Lincoln+Assassination

=​Abraham Lincoln Assassination=

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=Introduction= Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the United States. He was elected just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War and believed that the Union should remain united, not divided. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1864 at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. by John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor from Maryland. Throughout the Civil War, Booth supported the South, smuggling medicine for Confederate soldiers from the North to the South. He never enlisted in the Confederacy but wanted to do something significant for the South. Booth and some friends originally planned to capture the president and exchange him for the return of Confederate prisoners of war. But Booth’s plan failed and so he resorted to assassinating Lincoln.

=Original Plan= In the summer of 1864, President Lincoln often traveled from the White House to the Soldier’s Home on the outskirts of Washington D.C. to escape the city’s heat and humidity. Booth planned to capture Lincoln on one these trips and exchange him for Confederate prisoners of war. To do this, he recruited some childhood friends, Samuel Arnold and Michael O’Laughlin. By the time Booth had made all of the necessary preparations, Lincoln had stopped making these trips outside of Washington D.C. This angered Booth, and he was forced to think of another plan. =Second Plan= Meanwhile, the Southern army suffered significant losses. The Northern army destroyed Richmond, and Virginia surrendered. It seemed that the South was about to lose the war, and Booth became desperate. On the morning of April 14, Booth learned that Lincoln was taking his wife to see the play, “Our American Cousin,” at Ford’s Theater. He decided it would be the perfect opportunity to kidnap Lincoln. Booth’s acting career allowed him to move freely throughout the theater. Booth quickly realized that he had no prepared plan to capture and hold Lincoln. On top of that Booth lacked the people and materials to pull off a kidnapping. Rather then accept defeat, Booth decided to assassinate Lincoln and focused on planning for his escape. Booth assigned his two cohorts, Lewis Paine and George Atzeroldt, to kill Secretary of State William. H. Seward and Vice President Andrew Johnson. = = =Night of Assassination= Booth entered the theater and went straight to Lincoln’s boxed seats that were located on the upper level in the balcony. He waited outside of the box until the second scene of act three when he knew there was going to be a big laugh, which would drown out the sound of his shot. Luckily for Booth Lincoln's bodyguard was not at his post, which allowed Booth to sneak in. He came into the box and shot Lincoln in the back of the head with a one shot Derringer pistol. Major Rathbone, Lincoln’s companion, tried to stop Booth but he slashed Rathbone's arm to the bone. Booth then jumped off the balcony and landed twelve feet below on the stage. On the way down he caught himself on a flag hanging near the stage and broke his leg. He limped off the stage and escaped on horseback. People in the theater first thought he was part of the show, but later realized what had happened. Meanwhile Booth’s cohort, Paine, had broken into Secretary of State William. H. Seward’s home and stabbed him many times but failed to kill him. Booth’s other co-conspirator, Atzeroldt, did not kill Andrew Johnson because he was too nervous. media type="youtube" key="6qAeFjCscRY" height="307" width="384" =Lincoln’s Death and the Hunt for Booth= Three doctors who were at the play immediately tended to Lincoln. They thought his was wound was fatal and that he would not survive. Lincoln was then carried to William Peterson’s boarding house across the street. He died the next morning on April 15 at 7:22 am. When Lincoln died Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, is claimed to have said, “Now he belongs to the ages.”

Meanwhile the hunt for Booth was underway. Booth fled on horseback to Maryland. Then with the help of other conspirators he managed to get into northern Virginia. Union troops tracked down Booth and found him hiding at Garrett’s farm a week later. Booth refused to surrender and was shot in the back by a solider. He died on the steps of the farmhouse a couple of hours later. Booth's conspirators were captured over the next month. Eight suspects were tried in a military tribunal on May 10, and all were found guilty on June 30. Four convicts were sentenced to death and were executed on July 7 and the rest were sentenced to life imprisonment. =Impact on the North and South= The death of Abraham Lincoln affected the North and the South in different ways. Although the North greived over the loss of their beloved president, Vice President Andrew Johnson became President and succesfuly completed Lincoln's goal of reuniting the country. On the other hand, the assassination had severely negative consequences for the South. Johnson was not forgiving to the South like Lincoln would have been, and therefore the reconstruction of the South took on a punitive approach and lasted a long time. = =

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