Civil War Assassination
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Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination
Two days after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox
Court House, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech
detailing his plans for rebuilding the Union. John Wilkes
Booth, a successful actor from Maryland, was in the
audience. Booth believed in slavery and white
supremacy. Upon hearing Lincoln’s speech he said to
his companion, “That is the last speech he will ever
make.”
Earlier in the year, Booth had made failed
attempts to kidnap the president. After hearing the
speech, he planned Lincoln’s assassination. With the
help of his co-conspirators, he planned to kill President
Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and
Secretary of State William H. Seward all in the same
night. They decided upon the evening of April, 14,
1865, when Lincoln would be attending a play at Ford’s
Theatre in Washington D.C.
The play was “Our American Cousin”, a comedy.
Lincoln was accompanied by his wife Mary Todd
Lincoln, a young officer named Major Henry R.
Rathbone, and his fiancé Clara Harris. John Wilkes
Booth waited outside the presidential box for the lead
Abraham Lincoln
March 1865
John Wilkes Booth
actor to utter a very funny line. Amid the laughter, he barged into
Lincoln’s box with a dagger and a pistol. He fired the pistol six inches from
Lincoln and slashed Rathbone with his dagger. He then jumped from the
balcony onto the stage. Some witnesses said his foot caught on a flag
and he broke his leg. Some
said that Booth declared, “Sic
Semper Tyrannis” which is Latin
for “Thus be it always for
tyrants.” Others reported that
he said, “The South is
avenged!” Booth ran off the
stage and escaped by horse.
Lincoln had been shot in the
head. He was brought to a
nearby boarding house where
he died the next morning.
Side A