The American Civil War - Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Overview
Lincoln knowing that the war was soon over, pledged to allow the South an easy path to reconciliation. He did not want to harshly punish the South. The Radical Republican faction of Congress wanted a harsh treatment for the South and to make them pay financially as well as politically for their betrayal against the United States. Unfortunately, the Southern sympathizers did not recognize that keeping Lincoln alive would have been to their advantage. On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was assassinated by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth, while attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Shot in the head as he watched the play, Lincoln died the following day at 7:22 am in the Petersen House opposite the theater.He was the first president to be assassinated. His funeral and burial were marked by an extended period of national mourning.
Near the end of the American Civil War, Lincoln's assassination was part of a larger conspiracy intended by Booth to revive the Confederate cause by eliminating the three most important officials of the federal government. Conspirators Lewis Powell and David Herold were assigned to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward, and George Atzerodt was tasked with killing Vice President Andrew Johnson. Beyond Lincoln's death, the plot failed: Seward was only wounded, and Johnson's would-be attacker became drunk instead of killing the vice president. After a dramatic initial escape, Booth was killed at the end of a 12-day chase. Powell, Herold, Atzerodt, and Mary Surratt who were later hanged for their roles in the conspiracy. Mary Surratt became the first woman ever hanged for a Federal crime. Her role in the plot remains a mystery outside of her providing a place where the conspirators had apartments in her boarding house. The doctor who splinted John Wilkes Booth's leg while he was on the run, was Dr. Samuel Mudd. The American saying "Your name or my name is Mud(d)" is derived from his actions and ruined reputation with helping Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth.
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln from the History Channel
