 1865, in the opinion of the murderers, ideal conditions were formed for the implementation of the first part of the plan to "adjust" state policy. At Mary Sarrott's Washington boarding house, Booth hastily met with other conspirators - George Atzerot, Sam Arnold, David Harold and Lewis Payne. The group discussed the details of the plan over a bottle of whiskey. Strange, but alcoholic vapors, it turns out, are capable not only of pushing to various kinds of "feats", but also to awaken common sense that has fallen into a coma. In any case, having drunk hard and plucking up courage, one of the conspirators - Sam Arnold - announced that he was getting out of business and was not going to take part in the assassination attempt.
Four friends, having expressed to the address of the "apostate" everything that they thought about this, undertook to distribute roles among themselves. As a result, Payne and Harold had to deal with the secretary of state, Atzerot should have taken upon himself the assassination of the vice president (instead of decisive actions at the indicated time, the conspirator drank half to death in a nearby tavern), and Booth got the "honor" of destroying the president.
Lincoln nevertheless found himself and his wife a company to visit the theater. At about nine o'clock in the evening he appeared in his box, accompanied by Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée, Miss Clara Harry. The comedy was already in full swing, but about 2,000 spectators in the hall hurried to rise, greeting the head of state, and the orchestra began to march. The artists waited until everyone sat down again and resumed the performance.
At 21.30, Booth, dressed in all black and carefully made up, drove up to the theater building, armed with two Colts, a pistol and two knives. To the sentry at the door, he showed some kind of pass, which he could not even read in the semi-darkness. The artist said that he had to convey an important message to the president, and was allowed to go upstairs. For some time he hid at the entrance to the box, waiting for the right moment. And he soon introduced himself. One of Honest Abe's guards, John Parker, decided that nothing terrible would happen in the time it would take him to look into the nearest bar. As soon as he was out of sight, Booth burst into the box and pulled the trigger on his pistol, shouting the slogan of the southern states in the Civil War: "Death to tyrants!" The bullet pierced the president's head and got stuck in the right eye area. Major Rathbone tried to detain the killer, but the artist, wounding the officer with a knife, managed to jump from the box onto the stage. And then Booth was unlucky: he got entangled in the curtain, fell on the stage, breaking his leg just above the knee. Nevertheless, the criminal managed to take advantage of the general commotion, get out of the theater and ride away in an unknown direction. At the same time, Payne stabbed (fortunately not fatal) the Secretary of State.
Meanwhile, Abraham Lincoln, with the utmost care, was seated in a rocking chair and transferred to one of the nearest houses, where a doctor was urgently brought. But the Aesculapius only threw up his hands helplessly. Only a miracle could help the president, but it never happened. On the morning of April 15, the sad list of US presidents who died in office was unveiled.
At the agreed place, Booth met with Harold, after which the accomplices went to Maryland, where they hoped to receive asylum from like-minded southerners. Since the broken leg worried the actor more and more, he had to see a doctor he knew. He put a splint on the injured limb, and the fugitives set off again. But 11 days after the tragedy at the theater, the killer and his accomplice were tracked down and surrounded on a tobacco farm in Virginia. Negotiations with the criminals dragged on, because Booth was not eager to voluntarily surrender into the hands of the military who besieged the building. Finally, the patience of the "beaters" snapped - the farm was set on fire, after which Harold decided that it was better to be cowardly, but alive, than a hero, but freshly toasted. Booth, who knew perfectly well what awaited him in case of arrest, chose to shoot himself. True, there is an assumption that the killer was shot by one of the pursuers, thereby violating the order of Secretary of War Stanton: "Take the president's killer alive!" Such an opportunity had, for example, Lieutenant Colonel Konjer - one of the secret police officers who led the operation to capture Bout. The fact that the artist was not a crazy lone fanatic, as is commonly believed, is evidenced not only by a check for a very large amount found in the victim's pocket, signed by the head of the Confederation. The fact that very influential persons were hiding behind Booth's back makes us think a few more facts. So, the assassin of the president, who received a bullet, lived for another three and a half hours, and all this time he was fully conscious. The doctor who examined the mortally wounded warned the military that his patient's clock was numbered, so to get information about the attempt it was worthwhile to rush to interrogate him. However, despite this, the actor was never interrogated. As for Booth's diary, his Minister of War for some reason considered it necessary to hide it from the court. When the authorities officially requested this document from Stanton, it was missing 18 pages. What did the military man want to hide from the investigation? And what did the strange phrase in Booth's hand mean: “I'm almost inclined to go back to Washington and. make excuses for what I think I can do. " It seems that the killer could justify himself only in one case - by revealing the names of his high-ranking accomplices, who remained in the shadows. And there were, apparently, a lot. The notes mention 11 members of Congress, 12 army officers, three navy officers and 24 civilians: the governor, journalists, big bankers, wealthy industrialists. In addition, rumors circulated in America for a long time that Booth was not killed, that the government played this show with the sole purpose of closing the case of the president's assassination. The very same executor of the "order" allegedly lived for another 38 years, however, at the end of his life he drank himself and killed himself. Nevertheless, the answer to the question of whether Booth was actually killed, oddly enough, is still not present.
The participants in the conspiracy were quickly found and put behind bars. The decision of their further fate was to be dealt with by a military tribunal. Why not a civil court, an inquisitive reader will ask. Because, as James Speed, who was the Attorney General at the time, said, "in times of war, the laws and customs of wartime become part of the general laws of the country." So, at a high-profile trial, the conspirators were found guilty of plotting the assassination of the US President and the attempted assassination of the Secretary of State. Three of the most active persons were sentenced to death. Sam Arnold, who did not take part in the assassination attempt, but did not warn Lincoln's guards about their preparation, faced life-long hard labor. The same fate befell the surgeon Samuel Mudd, who "put together" the killer's leg. As for the stage worker Edward Spengler, through whose fault Booth managed to get out of the theater building, he received six years in prison.
But the ending of the story of the murder of Honest Abe is not finished to this day. I wonder if this case will be reconsidered in the future? Will new facts and names emerge that once eluded the investigation or were diligently unnoticed by officials?
3. Lincoln's speech at Gettysburg By printed invitation, Lincoln was informed that the inauguration and opening of the National Soldiers' Cemetery in Gettysburg would take place on Thursday, November 19, 1863. Edward Everett was appointed as the official speaker. He
6. Will the party nominate Lincoln again? Republican congressional leader Thad Stevens campaigned relentlessly under the slogan "No Mercy for the Southerners!" newspaper editorials and street strategists in the North increasingly spoke of the day when Jefferson Davis and others
7. Lincoln's humor ... and his religion Lincoln was the first real president in the White House. No president of the United States, for good or ill, has had this sense of humor. This made him close, understandable and alive for the masses; they seem to be everyday
KEY DATES OF A. LINCOLN'S LIFE AND WORK 1809, February 12 - Abraham Lincoln was born in the house of a poor farmer in Kentucky. 1816, December - The Lincoln family moves to Indiana. The Lincolns lived here for almost 13 years. 1818 October 5 - A. Lincoln's mother dies - Nance
Where are we from in Gelendzhik. Let's start from Abraham, Abraham gave birth to Vasily, Roman, Vera, Nadezhda, Love, Sophia and Alexander. Boris gave birth to Irina, Vladimir and Natalia. Let's start from Abraham. I know nothing about his parents, except for their Cossack class. Abraham himself, while still in the gymnasium,
Death of Abraham When the German war, or the First World War, came, Abraham Vasilyevich and his two sons - Vasya and Roma (Roma, the younger, his mother called Romik) - were on the Caucasian front, and my daughter Vera was, just like her aunt, my grandmother Shura is a sister of mercy. By the eighteenth
2. Murder It's hard to say how it started. But the fact remained that senior sergeant Gruzin caught one of the soldiers while "requisitioning" some products from the peasants. The thief was arrested and put under arrest for ten days. Those who dealt with him said that he,
Assassination Moscow was gripped by unrest and uncertainty, but outside the Kremlin walls life was calm. Aunt and uncle rarely left the Kremlin and only received their closest friends at home. However, in mid-February we all went to the Bolshoi Theater for a charity
From the sacrifice of Abraham to Auschwitz Ze'ev Bar-cella, writer, linguist, literary critic - In Joseph Brodsky's essays, the word “alienation” is often encountered, in the sense of an indispensable condition for the existence of a true poet. How key it turned out to be in life
The Murder of Wives While the world was staring in amazement at how Stalin and Hitler were dividing the east of Europe, the leader decided once again, just in case, to check the loyalty of his friends and associates. He chose the method rather original. Chekists should have arrested the wives of party leaders
Murder In March 1994, a rumor spread: "Yumatov killed a man!" There were gossip trials among the people, guesses and assumptions were expressed ... Some spoke about this with condemnation, some with sympathy ... "People's Artist is a murderer!", "Incredible, but it happened ..."
The ghost of Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln is known as the sixteenth president of the United States of America. Over time, this person entered the list of the hundred most studied people, whose biography still excites the minds and hearts of millions. To the list of the most outstanding
Faith of Abraham The Bible says that Abraham was the Father of faith. He went from Abram to Abraham. God was proud of him, He sets him up as an example for you and me. His faith was imputed to him for righteousness, but what is his faith? In the literal sense of the word, Abraham's faith is to come out of Ur of the Chaldees and
