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Chasing Lincoln’s Killer

KEY FACTS
INTR
INTRODUCTION
ODUCTION
• Full Title: Chasing Lincoln’s Killer
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SWANSON • Where Written: Washington, DC
James L. Swanson was born to a family of storytellers. His • When Published: 2008
grandfather worked in the Chicago police department and
• Literary Period: Contemporary
regaled the family with stories of gangsters during the
prohibition era and protesters against the Vietnam War. His • Genre: Biography, History
grandmother, who worked at tabloid newspapers in Chicago, • Setting: Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia
bought him an engraving of the Deringer pistol that Booth used • Climax: John Wilkes Booth is discovered hiding in a tobacco
to shoot Lincoln for his tenth birthday, beginning a lifelong barn in Virginia.
fascination with the sixteenth president and with his • Antagonist: John Wilkes Booth
assassination. He has a law degree from UCLA and has was a
special assistant in the Office of Legal Counsel at the EXTRA CREDIT
Department of Justice. Swanson has also written books about
February 12. James L. Swanson and Abraham Lincoln share a
the manhunt for Confederate President Jefferson Davis and
birthday.
about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Change of heart. Thomas Jones, the Confederate spy who

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
arguably did the most to help Booth and Herold during their
Chasing Lincoln’s Killer begins as the four-year Civil War was twelve-days on the run, wrote a memoir in 1893 describing his
coming to an end. President Abraham Lincoln led the Union in role in Booth’s escape. Jones wrote that over time he had come
the war against the eleven states of the South, which wished to to realize that the assassination of Lincoln was a terrible crime.
secede and form a new country, the Confederate States of He did not, however, say that he regretted helping Lincoln’s
America, where the system of slavery would be continued. killer.
Lincoln had been reelected in a landslide victory in November
1864, although the states that had seceded to form the
Confederacy did not vote. Lincoln was inaugurated for his PL
PLO
OT SUMMARY
second term on March 4, 1865. By early 1865, the
Confederacy was in an inferior position to fight the war. A naval Chasing Lincoln’s Killer begins in 1865 at the end of the four-
blockade disrupted trade, run-away inflation reduced the value year Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln had led the Union
of Southern currency, agriculture had been decimated and forces against the Confederacy, which sought to secede from
many Southerners had fled their homes for safety deeper in the the Union. After Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s
South, sometimes bringing their slaves with them. On April 9, surrender at the Appomattox Court House on April 9, it
1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of seemed the war would soon be at an end. Lincoln, finally feeling
Northern Virginia at the Appomattox court house. The end of a lightening of his presidential responsibilities, decided to take
the war was not officially declared for more than a year his wife Mary Todd Lincoln to the theater on April 14, which
however, when the final scattered pockets of Confederate was Good Friday. Mary Todd had been depressed since the
resistance were put down. But before that happened, and just death of their son in 1862 and Lincoln wanted to spend quality
five days after Lee’s surrender, John Wilkes Booth assassinated time with her.
Lincoln. Meanwhile, one of the most celebrated actors in the country,
John Wilkes Booth, was devastated by the Confederacy’s
RELATED LITERARY WORKS impending loss. Booth had plotted in late 1864 to kidnap
president Lincoln and then use this hostage to affect the
Swanson adapted Chasing Lincoln’s Killer from his work of
outcome of the war. He had travelled to Canada to meet with
adult history Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer. He
Confederate sympathizers and forge connections. He then
asked young readers to read his book for adults and comment
made contact with the co-conspirators who would eventually
on which parts they thought would be most interesting to
be involved in the assassination: David Herold, Lewis Powell,
people of their age. They told him to be sure to leave in all of
George Atzerodt, the Surratt family and Dr. Samuel Mudd. The
the gory details, which he did.
kidnapping plot had come to nothing, however, when the

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President changed his plans at the last minute. On March 4, carrying the president out of the theater; it would not be
1865 and April 11, 1865, Booth watched Lincoln give his appropriate for Lincoln to die in a place of entertainment,
second inaugural address and a speech about voting rights for especially not on a holy day for Christians like Good Friday.
freed blacks. In each instance, he could have shot the president, They found a room in a boardinghouse across the street.
but did not take the opportunity. Meanwhile, at the Seward mansion, Lewis Powell and David
On April 14, 1865, however, Booth seized a chance. Visiting the Herold came up with a plan to gain entry to the secretary of
Ford Theatre to pick up his mail, he heard the news that the state’s house. Seward had been severely injured the week
president and Mrs. Lincoln would be attending the evening before in a carriage accident and was bedridden, so he would
performance. He quickly contacted his co-conspirators from be vulnerable to attack. Powell carried a small package and told
the 1864 plot. Booth planned for coordinated attacks against William Bell, the servant who answered the door, that it
several members of the executive branch. Lewis Powell and contained medicine which Seward’s doctor had asked him to
David Herold would target Secretary of State Seward for deliver personally to the secretary. Bell refused to let Powell
assassination; George Atzerodt would kill Vice President see the secretary, but eventually he discovered where the sick
Johnson; and Booth himself would kill President Lincoln in his man was lying. Powell fought viciously with Seward’s two sons,
box at the theater. Atzerodt said he did not want to go through Frederick and Augustus, as well as the army nurse who was
with it, but agreed to the killing after Booth threatened him. sitting by Seward’s bedside and even his daughter Fanny. He
Booth also contacted Mary Surratt, who rode from her slashed the secretary’s face with the knife, but failed to kill him.
Washington boardinghouse to another inn she owned in At the moment when he could have killed the army nurse,
Maryland to prepare supplies that Booth planned to pick up Sergeant Robinson, Powell suddenly felt mercy and merely hit
later that night after killing the president. him, declared that he was mad, and fled.
That night at the theater, everything went according to Booth’s David Herold had been terrified by the screams coming from
plans. He knew the layout of the theater and the action of the the Seward house and had run off, escaping along the same
play, so he was able to smoothly navigate to the president’s box route taken by Booth and meeting up with his leader in
and enter it. He timed the shot of his pistol for a moment when Maryland. Powell, who did not know the city well, hid in a tree
the audience would laugh uproariously at a joke made by the for two nights, unsure what his next move should be.
leading actor. With a one-shot Deringer pistol, he shot Atzerodt did not attempt to go through with the assassination
Abraham Lincoln in the back of the head, sending a large bullet of the Vice President. Foolishly, he did not realize that he would
into his brain and mortally wounding him. Major Henry be implicated in the conspiracy anyway by materials found in
Rathbone, who was the president’s guest at the theater that Booth’s room.
night, was the first to react. He lunged toward Booth and was
The news of the two attacks spread from Ford’s Theatre and
stabbed viciously as the assailant made his escape. Booth
the Seward mansion by word of mouth. There was confusion in
jumped off the side of the presidential box onto the stage.
the streets as mobs of people told one another conflicting
Because Rathbone was trying to seize him, Booth landed on the
stories. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton was notified by
stage awkwardly, breaking his leg a couple inches above the
messenger of the attack on Seward and only heard that Lincoln
ankle. Ignoring the pain, he yelled “sic semper tyrannis,” the Latin
had been attacked once he arrived at the Seward house to
motto of the state of Virginia, meaning “thus always to tyrants.”
confirm the truth of this report. He immediately suspected that
He also shouted, “the South is avenged,” before fleeing out the
the Confederate authorities were behind the attacks and
back of Ford’s Theatre, menacing everyone in his way with his
feared that other cabinet members were in danger. Seward
knife. Only one man tried to chase him, but Booth escaped on a
went to the Petersen house and took control of the situation,
horse he had waiting in the back alley. He rode quickly to a
securing the space around the president and launching an
bridge leading across the river to Maryland and convinced the
investigation into the two attacks. He heard from a number of
guard there to let him cross, despite a 9 PM curfew.
sources at Ford’s that the famous, handsome actor John Wilkes
Confusion reigned in the theater, but a young doctor named Booth had been Lincoln’s attacker.
Charles Leale rushed to the president’s booth. At first, seeing
Meanwhile in Maryland, Booth was relieved to meet with
the stab wounds Major Rathbone had sustained, he assumed
Herold, a much better outdoorsman than he was. The two men
the president had also been stabbed. When he found no stab
picked up weapons from the inn in Surrattsville that Mary
wounds on Lincoln’s body, he opened the president’s eyelids
Surratt had arranged to have ready, then headed to the house
and could see from his pupils that there was a brain injury.
of Dr. Samuel Mudd. Mudd had been involved in the earlier
Although he immediately concluded that the president would
conspiracy to kidnap Lincoln, but Booth and Herold did not tell
not survive, he managed to stabilize Lincoln’s condition. Oddly,
him now that they had just committed a much more serious
he allowed an actress named Laura Keane to cradle the
crime. Mudd treated Booth’s injury and the two men decided to
wounded president’s head in her lap. Leale then oversaw men
shelter at Mudd’s until the next night. The next day, Herold and

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Mudd went into the nearby town of Bryantown, where Herold for them, but he refused to profit for aiding them. He finally
hoped to secure a buggy to continue travelling south. Herold, accepted payment for the boat. Booth and Herold rowed on
however, saw the Thirteenth New York Cavalry, which was the river through the dark night, but eventually realized they
setting up the headquarters for the manhunt in Bryantown. He were going the wrong way: they were still in Maryland. Luckily
told Mudd he had changed his mind about getting the buggy for them, Herold recognized their landing spot. The two men
and rushed back to Mudd’s farm to warn Booth. While going went to stay with nearby friends. They then wasted a full day
about his business in Bryantown, Mudd learned that Booth had before finally making the river crossing into Virginia on the
killed the president, but he did not turn Booth in. Instead, he night of April 22.
returned to his farm and prepared Booth to continue his Across the river, they were helped by a woman named
escape. He sent the two fugitives to a man named Captain Cox, Elizabeth Quesenberry, who supplied them with horses. They
who he said would help them. then stopped at the farm of a man named Dr. Richard Stuart,
Captain Cox told Booth and Herold to hide in a pine thicket and whom Dr. Mudd had recommended they visit. Dr. Stuart
secured the help of an experienced Confederate spy named disappointed Booth’s ideas of proper Southern hospitality, by
Thomas Jones. Jones advised that the men wait in the thicket feeding them but refusing to let them stay the night. With
until the manhunters gave up searching the area and moved threats of violence, Booth forced one of Stuart’s neighbors to
further south in pursuit of them. For four days, he brought allow them to spend the night. The next day, the man’s son
them food and news. Booth was angry and disappointed at the drove them to Port Conway. There they met three Confederate
reaction to his crime in the newspapers that Jones brought him. soldiers who pledged to help them, and they received a ride
He had entrusted a letter in which he explained his motives to a across the Rappahannock River deeper in Virginia from a
friend, who he asked to deliver it to the newspapers. This fisherman named William Rollins.
explanation appeared nowhere; the friend had been too The Confederate soldier Willie Jett took Booth and Herold to
terrified to deliver Booth’s letter and had decided to burn it the farm of the Garretts, where they enjoyed a comfortable
instead. meal and bed. The next day, however, they sparked the
Back in Washington, investigators suspected Mary Surratt’s Garretts’ suspicions by acting panicked at the sight of cavalry
son John Surratt of committing the attack on secretary Seward. officers riding by. That night, the Garretts refused to let them
They were at the house questioning the occupants on April 17, sleep in the house, instead allowing them to stay in the tobacco
when Lewis Powell knocked on Surratt’s boardinghouse door barn. Unbeknownst to Booth and Herold, the Garretts locked
seeking refuge. Powell was arrested, as was Mary Surratt. Also them in the tobacco barn out of a fear that they would steal
arrested that day were Michael O’Laughlen and Samuel Arnold, their horses.
two men who had been involved in the kidnapping plot and Colonel Baker had heard a tip about the fugitives’ possible
were implicated in a letter found in Booth’s hotel room. Then location and sent his cousin Luther Byron Baker to investigate
on April 20, George Atzerodt was tracked down at his cousin’s along with Colonel Everton Conger and Lieutenant Edward P.
house. He gave a confession which implicated Dr. Samuel Mudd Doherty. These manhunters spoke to William Rollins, who told
and Mary Surratt in the plot. them where they might find Willie Jett, who told the
Stanton had to focus on the final battles of the war and could investigators where to find Booth.
not dedicate all his attention to the manhunt. He recruited a Booth and Herold heard the sounds of the cavalry arriving, but
trusted friend, Colonel Lafayette Baker, to come down from were unable to escape the locked barn. Herold surrendered
New York to help lead the investigation. Baker was an himself, but Booth refused to come out. The manhunters
egotistical man who rubbed many of the other investigators the wanted to take Booth alive so that he could stand trial and be
wrong way with his obvious attempts to take all the credit for executed. They decided to force him to come out by burning
Booth’s capture. After April 20, when Stanton announced a down the tobacco barn. As the flames surrounded him, Booth
$100,000 reward for the capture of Booth, Herold, and John prepared to shoot as many of the manhunters as he could.
Surratt, Colonel Baker was also interested in getting all the Instead, Sergeant Boston Corbett shot him. Corbett said he
credit for the capture to cash in on the reward money. had acted to defend his comrades. Booth died on the farm,
On April 20, Thomas Jones saw the cavalry ride out of town while Herold was taken to Washington for trial.
and decided that tonight was the night for Booth and Herold to Mary Surratt, David Herold, Lewis Powell and George Atzerodt
attempt to cross the Potomac into Virginia. Virginia, unlike were sentenced to death and executed on July 6, 1865, while
Maryland, was Confederate territory. Although manhunters other conspirators received prison sentences. Today, visitors
would be looking for them there too, the further they could get come to see Ford’s Theatre and remember John Wilkes Booth’s
into the South, the safer they would be. crime, but also to memorialize the principles for which
Jones supplied Booth and Herold with a boat and told them Abraham Lincoln lived and died.
which way to row. They tried to pay him for all that he had done

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George Atzerodt – A German immigrant, Atzerodt was
CHARA
CHARACTERS
CTERS involved in Booth’s 1864 plot to kidnap Lincoln. On April 14,
1865, when Booth charged him with assassinating Vice
MAJOR CHARACTERS President Andrew Johnson, Atzerodt refused. Booth
Abr
Abraham
aham Lincoln – The president of the United States who had threatened to turn him in if he did not comply. Atzerodt did not
led the Union forces throughout the Civil War, Abraham go through with the assassination, but was incriminated by
Lincoln was a loving husband, a strong leader, and a gifted letters found in Booth’s room. He was eventually executed for
public speaker. At the start to his second term in office, Lincoln his involvement in the assassination plot.
was filled with relief at seeing the war’s end in sight. He was
Secretary of State William H. Seward –An important member
shot in the back of the head by John Wilkes Booth while
of Lincoln’s cabinet, Seward had been seriously injured in a
watching a play performed at Ford’s Theatre on the night of
carriage accident a week before April 14. While recuperating
April 14, 1865. He died the next morning. After his death, he
he was visited by President Lincoln and by Secretary of War
would be transformed in the public eye from a controversial
Edwin Stanton. He was confined to his bed when Lewis Powell
president to a martyr who died for the cause of abolishing
came to try to assassinate him. Despite being gruesomely
slavery and preserving the unity of the United States.
slashed across the face by Powell, Seward was not killed. This
John Wilk
Wilkeses Booth – One of America’s most famous and did not stop rumors about his death from spreading like
celebrated actors, John Wilkes Booth was a handsome, wildfire.
fashionable, well-mannered, and well-dressed man about town.
John Harrison SurrSurratt
att – A friend of Booth’s from the plot to
He could win people over easily with his charm and good looks.
kidnap Lincoln, John Surratt was suspected of having attacked
He was also deeply invested in the Confederate cause and
Secretary of State Seward. Although he was out of Washington
hated Abraham Lincoln and all he stood for. He first plotted in
on April 14th, he fled, was pursued across the world and
1864 to kidnap the president in a plan to influence the outcome
brought back to America to stand trial. He was then freed when
of the war. Depressed at the war’s end, Booth was thrilled
the trial failed to come to a verdict.
when he learned that the president would be visiting Ford’s
Theatre, a space he knew well. He contacted accomplices and Dr
Dr.. Samuel A. Mudd – One of Booth’s co-conspirators in the
set in motion a plot to kill the president, the vice president, and failed plot to kidnap Lincoln, his house was the first place where
the secretary of state. Only Booth was successful, however, in Booth and Herold rode. Once there, he treated Booth’s injury.
killing his target. Injured in the escape from the theater, Booth Although he did not know Booth had assassinated Lincoln
hid in rural Maryland and Virginia with his trusted friend David when he first provided him with shelter, Mudd continued to aid
Herold for twelve days before being discovered on the Garrett Booth and cover for him even after he discovered the actor’s
farm. He was shot dead by Sergeant Boston Corbett. crime. He was eventually caught in his lies by investigators and
sentenced to time in prison.
Da
David
vid Herold – One of John Wilkes Booth’s most loyal co-
conspirators, David Herold was knowledgeable about both the Secretary of W Warar Edwin M. Stanton – The tough and practical
geography of Washington and of the surrounding countryside. Secretary of War, Stanton had a great organizational mind and
He also had better skills as an outdoorsman than Booth, and was responsible for whipping the Union Army into shape. On
Booth relied on his help during their twelve-day attempt to the night that Lincoln was shot, Stanton took charge of the
evade capture. On the night of Lincoln’s assassination, Herold situation, securing the house where the president lay dying
was supposed to wait outside of the Seward mansion for Lewis from the mobs outside and issuing orders to protect other
Powell and then guide him to safety. Scared off by the cries for important members of the government. He led the first phases
help of Fanny Seward and William Bell, Herold fled, leaving of the manhunt, then recruited Lafayette Baker and others to
Powell to face the unfamiliar city on his own. help share this responsibility, while he continued to pursue the
final battles of the war.
Lewis P
Powell
owell – A physically imposing and loyal co-conspirator
of Booth’s, Powell was tasked with killing Secretary of State Colonel Lafa
Lafayyette Bak
Baker
er – Stanton’s trusted second-hand,
Seward. He gained entry to the Seward mansion by claiming to Colonel Lafayette Baker came down from New York to assist
be a messenger from the injured secretary’s doctor. Once he with the investigation into the president’s assassination. He
learned the secretary’s location in the house he rushed into the rubbed many other manhunters the wrong way with his
room. He then had to fight Frederick Seward, Sergeant egotistical and sneaky behavior. He sent his cousin Luther
Robinson, Augustus Seward, and Fanny Seward. He brutally Byron Baker an important tip leading to Booth and Herold’s
beat them, but at the last moment decided against killing eventual capture. He received $3,750 in reward money and
Sergeant Robinson. He also told Augustus that he was insane. A wrote a book in which he took undue credit for his role in the
couple days later, he sought a safe haven at Mary Surratt’s fugitives’ capture.
boardinghouse, but was instead arrested there. Thomas Jones – An experienced Confederate spy with a deep

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knowledge of the terrain and waterways of rural Maryland, Richard Garrett – The owner of a farm in Virginia, Richard
Thomas Jones had lost most of his money for the Confederate Garrett initially welcomed Booth and Herold into his family’s
cause and served time in a Union jail when his Confederate home, but later grew suspicious of their behavior. Still, when
sympathies were suspected. He was recruited by Captain the manhunters arrived at his farm, he did not tell them where
Samuel Cox to help Booth and Herold and took responsibility Booth and Herold were. He never received any compensation
for getting them across the Potomac River to Virginia. He first for his tobacco barn, which the manhunters burned down in
cautioned them to stay put in a pine thicket, where he brought order to try to force Booth to surrender.
them food and news daily for four days. Although he was John Garrett – Richard Garrett’s son, John Garrett was left in
suspected of aiding the assassins, his involvement could not be charge of the farm on the night that manhunters tracked Booth
proved. He only told the story of his role in Booth and Herold’s and Herold to his farm. He suspected that Booth and Herold
escape decades later, in conversations with a journalist and in might try to steal his father’s horses, so he locked them in the
his own autobiographical book. tobacco barn. When the manhunters arrived, they forced John
Dr
Dr.. Charles A. LLeale
eale – A twenty-three-year-old Union Army Garrett to go into the tobacco barn and tell Booth to surrender.
soldier and doctor, Leale attended the play at Ford’s after When Booth threatened to kill him, John Garrett fled.
hearing that General Grant would attend. He was the first Sergeant Boston Corbett – A noncommissioned officer in the
doctor to reach Lincoln after the president was shot. He at first party of manhunters that ultimately found the fugitives, Boston
assumed the president was stabbed, but then ascertained that Corbett shot and fatally wounded John Wilkes Booth. He was
he had been shot in the head and would not recover. He chastised for doing so by his commanders, but said that he had
supervised the transportation of the president across the acted to defend his fellow soldiers. He was never punished for
street to the Petersen house and stayed with him until his this action and received $1,653 in reward money.
death, at one point trying to remove the bullet from within the
dying man’s skull with the Nelaton probe. Vice President Andrew Johnson The vice president to Lincoln.
Wilke's plan called for George Atzerodt to assassinate him, but
Colonel Ev
Everton
erton Conger – A commander, along with Luther Atzerodt could not work up the courage to act and Johnson
Byron Baker and Edward P. Doherty, of the forces which survived. He became president upon Lincoln's death. Though
eventually discovered Booth and Herold. He ordered the uncovered in the book, Johnson's presidency was largely a
tobacco barn burned to force Booth to come out, and was failure, marked by battles with Congress. He was the first
infuriated when Boston Corbett shot Booth. Conger received president ever to be impeached, though the impeachment
the largest sum from the reward money – $15,000 – after he proceedings did not in the end produce enough votes to
rode quickly to Stanton to claim credit for the deed before all remove him from office.
others.
Fann
Fannyy Seward –Secretary of State William Seward’s daughter MINOR CHARACTERS
and favorite child, Fanny Seward was an intelligent and
Mary Surr
Surratt
att – The owner of two boardinghouses, Mary
sensitive young woman of twenty. She kept a detailed diary of
Surratt was a Confederate sympathizer who provided material
all she saw in wartime Washington. On the night her father was
support to Booth on the day of the killing. She lied to
attacked, she was sitting in the room with him and
investigators about what she knew and was eventually
inadvertently put him in danger when she revealed to Lewis
executed for her involvement in the assassination.
Powell where he lay. During the attack and afterwards, she
screamed murder, scaring David Herold away from where he Frederick Seward – The son of Secretary of State Seward,
lurked in the shadows outside the Seward mansion. Frederick was the first family member to try to stop Powell’s
attack. Powell nearly shot him but his gun misfired. Instead
William Bell –A black servant of the Seward family, Bell
Powell savagely bludgeoned Frederick with the pistol, crushing
answered the door on the night when Lewis Powell attacked
his skull.
Secretary Seward. Once the attack was underway, he ran into
the street, screaming for help. During Powell’s escape on Augustus Seward – The son of Secretary of State Seward,
horseback from the Seward mansion, Bell chased him on foot Augustus was awoken by the sounds of fighting. He entered his
until he could no longer keep up. father’s room and wrestled with Powell along with Sergeant
Robinson. He was stabbed in the fight with Powell, who told
Willie Jett – A Confederate soldier and friend of Ruggles and
him that he was mad.
Bainbridge, Willie Jett accompanied Booth and Herold across
the Rappahannock River. Willie Jett was courting a girl whose Sergeant Robinson –A wounded Union veteran, Sergeant
father owned a hotel in Bowling Green, and William Rollins Robinson was serving as a nurse for Seward on the night of
tipped the manhunters to track him there. Once confronted, Powell’s attack. Although Powell stabbed him multiple times to
Jett gave up Booth’s location and led manhunters to the the bone, Robinson continued fighting, doing everything in his
Garrett farm where Booth and Herold were hiding. power to protect the Secretary of State.

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Sam Arnold – A conspirator in Booth’s failed 1864 plot to booth during the assassination.
kidnap Lincoln, Arnold had nothing to do with the presidential Harry Ha
Hawk
wk – The lead actor in the play at Ford’s Theatre,
assassination but was implicated in a letter found in Booth’s Booth timed his shot for the moment when Hawk would deliver
room. He was arrested and sentenced to prison. a comedic line that elicited laughter from the audience.
Edman Spangler – An employee at Ford’s Theatre, Spangler Laur
Lauraa K
Keane
eane – An actress in the play at Ford’s Theatre, Keane
briefly held Booth’s horse in the alley outside the theater. He mounted to the presidential box and asked Dr. Leale’s
was suspected of having aided the actor and arrested, but later permission to cradle the mortally wounded Lincoln’s head in
freed when no evidence of his guilt emerged. her lap. She later gave away pieces of her blood soaked dress
George Mudd – Samuel Mudd’s cousin and a loyal Unionist, asmementos.
George Mudd made a vague report to the authorities about John P
Peanut
eanut – An employee at Ford’s Theatre, Peanut held
strangers who had visited Samuel’s farm. Samuel hoped in this Booth’s horse for him briefly on the night of the assassination.
way to keep the authorities from discovering the true extent of
his involvement with Booth and Herold. Joseph Stewart – The only person in Ford’s Theatre to try to
chase Booth as he escaped.
William Rollins – A farmer and fisherman in Port Conway,
Rollins ferried Booth, Herold, Willie Jett, Ruggles, and Sergeant Silas T
T.. Cobb – Charged with enforcing a 9 PM
Bainbridge across the Rappahannock River. He was not aware curfew at the bridge out of the city, Cobb nonetheless allowed
that he was transporting fugitives and confessed all he knew to both Booth and Herold to cross the bridge into Maryland.
investigators, giving them an important tip on where to search Secretary of the Na
Navy
vy Gideon W Welles
elles – An important part of
for Booth and Herold. president’s cabinet, Welles initially suspected that the
Ruggles – A Confederate soldier and friend of Willie Jett’s, Confederate authorities were responsible for the attacks of
Ruggles accompanied Booth on Willie Rollins’s boat across the April 14, 1865. He rode with Stanton to the Petersen house
Rappahannock River. He also rode to the Garrett farm to warn that night, pushing through the crazed mob to reach the dying
Booth and Herold that cavalry had arrived in nearby Bowling president.
Green. Mary Jane WWelles
elles – A close friend of Mrs. Lincoln’s, Mary Jane
Bainbridge – A Confederate soldier and friend of Willie Jett’s, Welles had nursed Willie Lincoln before his death and then
Bainbridge accompanied Booth on Willie Rollins’ boat across comforted Mrs. Lincoln on her child’s loss. She then lost her
the Rappahannock River. He also rode to the Garrett farm to own young son to illness the same year, bringing the two
warn Booth and Herold that cavalry had arrived in nearby women even closer as friends.
Bowling Green. Re
Revverend Dr
Dr.. Phineas T
T.. Gurle
Gurleyy – The Lincolns’ family pastor,
Mary TTodd
odd Lincoln – The First Lady, Abraham Lincoln’s wife Gurley came to Lincoln’s deathbed and said a prayer after the
Mary Todd was a sensitive woman, often criticized in the press. president passed away.
She had struggled to recover from her grief after the death of Surgeon Gener
General
al Joseph K. Barnes – The Lincolns’ family
her son Willie in 1862. physician and the chief doctor of the United States, Barnes
Robert TTodd
odd Lincoln – The Lincolns’ eldest son, Robert had arrived at Lincoln’s bedside in the Petersen house. There was
been present at General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, which little he could do to help the president but monitor the signs of
he described to his father on the day the president would be Lincoln’s approaching death.
shot. He delivered the news to his mother that his father had Arm
Armyy Major Gener
General
al Halleck – Halleck was in charge of
passed away. imprisoning captured conspirators.
Willie Lincoln – The Lincolns’ son who died in 1862 at the age Jefferson Da
Davis
vis – The Confederate President, Jefferson Davis
of eleven. Mary Todd Lincoln struggled to get over his death, was on the run from manhunters at the time when Lincoln was
while Abraham Lincoln buried his sorrow in work. shot. He was revered by Confederate sympathizers like Mary
Thomas "T "Tad"
ad" Lincoln – The Lincolns’ younger son, Tad stood Surratt, who kept a picture of him in her house.
by his father and lit Lincoln’s face with a light on the night that Hezekiah Metz – A friend of George Atzerodt’s.
the president announced voting rights for emancipated blacks. Hartmann Richter – George Atzerodt’s cousin.
Major Henry Rathbone – A friend of the Lincolns, Rathbone Anna Surr
Surratt
att – The daughter of Mary Surratt, Anna Surratt
was in the presidential box at Ford’s Theatre when John Wilkes was also interrogated and arrested during the investigation.
Booth shot Lincoln. He tried to halt Booth and received severe
Lewis W
Weichmann
eichmann – A boarder at Mary Surratt’s
stab wounds in his shoulder.
boardinghouse, Lewis Weichmann accompanied Mrs. Surratt to
Clar
Claraa Harris – The fiancée to Major Henry Rathbone, Clara Surrattsville to prepare John Lloyd for a nighttime visit from
Harris was also watching the play at Ford’s in the presidential Booth. He was also arrested and interrogated during the

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investigation.
Michael OO'Laughlen
'Laughlen – A conspirator in Booth’s failed 1864 plot
THEMES
to kidnap Lincoln, O’Laughlen had nothing to do with the In LitCharts literature guides, each theme gets its own color-
presidential assassination but was implicated in a letter found coded icon. These icons make it easy to track where the themes
in Booth’s room. He was arrested and sentenced to prison. occur most prominently throughout the work. If you don't have
Captain Samuel CoCoxx – A farmer and loyal Confederate, Cox a color printer, you can still use the icons to track themes in
showed Booth and Herold the thicket where they could hide black and white.
from cavalry and summoned Thomas Jones to give them
further help. Booth was sent to Cox by Dr. Samuel Mudd. NEWS, INFORMATION, AND
Dr
Dr.. Richard Stuart – A Virginia farmer who denied Booth and MISINFORMATION
Herold hospitality. Booth later sent him payment for the meal Lincoln’s assassination occurred at a time of flux
he begrudgingly fed them, as an insult to Stuart for his failure to and uncertainty. The Civil War was a close one, and
extend his home to them willingly. by early April 1865, it seemed possible either that Union
Lucas – A black man in Maryland who was forced to give Booth victory was at hand or that the Confederacy was secretly
and Herold shelter. He then rented them a wagon driven by his planning a march on Washington. Everyone had a deep desire
son. for the latest news, but accepted interpretations of how events
Charlie Lucas – The man who drove Booth and Herold from his might develop were few and far between. There was a sense
father’s farm in a wagon. that anything could happen. With the assassination on April
14th, this uncertainty intensified.
Elizabeth Quesenberry – A Confederate agent in Virginia,
Elizabeth Quesenberry helped Booth and Herold to find To make things more complex, the Civil War took place in the
transportation deeper into the South. She was a contact of early years of a communication revolution. Up until the
Thomas Jones’. mid-19th century, the fastest way to send a message a long
distance was to send a messenger galloping on horseback. By
Lieutenant Edward P P.. Doherty – One of the commanders in the mid-1860s, though, new technologies like the telegram
the party of manhunters who found Booth and Herold at were making it possible to send information much more quickly.
Garrett’s farm. He was awarded $5,250 for his role in locating Still, these technologies were so new that people were not used
the fugitives. to them and sometimes relied on older ways of communicating.
Luther Byron Bak
Baker
er – The cousin of Colonel Lafayette Baker Important news was often still communicated by word of
and one of the commanders in the final party of manhunters mouth, with neighbors knocking on one another’s doors to let
who found Booth and Herold. He received $3,000 in reward them know the latest news, or by reading newspapers which
money. took hours to be printed.
Lieutenant Da
David
vid Dana – The head of the 13th New York At first, misinformation and lack of information reigned after
Cavalry, which pursued Booth and Herold without success Booth shot Lincoln, and Booth was able to literally outrun the
throughout Maryland. news that the president had been shot on his galloping horse.
Gener
General
al Robert E. LLee
ee – A defeated Confederate General and The lack of authoritative sources led to deep confusion the
leader of the Army of Northern Virginia. night Lincoln was killed, as two groups of people, one coming
from Seward’s house and the other spreading outwards from
Gener
General
al Ulysses S. Gr
Grant
ant – A victorious and respected Union Ford Theater, argued about the target of the attack, not
general, Grant was invited to go with the Lincolns to Ford’s realizing that both Seward and Lincoln had nearly
Theatre on the night of the assassination. He would become simultaneously been attacked. They also mistakenly said that
President of the United States in 1869, after Andrew Johnson. Seward was dead. It took several days for the general public to
Edward P
P.. Doherty One of the manhunters searching for come to understand what had actually transpired. The
Booth. prevalence of misinformation early on had an impact on how
Colonel W Wells
ells An interogator working to identify Lincoln's quickly the manhunters were able to home in on their targets.
killer after Lincoln was assassinated. Eventually, however, the situation began to clarify. The first
Elizabeth K
Keckle
eckleyy A free black woman and Mrs. Lincoln's step was for Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to begin to use
dressmaker, she attended the performance at which Lincoln the technology of the telegram to clarify the situation and
was shot. communicate with manhunters in far-flung states. Then, once
the newspapers had printed their accounts of the killing and
word of mouth had been circulating for several days, the
picture became clearer. By the end of the manhunt, the

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authorities marshalled the evidence they had collected to home they were right that Booth had planned his actions and
in on the killers by spreading good, correct information to the directed a group of his followers, the assassination was not part
public and the many well-informed manhunters spreading out of a larger conspiracy planned by the leadership of the
across the country. Confederacy.
Indeed, something much more important became clear during As both Booth and the Union authorities were to learn,
the manhunt than just the location and identities of the however, events that change the course of history are not
assassin and his co-conspirators. The news of Lincoln’s death necessarily the result of carefully hatched schemes, but can
and the coverage of him as a martyr for the cause of national come about as a result of planning, chance, or both.
unity had the effect of making the final conclusion of the four-
year war seem more apparent. The North became determined THE THEATRICAL AND THE REAL
to finish the job that Lincoln had started, while the disturbing
John Wilkes Booth was one of the most famous
accounts of the assassin’s action in the newspapers more fully
actors of his day, known for his attractiveness and
demoralized Confederate sympathizers. Although the final
charm. Swanson emphasizes that Booth’s inflated
battles of the war would take another six months to wrap up,
view of himself led him to overestimate his ability to survive
the understanding that Lincoln’s death meant something had a
during his escape and the help he could count on convincing
unifying effect on many in the country.
others to provide him.
The confidence Booth gained from his successful performances
PLANNING, CONSPIRACY, AND THE
on the stage led him to believe that he could use the force of his
UNEXPECTED
personality to alter history. But although this belief did lend him
Chasing Lincoln’s Killer describes a successful the courage necessary to carry out the assassination, he was
conspiracy to kill the president, but it also shows not able to shape the way his act was interpreted by the rest of
that important historical events are often the result of America, or the way it would affect the course of history. This
unpredictable circumstances and luck. For example, John confidence also meant that Booth failed to think through what
Wilkes Booth could have harmed Lincoln on two other could happen during his escape, like the fact that he might need
occasions. During the President’s inauguration speech, if Booth to hide out in the woods and would soon become dirty and
had taken the opportunity presented to him by chance, he bedraggled. Since he depended so much on his good looks to
easily could have shot the president from the crowd. And a year convince people to help him, this presented a problem.
earlier, Booth planned with a group of conspirators to kidnap
The blurry line between the imagined world of a play and the
the president to try to change the course of the war. Yet this
real world is not only a feature of Booth’s fertile imagination,
carefully hatched plan came to nothing, demonstrating that it is
though. Throughout his escape, Booth’s skills as an actor would
important not only to plan, but also to take opportunities as
often prove inadequate to the task of surviving on the run. But
they present themselves.
in the event of assassinating Lincoln, being an actor gave him
In the end, Booth was able to carry out his dream to assassinate the practical knowledge of the layout of Ford’s theater and the
the president and impact the country’s future as the result of timing of the play that led to his success. His knowledge of the
an unexpected stroke of luck. It was only because Booth theater allowed him to perfectly time the moment when he
unexpectedly discovered that Lincoln would be watching a play shot Lincoln. He waited for a moment when the audience would
at Ford’s Theater that he could carry out a plan to assassinate be laughing loudly at a joke in the play, so that many would not
the president. He was then able to use his knowledge of the hear the gunshot. And, while escaping from the theater, Booth
theater and his trusted position as a well-known actor among continued to benefit from the confusion in the audience about
the theater’s staff to gain the access he needed to quickly plan what was really happening and what had been staged as part of
an assassination for that very night. His co-conspirators, on the the play.
other hand, who were tasked with killing other important
The blur between the real and the theatrical continued after
figures in the government, did not have a lucky circumstance
the killer’s escape, when the lead actress in the play that
fall into their lap, and they all failed in carrying out their
Lincoln had come to watch visited the box where he had been
murderous missions.
shot. Wanting to be a part of the real, historic scene playing out
Booth was not the only one to assume that a conspiracy would in front of her, Laura Keane left the stage and went to the
be necessary to achieve a great crime like the murder of the president’s box, where she asked the doctor treating Lincoln
president. When they learned about the assassination of for permission to cradle the wounded president’s head in her
Lincoln and the attack on Secretary of State Seward, the lap.
authorities in Washington assumed that these acts were part of
Chasing Lincoln’s Killer shows that the skills needed in the real
a conspiracy directed by the Confederate authorities. While
world and in the theater sometimes overlap, but with a crucial

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difference. Booth is able to accomplish a murder and to escape execution by hanging. This, they believed, would have created a
capture for twelve days, using the self-confidence and skill that clear connection between his death and the defeat of the
he gained as an actor. But even though Booth was able to make Confederate principles he fought for in the public imagination.
the world his stage and become a larger-than-life character But once again, the attempt to control life and death in order to
who would go down in history, he could only be an actor in the prove a principle came up short. Boston Corbett shot Booth to
play of history, not its director or playwright. An actor in a play protect the other nearby soldiers, placing the survival of his
knows how the audience will view him because he knows the comrades above the principles the authorities sought to
script and the stage directions. In the real world, Booth played emphasize through Booth’s public trial and execution.
his own part, but did not alter the way others would act and The book describes combat, injury and death in detail, putting a
react to him, and ultimately did not change the outcome of the magnifying glass up to a few acts of violence. In each case, the
war as he wished. fight for life or survival itself becomes the most important thing
during the moment of combat, while the principles that
SURVIVAL VS PRINCIPLES someone may think he is killing or dying for are not necessarily
Lincoln’s assassination occurred during the last the ones that history or public opinion will keep in mind when
month of the four-year American Civil War remembering the violence.
(1861-1865), in which 600,000 people died. It was
an extremely violent time. People across the country had
fought to uphold the principles of the North or South, but often SYMBOLS
had to fight for their lives as a result, either on the battlefield or Symbols appear in teal text throughout the Summary and
to recover from sickness or injury. There had also been Analysis sections of this LitChart.
enormous economic devastation, which made gaining money or
resources a matter of survival. Throughout Chasing Lincoln’s
Killer, the way people seek to use violence to prove their MEMENTOS
principles often goes astray. Violence, the threat of violence, or Mementos of the dead were an important part of
danger often fails to have the effect of supporting the nineteenth century grieving culture. Throughout
principles that those committing the acts of violence hope to Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, the living gather mementos of those who
serve. have died to remember them by. The constant presence of
Whether Booth got caught or escaped, it was unlikely that he death during the Civil War era, when a catastrophic number of
could ever continue his profitable career as a touring actor, and people died both on the battlefield and from disease, led people
so he saw assassinating Lincoln as an honorable sacrifice of his to gather physical reminders of those they had lost. Physical
happy life and career for his principles. The death of Lincoln relics taken from the dead (including President Lincoln, in the
and the rest of his cabinet was meant to spur the Confederacy book) are used to hold onto memories of the dead and what
to continue fighting to preserve the South as he saw it: a land of they stood for.
honor, defined by codes of conduct that called for hospitality to
strangers and a willingness to sacrifice your life to defend your
principles. Yet Booth’s act had the opposite effect: he turned MONEY
Abraham Lincoln into a martyr and demoralized the South. The tension between what people were willing to
Lincoln was shot in the back of the head while relaxing at the do for principles and what they would do for money
theater, so he was not aware of the principle for which he died. is ever present in Chasing Lincoln’s Killer. John Wilkes Booth and
Still, as Chasing Lincoln’s Killer emphasizes, the fact that his body other Southern men believed that money should not motivate
fought a strong battle to hold onto life became part of the way one’s actions, especially in matters of principle. On the other
that his death was recast in the public imagination. His death hand, at the end of the war, when the country was economically
was seen as a martyrdom for the principles of freedom that he devastated, most could not be as cavalier about money as the
had led the nation in war to uphold. wealthy actor Booth, who supported many of his co-
conspirators financially. Similarly, while the manhunters were
The attack on Seward was also interpreted differently from the supposed to be motivated by a desire for justice, interest in the
way Booth and his co-conspirators had hoped. Because Powell reward money that Seward offered may have been just as
attacked innocent members of the Seward family, his attempt important.
to kill for a principle (to take down the government of the
North) was mainly viewed as the act of a terrifying madman.
The manhunters hoped to capture Booth alive and force him to QUO
QUOTES
TES
stand trial, undergo months of scrutiny by the press, and face
Note: all page numbers for the quotes below refer to the

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Scholastic Press edition of Chasing Lincoln’s Killer published in
2009. 1865 when Lincoln gave a speech saying that he wanted
black Americans to be given the right to vote. As a free black
woman, she was uniquely positioned to understand all the
Prologue Quotes
violent hatred that this proposal would stir, especially
"Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this among those in the South who were still fighting to secede
mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away….With malice from the Union and live in a country where they could
toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as continue to hold slaves. She realized that this principled
God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work stance of Lincoln’s might put his life in danger and she
we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who fretted to see his physical vulnerability at the very minute
shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his he made the announcement. Obviously, her comment is
orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and perceptive, as John Wilkes Booth—the very type of
lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations." Confederate she feared—was in the audience making the
same observation about the president’s vulnerability.
Related Characters: Abraham Lincoln (speaker)

Related Themes: Chapter 1 Quotes

Twenty-six years old, impossibly vain, an extremely
Page Number: 2 talented actor, and a star member of a celebrated theatrical
Explanation and Analysis family, John Wilkes Booth was willing to throw away fame,
wealth, and a promising future for the cause of the
Lincoln spoke these words during his Inauguration on
Confederacy. […] Handsome and appealing, he was instantly
March 4, 1865, a month before the fall of the Confederate
recognizable to thousands of fans in both the North and South.
capital of Richmond, Virginia. Although it was still uncertain
His physical beauty astonished all who saw him. A fellow actor
that the Union forces would win the war and reunite the
described his eyes as being "like living jewels." Booth's passions
country, the tide seemed to be turning in that direction.
included fine clothing, Southern honor, good manners, beautiful
Lincoln wished to project certainty about the war’s
women, and the romance of lost causes.
outcome, but not to gloat or shame those who had
supported the Confederate cause. His goal was to show
Americans that one of the principles that he had fought for Related Characters: John Wilkes Booth
was the unity of the country. To live up to that principle
Americans would need to forgive and forget, showing Related Themes:
compassion to their former enemies.
Page Number: 10

Explanation and Analysis

As Lincoln spoke, one observer, Mrs. Lincoln’s dressmaker, John Wilkes Booth had a successful career and bright
Elizabeth Keckley, a free black woman, standing a few future ahead as an actor. He was more interested, however,
steps from the president, remarked that the lamplight made in the political drama of his era than in the fictional dramas
him “stand out boldly in the darkness.” The perfect target. in which he acted for wealth and fame. He felt that he could
“What an easy matter would it be to kill the president as he put his personal magnetism and good looks to better use by
stands there! He could be shot down from the crowd,” she trying to impact the real world than by creating compelling
whispered, “and no one would be able to tell who fired the shot.” fictional worlds as an actor. He was attracted to the
Southern cause partially out of a sense that its culture of
Related Characters: Elizabeth Keckley (speaker), Abraham honor and hospitality represented an aristocratic, elevated
Lincoln way of life. Importantly, this type of culture—one built on
honor and social hierarchy—was also dramatically tinged
Related Themes: with violence.

Page Number: 7-8

Explanation and Analysis

Elizabeth Keckley was listening in the audience on April 11,

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At this supreme moment, the people cheered the man
who, after a shaky start in office, learned how to command through Swanson’s description of both the audience’s
armies, brought down slavery, and became a most eloquent and laughter and the powder charge of Booth’s gun as an
moving speaker. And as he promised he would, he had saved “explosion.”
the Union. Lincoln stood in the box and bowed to the audience.

Related Characters: Abraham Lincoln Booth scrambled to center stage, turned to the audience,
and stood up straight. Though every second was precious
Related Themes: to his escape, he knew that this was his last appearance on the
American stage. This would be the performance he would be
Page Number: 31 remembered for. All eyes were on him. He stood still, paused to
build suspense, and thrust his bloody dagger victoriously into
Explanation and Analysis
the air. The gas stage lights shone on the shiny blade now
Lincoln had arrived late to the play at Ford’s Theatre and stained with blood. "Sic semper tyrannis!" he thundered. It was
the action on stage had been stopped in order to play the the state motto of Virginia: "Thus always to tyrants." Then
traditional song of a presidential entrance, “Hail to the Booth shouted, "The South is avenged!"
Chief.” In this large hall full of spectators, some of whom had
come to the theater that night expressly to get a glimpse of
Related Characters: John Wilkes Booth (speaker)
the president and his guests, the sense of uncertainty that
reigned throughout the country was not to be found. To see
Related Themes:
the president doing something as normal as going to the
theater gave people the sense that the war was really Page Number: 43
nearing its conclusion. Although Lincoln had been at times a
controversial president, the audience at Ford’s Theatre Explanation and Analysis
recognized that he had been guided by his principles and Booth jumped from the presidential box onto the stage,
had succeeded in winning a war for those principles. injuring his leg. He was too caught up in the moment to fully
register the pain, however, and instead he put all of his focus
into making a dramatic statement of the principles that he
Chapter 2 Quotes believed he was serving by shooting Lincoln. At this
The comic line spoken by Harry Hawk, "You sockdologizing moment, his career as a dramatic actor and his decision to
old mantrap," was followed by an explosion of laughter from the make a dramatic impact on history converged. He used the
audience. The black powder charge exploded and spit the bullet skills of an actor—dramatic language, timing, gesture, and
toward Lincoln’s head. The muzzle flash lighted the box for a presence—to try to inspire admiration and draw support for
moment like a miniature lightning bolt. Had Booth succeeded? the Southern cause. Perhaps he believed that his dramatic
delivery would impact the audience politically, just as his
acting had impacted his audiences emotionally in the past.
Related Characters: Harry Hawk (speaker), Abraham
Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth

Related Themes:
Chapter 3 Quotes
The sergeant and Augustus wrestled Powell into the hall
Page Number: 39 and into the bright gaslight. Powell and Augustus, their faces
inches apart, fixed their eyes on each other. Then Powell spoke.
Explanation and Analysis
In an intense but calm voice, the assassin confided to Augustus,
Booth perfectly timed the moment when he would shoot as though trying to persuade him, the strangest thing: “I’m mad.
Lincoln. He used his knowledge of the theater’s layout to I’m mad!”
reach Lincoln’s box at the right moment, then he waited
until the line that he knew received the loudest laugh from
Related Characters: Lewis Powell (speaker), Augustus
the audience before shooting his pistol. In this way, he
Seward, Sergeant Robinson
hoped to create confusion about what was and what wasn’t
part of the experience of the play. The blurred line between
Related Themes:
the real and the theatrical at this moment is emphasized

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Page Number: 57-58 or he might have been scared of committing a murder.

Either way, despite having ample opportunity to kill
Explanation and Analysis Johnson, Atzerodt did not take the chance. This raises a
Powell had hoped to murder Secretary of State Seward as parallel to the several occasions in which Booth had an
part of Booth’s plan to weaken the government of the North opportunity to kill Lincoln but was not able to follow
and support the Confederate cause. However, Lewis Powell through, and this is also an instance of Booth believing
was only able to assault four members of the Seward (falsely) that everyone who even nominally shares his
family—some of these assaults were quite brutal, but beliefs must also share his willingness to sacrifice
Seward, his target, lived. There was no indication that everything for those beliefs. Booth will make this mistake
Powell was actually mad. Instead, the violent acts he was several more times.
then committing made him feel that he was being driven
mad. At the moment when he rolled out of the dark
bedroom and into the light, Powell came face to face with Laura Keene knelt beside Lincoln, lifted his head, and
the violence that he had committed in order to advance his rested it in her lap. Bloodstains and tiny bits of gray matter
principles. In the context of this violent battle for survival from Lincoln’s brain oozed on to the cream-colored silk fabric,
between Powell and the Seward family, Powell’s principles spreading and adding color to the frock's bright and festive red,
may have seemed almost irrelevant to the bloodshed in yellow, green, and blue floral pattern. Laura Keene cherished
front of him at that moment. Those who learned of his the blood-and-brain speckled dress she wore this terrible night.
violent crime later felt similarly, struggling to connect any In the days ahead, people begged to see the dress, to handle it
kind of noble or principled action with the brutal violence and marvel at the stains on it. The dress vanished long ago, but
Powell had carried out. miraculously a few small pieces—five treasured
swatches—survived. Long ago the stains, once red, faded to a
rust-colored pale brown.
Chapter 4 Quotes
All Atzerodt had to do was knock on his door and the Related Characters: Abraham Lincoln, Laura Keane
moment Johnson opened it, plunge the knife into his chest or
shoot him dead. Compared with the challenges that faced Related Themes:
Booth and Powell, Atzerodt had the easiest job of all. But that
night, Johnson escaped death. Atzerodt could not do it. He Page Number: 72
drank in the hotel lobby, and the more he drank, the worse the
Explanation and Analysis
plan sounded. He did not knock on Andrew Johnson's door. He
left the bar and walked out. Abandoning his mission, Atzerodt Laura Keene, an actress in the play that the Lincolns had
got on his horse and rode away. He wasn't sure what to do next. come to see at Ford’s Theatre, made her way to the
presidential box after the shooting and asked Dr. Leale’s
permission to cradle the wounded president’s head in her
Related Characters: Vice President Andrew Johnson, lap. Keene, like Booth, was an actor who wanted to play a
George Atzerodt part in the dramatic events unfolding in the real world. It
was a shocking request, given that Lincoln was the
Related Themes:
president, that he was unconscious and could not give his
Page Number: 69 consent, and that Keene’s action could not help him in any
way. It is hard to say why Leale allowed it, but he may also
Explanation and Analysis have been caught up in the drama of the moment, when
George Atzerodt had been tasked with killing the new vice what was real and what was theater blurred together.
president, Andrew Johnson. When Booth initially told After the fact, Keene turned her blood-spattered dress into
Atzerodt to murder Johnson, Atzerodt had refused. Only a memento of the historic moment. Instead of reflecting on
after Booth threatened to turn him in to the authorities did the inappropriateness of Keene’s behavior, Americans were
Atzerodt agree to the killing. Despite the ease of his target, eager to see an object physically involved in Lincoln’s
Atzerodt either lacked the conviction or the courage to take historic and tragic death. The dress was cut up so that a
the opportunity. Atzerodt may never have been as fully greater number of people could have a tiny part of Lincoln’s
invested in the Southern cause as Booth believed him to be, death. Holding onto mementos likes this one helped those
people feel that they were close to the president and

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supportive of his principles. Page Number: 105

Explanation and Analysis

Chapter 5 Quotes After the others who had sat by Lincoln’s deathbed had left,
Within a few minutes of the assassination, the news began Stanton spent a private moment in the room where
spreading, first by word of mouth from Ford's, then by Lincoln’s body lay. Although Stanton, with Lincoln dead, saw
messenger. It traveled no faster than a man could run on foot or himself as being responsible for the nation’s security, he was
ride on horseback. Between 10:30 and 11:00 P.M., more than also affected on a personal level by the death of the
fifteen hundred people spilled out from the theater onto the president. During the years of the war, the cabinet members
streets. They fanned out in all directions, like an unpaid army of had forged close, almost familial ties. Looking at Lincoln’s
newsboys shouting, "Extra!" corpse, Stanton thought back on other losses that top
government officials and their families had suffered. Mary
Jane Welles had nursed Mary Todd Lincoln through the loss
Related Characters: Abraham Lincoln
of her son Willie. At this moment, Stanton’s grief gave him
sympathy for Mary Jane’s experience. Stanton was
Related Themes:
compelled to reward the woman who had taken it upon
Page Number: 78 herself to comfort the Lincoln family during another period
of grief with a lock of Lincoln’s hair that would serve as a
Explanation and Analysis memento. This passage is also a reminder of the extent to
In the first day or so after Lincoln was shot, the news spread which Lincoln sacrificed his family life in order to save the
mainly by word of mouth. The telegram was a new country and defend its principles.
technology, and only a select few (including government
officials like Secretary of War Stanton) had access to it.
Because of this, the audience members emanating from The nation could hardly bury its martyred Father Abraham
Ford’s Theatre served the function of an army of newsboys, with a lead ball lodged in his brain. They cut it out, marked
letting the residents of Washington D.C. know what it as evidence, and preserved it for history. His blood, according
happened. However, because the news was spread by word to a newspaper report, was drained from his corpse by an
of mouth, an ever-increasing number of different stories embalmer, transferred to glass jars, and preserved. When they
about what had happened emerged. Certain people were finished, Mary Todd Lincoln sent a request: Please cut off
embellished the facts, others misremembered them, and a lock of his hair for her.
others changed them to fit their own agenda. Until official
versions of the facts could circulate in newspapers, this
state of affairs created confusion, uncertainty, and fear Related Characters: Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln
about what would happen next.
Related Themes:

Related Symbols:
Chapter 6 Quotes
Stanton knew that if any person in Washington deserved a Page Number: 109-110
precious lock of the martyr’s hair, it was Mary Jane Welles. She
later framed the cherished relic with dried flowers that had Explanation and Analysis
decorated Abraham Lincoln’s coffin at the White House funeral. After Lincoln died but before he was buried, doctors and
Stanton gazed down at his fallen chief and wept. coroners examined his body and an embalmer prepared it
for burial. It was common in the nineteenth century to
collect mementos of the dead, such as locks of hair. At such
Related Characters: Abraham Lincoln, Mary Jane Welles,
an uncertain time for the nation, and with the hunt for
Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton
Lincoln’s killers only in its beginning stages, the
Related Themes: professionals tasked with the care of Lincoln’s body went
farther in collecting mementos that might usually occur.
Related Symbols: Because of the gravity of the situation and the uncertainty
of what was to come, they not only collected the bullet

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Chapter 9 Quotes
which could be used as evidence but also went so far as to
preserve his blood. This also reflects the extent to which the Traveling light had served him well in the first part of his
president had been beloved by Union sympathizers. Even escape, but left him unprepared for this unanticipated phase of
strangers felt devastated by Lincoln’s death and they his journey. He left Washington wearing the equivalent of a
desired mementoes that would make this historic event modern-day business suit, unsuitable for camping out. Without
seem as personal to them as it felt. a change of clothing, his garments quickly became dirty, ruining
a key element of Booth's trademark, winning style—his
beautifully dressed, well-groomed appearance. He and Herold
Chapter 7 Quotes could not bathe or wash clothes and, unshaven, they looked and
smelled worse each day. They looked like the fugitives they
When Jones went to the Confederate capital, Richmond, were. Their looks might even jeopardize their ability to receive
at the beginning of April 1865 to collect the money owed him a proper reception at the fine Virginia households they planned
by the Confederacy, he discovered that the army had to call on across the river.
evacuated the city and he went unpaid. He lost $2,300 owed to
him for three years of service, along with all the money he had
invested in Confederate bonds at the beginning of the war. All Related Characters: David Herold, John Wilkes Booth
this meant Jones needed as much money as he could lay his
hands on. Related Themes:

Page Number: 137

Related Characters: Thomas Jones
Explanation and Analysis
Related Themes: Booth and Herold had been waiting in the pine thicket for
days, and, without a bath or change of clothes, they had
Related Symbols: begun to look like fugitives. Booth had made few
preparations for his escape. The crux of his plan was to
Page Number: 119 move rapidly to the Deep South where he would be able to
use his polished good looks, fame and dramatic charm to
Explanation and Analysis
win the support and friendship of those he met. Without his
After telling Booth and Herold to hide in the pine thicket, good looks, this plan would only work if Booth’s persuasive
Captain Cox turned to fellow Confederate sympathizer powers were enough to overcome the prejudice his dirty
Thomas Jones for assistance. Jones had already been appearance would inspire in the Southerners he would
impoverished because of his support for the Confederacy, meet. This is another example of Booth’s background as an
which, for Cox, Booth and other believers in the principles actor damaging his ability to make plans commensurate
of Southern honor, was proof of his character. Cox was with the reality he was facing as a fugitive. Booth had
confident that Jones would be willing to continue to risk his thought his new life would be somewhat similar to his old
life for his principles. Although Jones needed as much one; he didn’t realize that, by dramatically changing the
money as he could get, it was key to his identity as a man of course of history, he was also making himself vulnerable to
honor to be guided only by his principles and never by his situations in which his old tricks wouldn’t work.
wallet. While men like this did exist, Booth was tricked by
these encounters into thinking that all good Confederates
in the South were like Jones. Of course, people’s actions are
Whatever papers Booth read, they all condemned him for
based on many different factors, and it proved naïve to think
his heinous act. Even worse, Booth saw the beginning of a
that a defining feature of the South (and one that made
change in how Abraham Lincoln was viewed by America.
Booth willing to die for the Confederate cause) was that
Lincoln was transformed from a controversial and often
everyone acted based on honor.
unpopular war leader into a martyr and hero. Stories reported
in the papers condemned Booth by name in the most
unforgiving, vicious language.

Related Characters: Abraham Lincoln, Secretary of State

William H. Seward, Lewis Powell, John Wilkes Booth

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While Booth and Herold tarried, the government pursued
them with new energy. The evidence gathered at Mudd’s
Related Themes:
farm, plus alleged sightings of the fugitives southwest of his
Page Number: 139 farm, suggested that the assassins were making for Virginia.
They knew Booth was lame, on crutches. They knew he had
Explanation and Analysis shaven off his mustache. Horse-mounted couriers and
Thomas Jones brought Booth newspapers each day the telegraph wires were alive all day with instructions to troops to
fugitive was stuck hiding in the pine thicket. Booth had enlist the help of fishermen and others on the river to capture
envisioned that his assassination of Lincoln would be the fugitives.
something akin to what he did on the stage as an actor,
though, this time, instead of being only the actor, he would Related Characters: David Herold, John Wilkes Booth
be playwright and director, too. Nothing in his experience as
an actor led him to foresee that his actions could be Related Themes:
interpreted differently from how he meant them. Booth
believed that once Lincoln’s critics learned of the attack Page Number: 150
they would celebrate Booth’s bold action. He believed that
Explanation and Analysis
killing Lincoln would be a strike against Lincoln’s principles
and he was shocked to see the president’s popularity soar Booth and Herold attempted to cross the Potomac River in
posthumously as the nation rallied around the causes that a rowboat, but they went in the wrong direction. When they
the deceased president had supported. arrived back in Maryland after this failed expedition, they
decided to spend a full day resting at the house of a contact
of Herold’s. Biding their time and sheltering in place had
Chapter 10 Quotes served Booth and Herold well when they had the expert
intuition of Thomas Jones to guide them. Although it had
As Jones grabbed the stern of the boat and shoved it off, a
taken the authorities a few days to begin to effectively use
grateful Booth thrust a fistful of Union greenbacks at Jones.
technology to spread information about the fugitives, the
Jones refused the gesture, saying that he had not helped him
poorly-executed period of the manhunt was ending. Booth
for money. Under protest, he agreed to accept just eighteen
and Herold heard how coordinated the manhunters were
dollars, the price he had paid for the boat.
becoming, but this did not spur them to move quickly to
reattempt the river crossing. Booth and Herold had hoped
Related Characters: John Wilkes Booth, Thomas Jones to already be in Virginia by this point, but they failed to
quickly react with a new plan once the previous plan was
Related Themes: scuttled. Perhaps they failed to set off again across the
Potomac that night because they were exhausted or
Related Symbols: disappointed; regardless, this amounted to a failure to deal
with new circumstances as they arose.
Page Number: 146

Explanation and Analysis

Chapter 11 Quotes
Jones had advised and fed the two fugitives for days while
Young John Garrett, back from an errand at a neighboring
they waited in the pine thicket. Now, having seen the cavalry
farm, reported that the U.S. government was offering a
ride out of town, Jones advised the two men that the time
$140,000 reward for Abraham Lincoln’s assassin. The family
was right to cross the river into safer territory in Virginia.
discussed the assassination with Booth, speculating on why the
Although Jones had been impoverished by his service to the
murderer did it. The actor, still masquerading as a Confederate
Confederacy, he felt bound by his principles to refuse
soldier commented on his own crime and analyzed for the
money offered to him for helping Booth and Herold. To
Garretts the motives of Lincoln’s killer!
accept money for this help would have gone against his
sense of himself as a Southern gentleman who always did
the right thing, whether or not he could profit materially by Related Characters: Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth,
it. Jones’s attitude was in contrast with the attitude of many John Garrett
of Booth’s co-conspirators who had allowed him to buy
them things.

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death and then scripted his own death just days later.
Related Themes:

Related Symbols:
Booth decided it was better to die than be taken back to
Page Number: 159 Washington to face justice. He did not wish to bear the
spectacle of a trial that would put him on public display for the
Explanation and Analysis amusement of the press and curiosity seekers. Nor did he wish
On his first day at the Garrett farm, Booth enjoyed to endure the rituals of a hanging: being bound and blindfolded,
hospitality and a warm welcome. He had told the Garretts parading past his own coffin and open grave, climbing the steps
that he was a Confederate soldier heading South, and they of the scaffold. The shameful death of a common criminal was
treated him as they would have wanted their own sons (who not for him. It was far better to perish here.
had also served as Confederate soldiers) to be treated. In
this comfortable setting, Booth began to enjoy acting the Related Characters: John Wilkes Booth
part of the bystander. Booth wished to control the world’s
reactions to his actions and change the direction of history, Related Themes:
just as if history were a play. In this moment, he was able to
act a supporting role in this play. In that role, he could not Page Number: 171
only shape the world through his own actions, but also do
the impossible: shape the way other people understood Explanation and Analysis
what he had done. The act of Booth pretending to be Booth had been cornered. He was in the Garretts’ barn and
someone else in order to shape the narrative of his own the manhunters standing outside had set the barn on fire in
actions is a clear (and somewhat perverse) illustration of the an attempt to force him to come out. Under this
blending of the theatrical and real. circumstance, Booth’s priority was simply to not get
captured. As an actor, he was deeply familiar with the power
of spectacle. He knew that the court case that would be
brought against him would be maximally public and that the
He had already committed the most daring public murder
authorities would seek to humiliate him. They would not
in American history. Indeed, he had performed it, fully
only do this out of a sense of justice, but also in an attempt
staged before an audience at Ford's Theatre. Tonight he would
to undermine Booth’s principles by publicly killing him.
script his own end with a performance that equaled his triumph
Booth loved to be a part of riveting story that drew public
at Ford's.
attention, but only if he felt he could control the message
the public would receive. In this context, it seemed most
Related Characters: John Wilkes Booth dramatic and effective for his message if he died in a
struggle with the authorities.
Related Themes:

Page Number: 170

Chapter 13 Quotes
Explanation and Analysis Another hunt, the one for reward money, began before
The cavalry arrived at the Garretts’ barn and asked the two Booth's corpse had even cooled. With Booth dead, and his chief
fugitives to surrender themselves. Herold decided to turn accomplices under arrest, awaiting trial, it was time to cash in.
himself in, but Booth was determined not to be taken alive. Hundreds of manhunters rushed to claim a portion of the
Although he was likely to die in the coming minutes, Booth $100,000 reward offered by the War Department. Tipsters
still saw himself as acting out a part that he was writing for with the slightest connection to the twelve-day search for
himself. This view of himself seemed to keep him from Lincoln's killer tried to get their piece of the reward.
feeling the desperateness of his situation and it held at bay
his despair at what he had already learned about the Related Characters: Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth
public’s reaction to his crime. Instead, he continued to stick
to the script in his own mind and to believe that the Related Themes:
interpretation would be as he willed it to be. There’s a
strange symmetry to the way that Booth scripted Lincoln’s Related Symbols:

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Page Number: 182 Northern and Southern economies had been decimated by
war, it was no surprise that many Americans were eager to
Explanation and Analysis cash in. In particular, however, the chief investigator
In the hopes of capturing Booth and putting him on trial, Lafayette Baker inspired antipathy by trying to control the
Stanton advertised a monetary reward for anyone who investigation so that he could stake a claim to the reward
could aid in the capture of Booth and his accomplices. money. Although Lincoln’s death had brought some unity to
Although Booth had been killed, depriving Stanton of a Americans as they grieved for the president, it was still a
public trial, those who had contributed to tracking the time when many were struggling and could not pay
assassin down still had to be paid. At a time when both the attention only to principles.

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SUMMARY AND ANAL

ANALYSIS
YSIS
The color-coded icons under each analysis entry make it easy to track where the themes occur most prominently throughout the
work. Each icon corresponds to one of the themes explained in the Themes section of this LitChart.

FRONT MATTER
The book begins with several notes on its content and The author of Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, James L. Swanson, was
inspiration. First, it notes that all the quotes used in the book inspired to tell the story of John Wilkes Booth when he was still a
are drawn from primary sources. James Swanson, the author, child and received an incomplete newspaper account of the
then adds a biographical note, explaining that his interest in assassination from the time of Lincoln’s death. This gift gave the
John Wilkes Booth sprang from a gift his grandmother gave author a sense of the uncertainty surrounding Lincoln’s killing at the
him for his tenth birthday: a picture of the Deringer pistol time and prompted his interest in getting to the bottom of the story.
Booth used to shoot the president, along with an incomplete
newspaper article from the day after the assassination. From
that time on, Swanson wanted to learn and tell this history.

Next, the book gives a brief overview of the Civil War. The This overview of the situation in the United States at the time of
North and South were at war from 1861 until 1865. The North Lincoln’s killing emphasizes the uncertainty that gripped the
had a more industrial economy and was against slavery, while country as the war slowly came to an end. People were moving from
the Southern economy depended upon slavery. Southerners place to place and there was little way of knowing who was an
thought that they should either be allowed to own slaves or be enemy and who was a friend. There were many who were not ready
allowed to form their own new country. After 600,000 deaths, to accept Southern defeat and might, as John Wilkes Booth did, still
the war seemed at an end when Southern General Robert E. seek to change the outcome of the war.
Lee surrendered at the Appomattox Court House. Many
soldiers began to return home. Other soldiers continued to
fight, however, and many Southerners still hoped to win the
war. In this climate, Washington, D.C., the capital of the Union
forces, was full of people of different allegiances and
backgrounds, some of them spies and Southern sympathizers.

PROLOGUE
On March 4, 1865, a gray day in Washington, Abraham Lincoln The climate in America at the start of the book is weary but hopeful.
was inaugurated in front of the recently constructed Capitol The situation throughout the country has yet to be resolved, but
dome. Photographers captured both the president and everyone is looking for signs of what the future may hold. When the
honored government leaders, but also the crowd, where John cloudy sky cleared at the moment that Lincoln began his inaugural
Wilkes Booth stood among many other citizens listening to the speech, even the weather was seen as potentially a positive sign of
president’s address. At the moment Abraham Lincoln gave his what was to come. Although many in the crowd watched Lincoln’s
Inaugural Address, the sun came out. The speech addressed a speech and found his message a hopeful one, others in the crowd
nation that he hoped would soon be fully reunited by the end of considered him an enemy and his message an unwelcome one.
the war, delivering a message of healing and forgiveness. On
April 3, 1865, the capital of the Confederacy, Richmond,
Virginia, surrendered to Union forces. Across the North and
throughout the capital, people rejoiced at the news that the
Civil War would soon end.

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On April 7, 1865, John Wilkes Booth drank in a saloon in New It is beginning to occur to Booth that, if he wants to impact history,
York City and complained to a friend that he ought to have he will not be able to rely on plans, but must also take opportunities
killed the president on Inauguration Day, when he had such a as they present themselves.
good opportunity to do so.

Booth returned to Washington on April 8, and learned that Referencing the song that had become the unofficial anthem of the
Robert E. Lee had surrendered with his Army of Northern Confederacy, Lincoln was trying to show how he would reintegrate
Virginia. Booth observed the giddy mood in the capital. the states that had sought to secede, reunify the country and end
Abraham Lincoln gave a speech on April 10, in which he asked the uncertainty about the war’s outcome.
the band to play the Confederacy’s anthem, “Dixie,” saying that
they would take the song back along with the states that had
seceded.

The following night, Lincoln gave a more serious speech to a Lincoln continued to try to show that he could lead the country out
torchlit parade about the coming challenges the country would of a time of war and uncertainty, while also giving voice to the
face in rebuilding the South, and expressed his desire that black principles of equality for which the war had been fought. While a
people be given the right to vote. When someone shouted that free black person noticed how vulnerable Lincoln was to being shot,
he could not see the president, Lincoln’s young son Tad lifted a he seemed to give no thought to his personal safety. For Booth, who
light that shone on the president. A free black woman who disagreed with and hated Lincoln’s principles, the new idea of voting
made dresses for the president’s wife remarked how clearly rights for blacks was so enraging that it prompted him to begin
the president was outlined in the darkness, and how easily he thinking of a new line of attack on the president. Instead of coming
could have been shot. John Wilkes Booth was in the crowd. He up with a detailed plan for an attack, Booth was learning he would
threatened to kill Lincoln to his companion David Herold and need to act when the chance presented itself.
swore that that was the last speech Lincoln would ever give. On
April 13, the candles glowed in windows throughout D.C., and
fireworks were set off in a “grand illumination.” The spectacle of
people rejoicing at the Confederacy’s fall sickened Booth.

CHAPTER 1
Chapter 1 begins on Good Friday morning, April 14, 1865. Booth’s despair and anger is tied explicitly to the chain of events
Booth awoke and assumed the day would be another in a series that seem to be leading to the end of the war. He is angry at the
of days that each seemed worse than the last. On April 9th, Northern signs of celebration at the news and desperate to see any
General Robert E. Lee had surrendered. On the 11th, Lincoln sign that the South might still have a chance to win.
had called for blacks to be given the right to vote, and on the
13th the city had celebrated with its grand illumination.

Booth came from a theatrical family, and had a bright and Although Booth was successful and had a great deal to lose by
profitable future as a handsome actor with fans all over the attacking the president, he still felt that the principles for which the
country, in both the North and South. Although he was vain and South fought the war were more important than his own personal
cared about his reputation, he was willing to sacrifice his life for success and career.
the lost cause of the South.

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On April 14, after eating breakfast at the National Hotel where Booth’s privileged position as an actor meant he could have mail
he was staying, Booth went to Ford’s Theatre to collect his mail. sent to Ford’s Theatre. Because of this perk, Booth was in the right
He found a letter waiting for him and heard the news that had place at the right time. This unexpected piece of information was a
come from the president’s messenger earlier that morning: stroke of luck. It was also one of the first instances when being an
Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd would be attending the evening actor would help Booth to carry out the assassination.
performance at the theater that night, in less than eight hours,
with General Ulysses S. Grant in tow. The theater’s owners
were going to prepare a special, expanded presidential box.

Booth knew everything about the layout of Ford’s Theatre and Booth’s understanding of the world of the theater, which led him to
how Lincoln would move through it that night. He also knew all be able to assassinate the president, had fictional and real
the different ways of accessing the president’s box, which hung components: he knew the physical layout of the theater, and he was
directly above the stage. And although Booth had never played also familiar with the fictional action of the play that the Lincolns
a role in the play Our American Cousin, which Lincoln would would be seeing. The fact that Booth’s grasp of reality and of fiction
watch that evening, he knew everything about the play’s timing came together to lead to his historic action foreshadows the
and action. It was the perfect situation: instead of having to blurring of reality and fiction that will propel Booth for the
hunt the president down, Lincoln would fall into his lap. Booth remainder of the novel.
had eight hours to prepare, which he thought was probably just
enough time to get ready.

On the same day, Abraham Lincoln ate breakfast with his family Lincoln has a sense that the country has reached a momentous
and discussed the details of the surrender at Appomattox with juncture; the war is likely to soon be over. In his conversations on his
his eldest son Robert, who was home from the war and had final day as president, Lincoln seeks to relish this moment while
been present at the historic moment. Later, Lincoln conducted looking ahead to the future. In the cabinet meeting, he conveys his
a meeting with his cabinet, including Secretary of War Edwin dream to his closest aides and advisors; it’s a dream that has, in the
Stanton and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles. Welles past, signaled the approach of an important moment. While Lincoln
wrote in his diary that Lincoln had dreamt that he was on the believes the dream to be a premonition of an important battle, the
water in an indescribable vessel, speeding towards a shore. dream was, in retrospect, a sign of a very different kind of historical
Lincoln took his dreams seriously; the dream about the vessel turning point: the murder of a president.
recurred to him before each important battle of the war. After
a dream about his son, he had sent a telegram to Mary Todd
telling her to take away Tad’s pistol. Lincoln spent the rest of
the day in a routine way, taking meetings, reading mail, going
through paperwork. He wanted to finish his government
business by 3:00 PM, when he planned to speak to his wife
about something.

At the Ford Theater, preparations were underway. A notice was Booth took note of the planning and preparations undertaken by
published in the newspaper announcing that Grant and Lincoln the theater’s owners as he started to think through his own plan for
would attend the play that night, and the theater borrowed that evening. Others like Dr. Leale, were also planning their evenings
flags to decorate the president’s box from the nearby treasury around the exciting news that the political elite would be attending
department. Booth saw one of the theater’s owners returning the theater that night. The elaborate planning for the president’s
with the flags, confirming to him that the president was coming visit sets up a contrast with Booth’s somewhat last-minute decision
to Ford’s. Meanwhile, a young army surgeon named Dr. Charles to throw together a plan for attacking the president. Booth’s plan
A. Leale decided to attend the performance, eager to catch a succeeds because it is a combination of seizing an unexpected
glimpse of the hero Grant. opportunity and planning for it the best he can.

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Booth went to the Kirkwood House, the hotel where the new As Booth went about town making his plans for the night, some of
Vice President Andrew Johnson was staying, and left a letter his actions made more practical sense than others. The note to Vice
with the desk clerk to be given to Johnson. The message read, President Andrew Johnson was cryptic and served little purpose.
“Don’t wish to disturb you. Are you at home? J. Wilkes Booth.” Booth may have meant it to create a dramatic effect, but it could
He then went to the boarding house owned by Mary Surratt, have created some suspicion. It certainly would not help him in
the mother of Booth’s friend John Harrison Surratt, where he carrying out his mission. His visit to Mary Surratt, on the other
gave Mary a package to bring to her other inn, located south of hand, made a great deal of sense. He was beginning to recruit help
Washington in Surrattsville, Maryland. Booth also asked Mary in setting up supplies that he would need during his escape, after he
to tell the tavern keeper John Lloyd to prepare the guns, committed the deed.
ammunition and other supplies he and her son had hidden
there, because he would come to pick these things up in
Maryland that evening. Accompanied by one of her boarders,
Lewis Weichmann, Mary soon left for Surrattsville.

Booth made his final preparations. He selected a Deringer The newspaper clipping that drew James L. Swanson to the story of
pistol that could be easily concealed as his weapon. The pistol Lincoln’s murder included a picture of the Deringer pistol Booth
only fired a single shot, but it was a large, solid ball weighing used. The pistol was an impractical choice for Booth, but perhaps it
almost a full ounce, that was deadly if it hit its target. Reloading seemed to the actor like the perfect weapon for the most dramatic
was time consuming, and Booth knew that he would not have moment of his life. Swanson sees Booth’s choice of weapon as a
that time to spare. There was a risk that the pistol would reflection of his theatrical mindset, thinking much more about how
misfire. Swanson speculates that perhaps this risk added to the the act of assassinating the president would be portrayed than
thrill Booth wanted to take in his adventurous act. Perhaps he about the practical difficulties that could come up.
thought it more heroic or honorable to kill with a single shot.
Or perhaps he simply thought the gun was better looking and
more stylish than a big six-shooter. As his backup weapon,
Booth brought an elegant-looking bowie knife. He took few
other supplies: some money, a compass in a velvet case, and
pictures of five of his girlfriends.

In Surrattsville, Mary Surratt told the tavern keeper, John Mary Surratt carried out Booth’s wishes, preparing the things he
Lloyd, to expect callers that evening who would come for the believed he would need as a fugitive. Again, choosing a gun and a
hidden shooting irons, or fire arms. Lloyd took the shooting binocular may have been the result of the actor’s dramatic notion of
irons from their hiding spot between the walls and put them, what a fugitive would need; they were not the most practical items
with the binoculars he had found in the package, in his to have prepared.
bedroom.

Back in Washington, Booth gathered the conspirators he had Lincoln’s life had been under threat many times during his
recruited to strike against the president. The year before, these presidency, but he rarely made any changes to his behavior out of a
men had failed in a harebrained plan to kidnap Lincoln. There need to protect himself. Only when a specific plot was uncovered
had been a number of threats to Lincoln’s life over the course did the president take steps to thwart it. This tendency left Lincoln
of his presidency—he received death threats and jars of vulnerable to a spontaneous or quickly-planned attack like Booth’s,
poisoned fruit from angry people who supported the South. On but it also showed his belief that the principles he stood for were
the way to his first inauguration in 1861, Lincoln had travelled destined to triumph with or without him as president.
in disguise through the city of Baltimore, where rebels were
planning to assassinate him. But although many such plots on
the president’s life circulated throughout the war, none of them
resulted in serious action.

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Booth himself had organized a plan to kidnap Lincoln in late Booth had previously believed that to affect the outcome of the war
1864. He paid for things for his coconspirators and allowed he needed a complicated plan and coconspirators. But in a stroke of
them to enjoy the perks of his fame, hoping to guarantee their bad luck for Booth and good luck for Lincoln, Lincoln changed his
loyalty to his plan. But on March 17, 1865, the night when the plans the night when Booth hoped to kidnap him. Booth’s plan had
conspirators planned to ambush Lincoln’s carriage, Lincoln did been too complicated, perhaps, and too reliant on everything
not appear as planned. In fact, he was giving a speech in the working out the way he thought it would. In reality, presidential
National, the very hotel where Booth stayed when in security was so weak that no plan was needed at all; Booth, though,
Washington. After that, events moved quickly, as Richmond fell would have had to be willing to be immediately captured or killed
and General Lee surrendered. Yet presidential security was so himself after killing the president, and it seems that he wanted to
weak that all Booth would have had to do, if he was determined survive.
to give his life to kill the president, was go to the Executive
Mansion, request a meeting with Lincoln, and shoot him.

Now, on April 14, 1865, Booth called on George Atzerodt and Not satisfied to merely take the chance presented to him, Booth was
Lewis Powell to help him murder Lincoln, Vice President determined to expand his attack on Lincoln into a full-blown attack
Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward. David on the entire Union cabinet. Perhaps this instinct to pursue a grand
Herold would accompany Lewis Powell to Seward’s home, conspiracy came from his ideas about the proper components to a
where the Secretary was lying in bed recovering from a serious dramatic action that would shape the course of history. Booth did
carriage crash. Atzerodt tried to refuse his assignment to not only wish to kill the president; it was important to him that his
murder Johnson, but Booth threatened to turn him in to the intentions for the assassination would be understood and his
authorities if he refused. What none of Booth’s co-conspirators political ideas disseminated.
knew was that Booth had given a friend a letter to be sent to a
newspaper the following day. In this letter, he justified the
assassinations and incriminated his co-conspirators, by signing
their names to the letter as well.

Earlier that afternoon, Lincoln had gone on a carriage ride Lincoln was concerned about being a good husband and looking
alone with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. She had been after his wife who had suffered during the years in which he had to
devastated by the 1862 death of their eleven-year-old son put his responsibilities as president before his family. Although the
Willie. Now, Lincoln was relieved by the coming end of the war, Union principles were important to Lincoln, he did not wish to
and told Mary that they must both turn a corner and put the sacrifice his personal happiness or that of his loved ones for these
distressing years of the war behind them. Perhaps they could principles, if possible.
visit the Pacific Ocean or return to Chicago.

This carriage ride had forced other important business to be During Lincoln’s time at Ford’s, the blurring of distinctions between
delayed, and the Lincolns were late arriving at the theater. the theatrical and the real would create confusion among those
General Ulysses Grant and his wife had not accepted the present about what was really happening. At first, however, the
Lincolns’ invitation to the theater, so Lincoln and Mary Todd theatrical was put aside for the act of respect towards the president.
brought their friends Major Rathbone and his fiancée Clara For the entire audience, the war outside was still a pressing concern,
Harris. When the presidential party arrived, the action on stage and the arrival of the president who led that war could not go
stopped, and the orchestra played “Hail to the Chief,” the unrecognized.
traditional music for a presidential entrance. The audience rose
and cheered for the president who had brought down slavery
and saved the country from breaking in two.

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CHAPTER 2
Booth likely watched from nearby as the Lincolns and their Booth prepared for his attack on the president by first walking
guests entered Ford’s Theatre. He went into the theater at through the theater and getting a sense of what was going on. He
9:00 PM and listened to a few lines of dialogue to understand assessed both the physical space of the theater and how far along
how far along the play was. Then he exited the theater and the play was. He also made sure that the president was, in fact, in
moved his horse from a stable to the back door of the theater, attendance. Instead of creating a grand plan to kidnap the president
where an employee named John Peanut held the horse for him. (like he had before), Booth was now seizing the opportunity that
Booth crossed the theater by climbing through a trapdoor and chance provided him. He was also using his privileged position as an
walking underneath the stage, and then exited onto Tenth actor and the deep knowledge he had of the way the theater
Street. He went to the Star Saloon and drank whiskey, then operated to his advantage. Booth also likely used his status as a
returned to the theater. Booth followed the same path through famous actor to get Lincoln’s servant to allow him access to the
the theater that the Lincolns had traversed, climbing a staircase presidential box.
up to the balcony. At the door of their box, he noticed with
surprise that there was no guard, only a servant. Booth showed
this servant something – perhaps a calling card with the famous
actor’s name on it – and was allowed to enter the vestibule.
Once inside, he saw that there was no guard outside the
entrance to the president’s box.

Inside the box, the Lincolns were enjoying a romantic moment. After years in which he had sent many men to die for principles,
It was their happiest week in Washington. Lincoln took Mary Lincoln was, for the first time, relaxing. On his last day alive, as the
Todd’s hand, and she pretended to be embarrassed; “what will pressures of being a wartime president began to ease, Lincoln took
Miss Harris think of my hanging on to you so?” she asked him the opportunity to draw closer to his wife and family.
teasingly, in the last exchange they would have while he was
alive. “She won’t think anything about it,” her husband said.

Booth entered the vestibule that led to the box and got into Booth’s total access to the theater had given him the opportunity to
position. He found a piece of a music stand that he had stashed quickly make important preparations for his attack on the president.
there earlier and wedged it between the wall and door so no No one in the theater thought anything of seeing Booth coming and
one could enter the box after him. Inside the vestibule, he going. This freedom to maneuver meant he could carefully stage the
allowed his eyes to adjust to the darkness, peeking through a scene of the murder, getting his props ready in advance, just as an
small hole bored in the door, which he may have created actor does before he steps onto stage. Booth’s knowledge of the play
himself, when he visited the theater earlier that day to make his would allow him to try to shoot Lincoln at a moment when the loud
preparations. Inside the box, he saw that the president was sounds of the audience might cover the sound of a gun firing,
seated closest to the door of the box. To Lincoln’s right sat Mrs. blurring the distinction between the real and the theatrical.
Lincoln, then Clara Harris and Major Rathbone. Booth readied
his weapons as he awaited the moment when the actor Harry
Hawk would speak the line that Booth knew elicited a loud
burst of laughter from the audience. He hoped this laughter
would drown out the sound of his pistol firing.

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No one heard Booth enter the box; the Lincolns and their Booth’s plan to blur the theatrical and the real worked well. The
guests watched the play. Booth squeezed the trigger, and with president and his companions were focused on the action of the
an explosion of black powder charge and a flash of light from play and did not notice Booth’s entrance. After Booth shot the gun,
the muzzle, the bullet flew from Booth’s gun toward Lincoln’s the audience had difficulty discerning whether the loud sound was
head. Although Lincoln’s face was greatly aged by all the worry part of the play or not. At the same time, Lincoln’s body began its
he had borne during the years of the war, had he only been final struggle to hold onto life. Despite the president’s physical
wounded, he might have fought back against Booth. The strength, which was hidden from many by the haggard look of his
president’s body was lean and strong. But instead, the bullet face, he had no chance of surviving the bullet wound to his brain.
pierced the lower left of Lincoln’s skull and came to rest deep
within his brain behind his right eye. Lincoln slumped forward.
The sound of the shot hung in the box for a second, then
traveled around the theater. Some in the audience were
startled, others thought the shot was part of the play, and still
others heard nothing at all.

Major Rathbone rose from his seat at the sound of the shot, Lincoln was unable to fight to protect himself, but Major Rathbone
stepping towards the president. He saw a man with a pale face, fought against Lincoln’s enemy, putting his own life in danger to
dressed in black, who sprang at him. Rathbone grabbed Booth’s stand up to whomever would attack the president. From this
coat, but Booth broke free, yelling “freedom!” and raising the moment on, Booth became the primary target for all those who
knife in the air to stab Rathbone. Rathbone shielded himself in wished to defend the Union and Lincoln’s principles.
defense and the knife went deep into his arm, which gushed
blood.

Booth swung his leg out of the box, but Rathbone grabbed him While he fought off Rathbone trying to escape Ford’s Theater, Booth
by the coattail. Tangled in a portrait of George Washington and was literally stopped in his tracks by the symbols of American
with one of his riding spurs stuck in a flag, Booth struggled to history and tradition: the flag and the portrait of America’s first
leap from the box. He finally jumped and landed on the stage, president. He was also stopped by Rathbone, who acted as the
but felt that something was wrong with his left leg. Center living defender of these symbols and the principles they
stage for the last time in his acting career, Booth shouted the represented. When Booth finally escaped, it was onto the stage,
state motto of Virginia, “Sic semper tyrannis!” or “thus always to where he used this familiar ground to shout out the principles
tyrants,” and then, “the South is avenged!” The actor Harry motivating his actions.
Hawk was in Booth’s path, but fled as Booth bolted from the
stage, slashing the air with his knife at everyone in his way.
Major Rathbone screamed from the box for someone to stop
Booth, and Clara Harris shouted, “he has shot the president!”

CHAPTER 3
Across town, Secretary of State William H. Seward was After years serving together during wartime, Lincoln had become
recuperating from a terrible carriage accident. Only a few days close to members of his cabinet like Secretary of State Seward. He
before, the president had walked to Seward’s house to visit his was attentive to Seward during his convalescence, which reflected
good friend and check on his recovery. Now, Seward was lying the strong personal bonds between the two men, who had
in bed, while his favorite child, the slender twenty-year-old competed to lead the Republican ticket in 1860.
Fanny sat nearby. For six years, Fanny had kept a detailed diary
of all she observed among the Washington elite.

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Outside the house, Lewis Powell and David Herold watched While Booth had an intimate knowledge of Ford’s Theatre, Powell
the street. They saw no guards and knew that Seward should and Herold lacked any knowledge of Seward’s house. They could not
be an easy target, weak and sure to be in bed after the serious predict what obstacles they would face or what would be going on
accident that had been reported in the newspapers. The in the house when Powell entered. They used the knowledge that
difficulties would be in entering the Seward mansion, they did have about Seward’s injuries from the carriage accident to
discovering which room was the Secretary of State’s, and craft a plan to gain entrance to the home, but they knew that there
dealing with an unknown number of other occupants. Powell could be any number of other difficulties that they could not predict
and Herold came up with a plan: Powell would tell the house’s in advance.
occupants that he was there to deliver medicine sent by
Seward’s doctor. He would carry a small package as a prop for
this deception. Herold would wait outside, holding Powell’s
horse and waiting for him.

Powell’s ring at the bell was answered by a black servant Here Powell’s disadvantages also contrast to Booth’s advantages.
named William Bell. Bell believed Powell’s story, but argued Booth was able to convince Lincoln’s servant to give him access to
with Powell when he said the doctor had told him he must the presidential box, possibly using his status as a celebrity, but
deliver the medicine personally to the secretary of state and perhaps merely by using the charm he had cultivated as an actor.
give him instructions for how to take the medicine. Powell Powell, on the other hand, could not use charm or ingenuity to get
insisted that he needed to see the secretary, but Bell did not his way, but rather continued to repeat the same story over and
back down. Powell backed Bell up the stairs, arguing all the way. over rudely.
At the top of the staircase, Seward’s son Frederick halted
Powell. Powell told Frederick the same story, and Frederick
told him he could not see the secretary.

Fanny Seward then poked her head out into the hall to tell Until Fanny spoke to her brother about their father, it had seemed
Frederick that their father was awake. Powell tried to peer into that Powell would not be able to find out where the secretary was.
the room behind Fanny, who held the door slightly ajar. Powell Now it would be up to Powell to take advantage of this stroke of luck
demanded to know if the secretary was asleep, and Fanny, in a to get into that room. It may also have seemed to Powell that
terrible error, looked back at her father and replied, “almost.” Fanny’s emergence gave him an answer to the other question he
Unwittingly, Fanny had shown Powell where his target lay. and Herold had puzzled over: how many other people were nearby
Powell likely assumed that Seward was lying there defenseless, to defend the secretary.
only watched over by his daughter, but a wounded Union army
veteran named Sergeant Robinson was also in the room with
Seward.

Powell pretended to give up in his argument with Frederick and Unable to talk himself into the secretary’s room, Powell turned to
Bell and walked down the stairs, led by William Bell. Frederick brute force. The need to act spontaneously but intelligently was too
walked back towards his room. Suddenly, Powell ran up the much for Powell, however, who instead began to make error after
stairs. By the time Frederick had turned, there was a revolver error. Instead of going directly into the sick room where the
pointed in his face. Powell squeezed the trigger, but the gun secretary lay, he instead rushed at Frederick, who was not his target.
misfired. Although he had five more rounds in the gun, Powell When the gun misfired, he did not use his other shots, but instead
raised the gun and broke the pistol over Frederick’s head, ruined his weapon.
making it impossible to fire again. He then bludgeoned
Frederick with the broken gun. Bell ran outside into the street,
screaming, “murder!”

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Fanny heard the noise in the hallway and opened the door to In this detailed account of the bloody fight between Powell and the
see Frederick beaten and bloody. Powell pushed past her and Seward family, violence brings out both courage and cowardice. Like
straight up to Sergeant Robinson, whom he hit in the forehead Major Rathbone in Lincoln’s box, Sergeant Robinson was able to
with a knife. Fanny tried to block Powell, but he ran to the ignore his own terrible injuries in order to fight to protect Seward.
secretary’s bed, pinned him to the bed, then tried twice to stab For Robinson, the battle to protect Seward was another battle in the
him, missing each time. The third time, he hit Seward, slicing his Civil War, with Seward’s body representing the Union and all the
cheek so that the skin hung from a flap and his teeth were principles it stood for. Meanwhile, David Herold fled at the sounds
exposed. Sergeant Robinson recovered and charged at Powell of violence, failing to stand with Powell and the principles he fought
and they fought one another in a life-or-death struggle. David for.
Herold heard Fanny screaming, took fright, and fled the scene,
abandoning Powell to his fate.

Augustus Seward, the secretary’s other son, then rushed in. At Having brutally attacked five people, Powell began to seem terrified
first, he thought his father had deliriously begun to struggle by the magnitude of his own crimes. He could no longer feel
with the night nurse, but quickly realized the man was not his connected to the principles that led him to undertake the attack
father. The three men then fought, and Powell stabbed and instead felt like a madman. At this moment, he decided against
Robinson twice deeply before he was wrestled out into the hall killing Robinson and trying to make sure that he had definitely
where the gaslight illuminated the three men’s faces. There, achieved his goal to kill Seward. Instead, he abandoned the scene of
Powell made an odd confession to Augustus: “I’m mad. I’m the violence in fear and horror.
mad!” he said. Powell had Robinson in a choke hold and could
have killed him, but in a last-minute act of mercy, he instead
punched him with his fist. Powell then fled the house, mounted
his horse, and rode off, chased for a bit by Bell.

Fanny ran to her father’s bedroom. Seward had rolled out of Although the Sewards had been badly wounded in the fight for their
bed to escape Powell, and was on the floor. Sergeant Robinson, survival, they had collectively won the battle against Powell. It
who was severely wounded, lifted Seward into his bed. In would turn out that they had also struck a blow to the principles
unimaginable pain, Seward told his daughter, “I am not dead; Powell sought to attack when he attacked Seward.
send for a doctor, send for the police, close the house.”

CHAPTER 4
Back at Ford’s Theatre, one audience member gave chase. For most of the audience members, the situation was confusing and
Joseph Stewart, who was six foot five, jumped across the terrifying. Only a single audience member was both clearheaded
orchestra pit and chased Booth into the wings and out into the and brave enough to recognize that the president had really been
alley, where Booth found his waiting horse. Booth mounted his attacked, that it was not a part of the play, and that he should try to
horse, and although Stewart reached for the reins, Booth was stop the attacker.
able to steer the horse to run away and escape.

Booth rode quickly through the streets of Washington, Since telegram use did not allow for the immediate spread of news,
avoiding Pennsylvania Avenue where the crowds celebrated. Booth was correct to think that his horse could outrun the news of
He hoped to outrun the news of his deed on his horse and his deed, so long as a messenger on another horse did not pursue
escape across the river to Maryland. and overtake him.

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At the river, Sergeant Silas T. Cobb told Booth that no one was Although Booth had not planned on having to argue his way across
supposed to cross the river after a 9 PM curfew, and he the river, this was exactly the kind of obstacle that his skills as an
interrogated him about where he was going. Booth used his actor prepared him for. Despite the enormous stress he was under,
skills as an actor to convince the men to let him cross. Had Booth was able to persuasively lie about his reasons for needing to
Booth been forced to return to Washington, he surely would cross the river late at night.
have been taken prisoner. If he had tried to force his way across
the river, the guards would have shot and killed him. He was
lucky to escape across the river.

Back in Washington, Fanny Seward and Sergeant Robinson Once again, despite his own injuries, Sergeant Robinson continued
used cloths and water to stop Seward’s bleeding. Doctors soon to put the health and recovery of Secretary Seward above his own.
arrived, confirmed that Seward would survive despite his At the same time, despite her father’s attempts to calm her, Fanny
ghastly wounds, and treated the other four whom Powell had Seward was troubled and terrified by the sudden appearance of the
attacked: Sergeant Robinson, Fanny, Augustus, and Frederick. terrible violence of the battlefield in her own home.
Terrified that Powell might return or that other assassins were
hiding in the house, Fanny prowled the rooms of her house,
drenched in blood. Despite his weakness, her father tried to
reassure her.

Back in Ford’s Theatre, there was a chaotic scene as the fifteen For the entire audience, the aftermath of the shooting was a time of
hundred people in the audience tried to make sense of what panic and confusion. As it became clear that the shooting was not
had just happened. Confusion reigned as Booth made his part of the play, it also became less certain what would happen next,
escape. either in the theater that night or in the course of the war at large.

Dr. Charles Leale rushed to the president’s box, and quickly As a doctor, Leale rushed to the president’s box to see if he could be
determined that Major Rathbone was in no immediate danger of help. Both his profession and his support for the Union cause led
from his stab wounds. He reassured Mrs. Lincoln that he would him to try to save the president. Perhaps his dedication to the Union
do all he could and began to examine the president. The cause also led him to optimistically assume that Lincoln was
president was unconscious and looked dead. Having seen unconscious because of stab wounds, despite the sound of the
Rathbone’s wounds, Leale at first assumed the president had gunshot that had been fired. Once he discovered the bullet hole in
also been stabbed. He cut open Lincoln’s clothes in search of a Lincoln’s skull, however, his professional understanding took over.
stab wound. When he found none, he lifted Lincoln’s eyelids He knew that there was nothing he could do for Lincoln except to
and understood from the president’s pupils that there was a keep him alive for a few more hours and ensure him a dignified
brain injury. He found the blood clot plugging the hole in death.
Lincoln’s skull and pulled it out to relieve pressure on the
president’s brain. Leale opened an airway and massaged the
president’s heart, getting his heart to beat and his lungs to
begin to suck in air. He had stabilized the president’s condition,
but pronounced that there was no way Lincoln could recover.

At the Kirkwood House, George Atzerodt drank in the hotel Despite the plan and the relative ease with which he could have
lobby, unable to work up the courage to follow through on the carried it out, Atzerodt turned out not to be capable of murdering a
plan to murder Vice President Andrew Johnson, who was man for the sake of the Southern cause, which already seemed to be
staying in a room a floor below Atzerodt’s. He left the bar and lost.
rode away on his horse, unsure of what to do next.

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Riding away from the scene of the Seward attack, David Herold Herold believed that because he had not attacked or killed anyone,
regretted abandoning Powell, but was relieved to be safe and he was exempt from punishment. He did not realize that by failing
outside of suspicion for any crime. He followed Booth’s path, to report to the authorities and by going to join Booth in Maryland,
convincing Sergeant Cobb and his guards to allow him to cross he committed crimes.
the river to Maryland.

Lewis Powell, meanwhile, did not know Washington, D.C. well. Likely in shock after the terrible crimes he had just committed,
Lost in a strange city and drenched in blood, he somehow Powell was unable to adjust to his abandonment by Herold and he
managed to also lose his horse. For the next two nights, he slept come up with a new plan to save himself. He lacked the knowledge
in a tree. Eventually he recalled a boardinghouse that Booth of his surroundings that had been so essential to Booth’s own
had mentioned. He thought he would be safe there if he could escape.
find it.

In Ford’s Theatre, Dr. Leale was considering how to move the Having realized that the president would not survive, Leale shifted
president. It would be undignified for Lincoln to die in a theater, his concern. He wanted to make sure that the president would die in
a place of amusement, and all the more so on Good Friday. At an environment suitable to the dignity of the office and with a
the same time, the actress Laura Keene navigated the theater. dignity befitting the principles he’d lived for. Strangely, given this
She left the stage and moved towards the new center of drama concern for the president’s dignity, he allowed the actress Laura
in the president’s box. She asked Dr. Leale to allow her to cradle Keene to hold the president’s head in her lap, creating a morbid
the president’s head in her lap, and despite the memento of her ruined dress and indulging her sense that this
inappropriateness of this request, Leale allowed it. Keane’s historic moment was like a play come to life.
dress was soaked in Lincoln’s blood and brain matter, and in the
days afterwards people would beg to see this memento from
the historic night. Meanwhile, Leale prepared to move the
president, although he did not know where to take him.

Booth was now across the river in Maryland, a state which had Herold’s decision to join Booth and his ability to reach him by
not seceded but was filled with Southern sympathizers. Indeed, crossing the river were both uncertain. It was a stroke of luck for the
if Maryland had seceded, the war might have gone differently. two men that they managed to find one another in the dark of the
This was safe ground for Booth, but he had none of the skills he night. Had Booth failed to find Herold quickly, his injured leg and
needed to live in the wilderness and his leg injury was causing lack of skills for surviving outside might have led to his being
him pain. He planned to depend on Herold for aid. In the captured much more quickly.
darkness, he struggled to find Soper’s Hill, the place he and
Herold had chosen to meet. Finally, the sounds of hoofbeats
reached Booth. He wondered if it was a cavalry pursuing him,
and was relieved when Herold rode up.

Booth and Herold exchanged information. Herold knew Neither Booth nor Herold knew at this point if any of their targets
nothing about Atzerodt’s mission, but he reported on how had been successfully killed. Cut off from any new information, they
Powell’s trick with the package of medicine had worked to gain could only speculate about the fates of the other two conspirators
him entry and how the house’s inhabitants had begun to and their targets. They also had no idea how quickly news of the two
scream for help. Booth felt that this was evidence that Powell attacks would spread. If Powell were captured, it was possible that
had succeeded in killing Seward. Booth may have been angry their plans would be revealed quickly. The two men were likely
with Herold for abandoning Powell, who was a loyal follower of relieved to have each other as they faced the uncertain results of
Booth’s and an excellent fighter, and who would be utterly lost their actions.
now that he was left alone in the capital. However, Booth would
have proudly regaled Herold with the story of his successful
attack on Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre.

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Back at Ford’s, Leale and others carried the unconscious In this chaotic moment, mobs of ordinary Americans learned that
Lincoln out onto the street. Leale demanded that a soldier find the president was gravely injured. Many saw his condition with their
a place to bring the president, and the soldiers banged on doors own eyes. They would rush off to tell all their near and dear about
across the street, but got no answer. Stranded in the middle of the president’s condition as they had seen it outside Ford’s theater.
the street, in front of a mob of witnesses, Leale pulled another Just as the president had led the nation through years of bloodshed,
blood clot from the hole in Lincoln’s head. Suddenly, a door his own bloody end was seen by many of his fellow citizens that
opened across the street. Someone at William Petersen’s night.
boardinghouse had stepped outside to investigate the
hullaballoo. Lincoln was carried into the boardinghouse.

CHAPTER 5
Booth and Herold rode through open country towards their In the first hours after the two attacks, news moved only as quickly
safe house at Mary Surratt’s inn. They had outrun the spread of as it had been able to for thousands of years: as fast as people
news; no one in Maryland yet knew that Lincoln had been shot. walking and riding could convey it. With none of the details of what
The news was spreading out from the theater as the fifteen had happened confirmed, already people were spreading the news.
hundred audience members spread out across Washington, As stories seemed to contradict one another, the uncertainty gave
notifying those in the government and people of their rise to the sense of impending disaster in Washington, D.C..
acquaintance. From near Seward’s mansion, meanwhile, the
news began to spread about another assassination. Those who
believed that Seward had been killed argued with those who
had heard Lincoln was the victim, until eventually it emerged
that both men had been attacked.

The news reached Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, a man With so much inaccurate news flying around, both Cabinet
Lincoln had entrusted through the war to shape the Union members headed directly to Seward’s house to see for themselves.
Army into an efficient fighting force. Earlier that evening, This need to verify rumors likely led to even more congestion
Stanton had visited Seward’s bedside. Only a couple hours throughout the streets of Washington, as people flooded to the
later, messengers reached his house with the erroneous news scenes of the crimes. In this moment, it seemed that the rising panic
that Seward had been murdered. Stanton was skeptical, but was a sign that some new and still unknown cataclysm might be
decided to ride to Seward’s house to investigate. Stanton coming. This may have increased the cabinet secretaries’ sense that
arrived just after Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles. The a Southern conspiracy was likely behind the two attacks.
two cabinet members heard the false news that Seward and his
son Frederick had been killed and the true information that
Lincoln had been shot at Ford’s. Welles immediately cursed the
Confederates, saying they must be the ones behind the attacks.
Stanton ordered that military guards be dispatched
immediately to guard the homes of all other cabinet members
and Vice President Johnson’s hotel.

Welles and Stanton then rode a carriage towards Ford’s The crowds likely heightened the feeling of panic and the sense of
Theatre to learn whether the stories they were hearing about foreboding. At this moment when everyone in Washington was
the president were true. As they approached, people ran in all uncertain of what exactly was going on, it seemed possible that
directions through the streets. Near the theater, a big angry something much bigger than an attack on Lincoln and Seward
mob swarmed the street. A crowd watched as Dr. Leale might be at hand.
instructed those carrying Lincoln to bring him outside. It was
the last time the American public would ever see Lincoln alive.

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Thirteen miles away, Booth and Herold arrived at the Surratts’ The arrangement for this smooth handoff at Lloyd’s was one of the
tavern. In 1864, after her husband’s loyalty to the Union was few successful preparations for his escape that Booth was able to
questioned, Mary Surratt had rented the tavern, which served make in the eight hours between his discovery that Lincoln would be
as an inn, saloon, and post office, to John Lloyd and moved her coming to Ford’s and his carrying out the murder. Had he thought
family to Washington. Herold dismounted and banged on the more practically about what a fugitive might need, he might have
door, rousing Lloyd, who gave him the binoculars and shooting thought to also bring some supplies for surviving outdoors and a
irons. Booth bragged to Lloyd that he was “pretty certain that change of clothes.
we have assassinated the president and Secretary Seward.” The
two men rode off towards a doctor to treat Booth’s injured left
leg.

At the Petersen house, as other doctors arrived, Leale situated Mary Todd’s shocked state reflected the chaotic scene outside the
the wounded president in the room of a boarder who was out Petersen house and in the country at large. As the news spread
celebrating the war’s end. He ordered the gas in the room through the streets that the president and Secretary Seward had
turned up, which lit the scene. Mary Todd Lincoln, grief- been shot, many felt deep personal curiosity to know what was
stricken, asked again and again, “where is my husband?” happening to their leader. They knew that Lincoln’s fate would
Eventually, Leale convinced her and the others to leave the directly impact their own and sought information desperately.
room and give the assembled doctors space to do their work.
But without a guard at the door, strangers seeking to see the
wounded president entered the house and milled around,
creating a chaotic situation.

Unable to move through the crowd in their carriage, Stanton If an attack were planned against the entire cabinet, Stanton and
and Welles, despite the possible danger, got out and walked Welles would have been marked men, with assassins hunting for
through the crowd, pushing towards the theater. them at that moment. Although they recognized this danger, they
ignored it.

Lincoln’s eyelids were filled with blood, making him look as if he The truth of her husband’s condition had not yet hit Mary Todd, but
had been punched in the face. His feet were getting cold; his for all the others it was clear that they were assembling around the
breathing was regular but heavy. The doctors placed a small president’s deathbed. Lincoln could no longer speak either to those
chair by his bed and summoned Mrs. Lincoln. She begged her he loved or in defense of the causes he believed in. Those around
husband to live and to speak to her and their children, but he him now needed to assure him a dignified death that would help to
was unconscious and heard nothing. Leale sent for the enshrine the principles for which he had lived.
president’s oldest son, for Lincoln’s family doctor, and the
president’s pastor, Reverend Dr. Phineas T. Gurley. He also
sent for a Nelaton probe, which would allow him to access the
bullet in Lincoln’s brain.

Stanton arrived at the Petersen house and took charge of the Stanton’s concern immediately became to ensure security both for
situation. He could see that Lincoln would die. Now his goal the house where the president lay dying and for the North. He
was to protect the Union from what he assumed was a assumed that the assassinations were part of a well-planned out
Confederate plot to kill Union leaders and then send a rebel conspiracy and that the president’s assassination was only the first
army marching towards Washington. He made the Petersen stage. He needed to both clear the crowds seeking information from
house his temporary headquarters. He sent a telegram around the house and to inform General Grant of the situation as
summoning General Grant back to Washington and ordered quickly as possible.
soldiers to clear the crowds away from the entrance to the
house.

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Stanton then launched a criminal investigation into the attack. As the Secretary of War, Stanton had more experience than most
He would take the lead in this, while Vice President Andrew with the telegram’s potential to help in a complicated mission. He
Johnson hung back. Stanton heard witnesses from the Ford now began to harness this power to communicate with people
Theatre; they all testified to that the shooter was John Wilkes across the country, giving them information they might need and
Booth. Stanton then sent telegrams throughout Virginia, orders to carry out. He also used telegrams to quickly recruit the
Delaware, and Pennsylvania. Bridges were to be guarded and help he would need.
cavalry were to stop anyone trying to cross rivers by boat.
Stanton also sent word to New York, requesting that detectives
be sent to Washington.

Army Major General Halleck made plans for the imprisonment Even before the assassins were caught, the authorities had begun to
of the assassins. Since vigilante mobs would be likely to storm consider the need to keep them safe until they could be brought to
the Old Capital Prison, prisoners would be kept on a warship trial. This trial would be used to shape the public understanding of
on the river in the Washington Navy Yard. the crime and to shape the perception of Lincoln’s death as a
martyrdom for principles.

The manhunt began while Lincoln was still alive. The murder The letter found in Booth’s possessions described an earlier
weapon was retrieved from Ford’s, and Booth’s belongings conspiracy, but the letter suggested to authorities that they were
were searched. Detectives found a letter to Booth from dealing with a larger plan involving Confederate authorities.
someone named “Sam,” which described a conspiracy against
the Union.

Detectives who had heard about the connection between Given the suspicion that a larger conspiracy was underway, the
Booth and Mary Surratt went to her Washington authorities immediately began to come up with theories that
boardinghouse in search of Booth and her son, John Surratt. A included a wide net of conspirators and a good deal of advance
detective told the innkeeper the half-truth that Booth had planning. This uncertainty led them to treat suspects like John
killed the president and that Surratt had killed the secretary of Surratt as guilty until proven innocent.
state. Mary Surratt claimed not to know where her son was,
while her boarder Lewis Weichmann told detectives that John
Surratt was in Canada.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Lincoln wailed that she wished their young Although at his life’s end Lincoln had hoped to turn his attention
son Tad could see his father again before his death, and then away from the principles that had consumed him in order to spend
she fell on the floor in a faint. Stanton cruelly sent her from the more time with his family, this opportunity was snatched from him
room. and his family. Stanton, seeking to preserve a dignified atmosphere
befitting the president’s office, was not sensitive to Mrs. Lincoln’s
more personal concerns.

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Booth and Herold reached an isolated farmhouse where Dr. Although the authorities were mistaken in their belief that Lincoln’s
Samuel Mudd lived. It was distant enough from Washington assassination had been part of a larger conspiracy, in making his
that Booth and Herold could rest there. Booth and Mudd knew escape Booth was relying on the contacts he had made while
one another from when Booth was hatching his plan to kidnap conspiring to kidnap Lincoln. Booth’s earlier conspiracy, however,
the president, whom Booth had hoped to take to Richmond and had been rather unrealistic and those who joined him in planning it
either trade for Confederate prisoners of war or use as a may not have been skilled or canny in the ways that would have
bargaining chip for the South in peace negotiations. In 1864, been necessary to make it work. Nonetheless, until he got to the
Booth had been given a letter by an operative he met in Canada Deep South, Booth hoped to rely on these contacts.
introducing him to Mudd. Mudd had then introduced Booth to
a neighbor who sold the actor a horse that he would need for
his kidnapping scheme. Mudd went with Booth to Washington
and introduced him to John Surratt. Mudd had then gone back
to Maryland and awaited word from Booth about the
kidnapping scheme, but word had not come. Mudd assumed
that with the war at an end, Booth had ceased plotting against
Lincoln.

Dr. Mudd now recognized Booth and set about to treat him. Mudd had been a conspirator in Booth’s earlier plan to kidnap
Booth’s leg had swelled, and his thigh-high boot could not be Lincoln, but he had never consented to be part of a plan to
pulled off without causing him pain, so Mudd carefully cut the assassinate the president. Because Booth was riding ahead of the
boot and removed it. Mudd then diagnosed Booth: he had news of what he had done, Booth could rely on this old connection
broken the bone two inches above the ankle. Mudd made without explaining the magnitude of his crime. Booth would show a
Booth a splint. Booth decided to spend the next day resting and callous disregard for the fate of co-conspirators throughout the
recuperating at Mudd’s farm, knowing that he was still ahead of periods before and after the assassination. He did not care about
the news of his crime. Mudd had no idea that he was giving getting the informed consent of those who helped him; he only
shelter to the president’s assassin. Booth himself still did not cared that his own ends were served.
know the fate of the rest of his accomplices and their victims, or
if the gunshot had succeeded in killing Lincoln. Nor did he know
that he would be condemned in the morning newspapers for
his act. As Booth and Herold slept, a cavalry patrol rode from
Washington in pursuit of the killer.

CHAPTER 6
Stanton was gathering clues. Based on the letter found in Finding clues related to the earlier kidnapping conspiracy, Stanton’s
Booth’s hotel room, he believed that Booth had at least two co- hypothesis that there was a larger plan at work seemed to be
conspirators named Sam and Mike and that the assassination confirmed.
was premeditated. He also still believed the Confederacy to be
involved.

At the Petersen house, three doctors holding watches awaited Lincoln’s death occurred in a dignified atmosphere, with extreme
the moment when Lincoln’s heart would stop. Lincoln died at attention paid to each detail so that it could be recorded for
7:22 AM on April 15, 1865. Reverend Gurley said a prayer, and posterity. For those like Mary Todd who were personally affected by
Stanton wrote a telegram to spread the news of the president’s the tragedy of his death, the fact that he died as a martyr for his
death to all Americans. Lincoln’s oldest son Robert told Mary principles was little consolation.
Todd Lincoln that her husband had died. She could not bear to
look at his corpse.

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Once the room where Lincoln had died emptied out, Stanton Although Stanton had worked hard through Lincoln’s last hours to
cut a lock of Lincoln’s hair as a memento. He put the lock of create a dignified death chamber, he too was personally affected by
hair in an envelope addressed to Mary Jane Welles, the Lincoln’s death. He also realized that other people had suffered
Secretary of the Navy’s wife. Mary Jane had helped nurse personally throughout Lincoln’s presidency: Mary Jane Welles
Willie Lincoln and had consoled Mrs. Lincoln after Willie died. comforted Lincoln’s wife after their son died so that Lincoln could
When the Welleses’ own son died soon after, the tragedy focus on running the country. Unlike mementos meant to hold onto
brought Mrs. Welles and Mrs. Lincoln even closer together. a piece of an important historical moment, the lock of hair for Mary
Mrs. Welles later framed the lock of Lincoln’s hair along with Jane Welles was a testament to her personal contributions to the
flowers that decorated his coffin as a memento. Having cut the Lincoln family.
lock of hair for Mary Jane Welles, Stanton looked at Lincoln’s
corpse and wept. Lincoln’s body was then wrapped in an
American flag and placed in a plain pine box. Lincoln was a man
of simple tastes, and would have approved of this plain coffin.
Soldiers loaded the box onto a wagon and Lincoln was driven to
the White House, accompanied by a small group of soldiers,
who had taken their hats off in a solemn show of respect.

Vice President Andrew Johnson was sworn in without pomp Johnson, who had not been Vice President during Lincoln’s first
and circumstance in his hotel room at the Kirkwood House at term, hung back and allowed others with more experience in the
11 AM on April 15, 1865. In consideration of the tragedy which Lincoln government to shape the public narrative about Lincoln’s
had brought him to power, he gave no public inaugural address. assassination and the approaching end of the war.

John Surratt, whom Stanton suspected of killing Seward, was in Although Surratt was part of the initial conspiracy, he did not
upstate New York on the day of the attacks. He realized he was happen to be in Washington on April 14, 1865. This saved him
likely suspected, however, and fled to Canada and then to from being implicated in Booth’s crime, but it meant that his mother
Europe. In Rome, he joined an army and was not captured until was implicated in his place.
a year later.

In Maryland, the Thirteenth New York Cavalry led by In the initial confusion, many citizens rushed to tell the authorities
Lieutenant David Dana was following up on leads received what they knew. Much of this information was untrue, irrelevant or
from informants. As would occur over and over throughout the misleading.
manhunt, many of these leads were false.

Other than Lincoln, the executive branch of the government Once it became clear that there was not going to be an attempt to
was still intact and no rebel army had stormed the capital. Now invade the North or otherwise dramatically change the course of
Stanton’s focus was on capturing Booth and his co- the war in the aftermath of Lincoln’s death, Stanton began to see
conspirators before they made it into the Deep South, where that Booth may have not been backed by a larger Confederate
they would find protection. conspiracy.

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At Mudd’s farm, David Herold made casual conversation with The news of the president’s murder had still not reached Mudd’s
the Mudds over breakfast. He gave no hint that he was afraid isolated farm, so the fugitives continued to rely on the Mudds’
or in danger. Booth ate breakfast in bed. hospitality without letting them know that this hospitality made
them accomplices to murder.

At the Executive Mansion, doctors cut open Lincoln’s body. This Swept up in Lincoln’s importance for the history of the country, the
was unnecessary, but they claimed it was done for the sake of doctors tried to preserve as much as possible of Lincoln’s body,
scientific investigation. They then removed the bullet from turning it into mementos for sentimental reasons and medical
inside Lincoln’s skull and preserved it. An embalmer then specimens for dubious scientific ones.
drained and preserved his blood in jars. Finally, they cut a lock
of his hair off; his widow had requested it.

Mudd and Herold rode into the nearby town of Bryantown, The news of the assassination had now caught up with the
where Herold hoped to find a buggy or carriage for Booth to assassins. From here on out, all their movements would need to be
ride in as they made their way South. Suddenly, Herold spotted carefully planned to avoid the manhunters looking for them. They
Yankee cavalry. He told Mudd that he no longer needed the would be especially vulnerable to any Union soldiers, who could be
buggy and beat a hasty retreat to the farm. He had spotted the identified by their gray uniform.
Thirteenth New York Cavalry, which was setting up a base of
operations for the manhunt in Bryantown. This made Mudd
suspicious.

Mudd went about his business, buying provisions for the farm Mudd made a split-second decision to risk his entire life and future
and greeting neighbors. But then someone blurted out the by continuing to shelter Booth and Herold. Although they had not
news: the president had been assassinated by John Wilkes been honest with him, their shared anti-Lincoln sentiments meant
Booth the preceding night! Mudd kept mum, not telling the that Mudd would remain loyal to them anyway.
detectives and soldiers milling about everywhere that the
wanted man was back at his farm in bed.

Back at the farm, Booth and Herold decided to trust that Mudd For the first time since committing the crime, the news had now
would not betray them. They waited for his return. Mudd spread far enough to let Booth know he had killed the president.
returned and ordered Booth and Herold to leave the farm Meanwhile, Dr. Samuel Mudd realized that he could not take back
immediately. Booth was more preoccupied with the news that the crime he had committed by sheltering the fugitives after
Mudd brought: he had succeeded in killing the president! learning of their crimes. He decided to place the two fugitives’
Mudd had agreed to the kidnapping of Lincoln, but he did not survival above his own interest, feeling that this was the right thing
want to be involved in this murder. Although he was angry to be to do given the principles that the three men shared.
involved in Booth’s crime without his consent, he decided to
help the assassin. He would not turn Booth and Herold in, and
he explained how they ought to travel to avoid the cavalry in
Bryantown. He told them of two farms where they could find
shelter and receive help, one close to the Potomac River, which
they would need to cross to enter Virginia.

Booth and Herold rode off, but despite Mudd’s directions they For the first time, Booth and Herold ran into trouble because of their
got lost. They ran into Oswell Swann, a man who was half black unpreparedness to navigate a part of the country that was
and half Piscataway, and paid him seven dollars to guide them unfamiliar to them. In this case, they got lucky and found a guide
safely through a snaky swamp to the home of Captain Samuel who had not yet heard the news.
Cox.

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CHAPTER 7
Back at Ford’s Theatre, Stanton ordered one of Lincoln’s The process of coming together as a nation to address the killing of
regular photographers to document the scene of the Lincoln was beginning. It was important to those Lincoln had left
president’s assassination. That Easter would be known behind that his legacy be preserved, along with a record of his
throughout the country as Black Easter by all those who lived assassination that would show that he had died for his principles.
through it. Those rejoicing because of the war’s end now
mourned the president’s death. Ministers across the country
gave sermons addressing the tragic killing.

Booth and Herold arrived at Cox’s home in the wee hours of Booth was persuasive to Cox not only because he was an actor, but
the morning. Although it is unknown what Booth said to Cox, also because Cox was receptive to his message. Nevertheless, it was
he must have confessed everything and used his skill as an becoming more and more dangerous for the fugitives and for
actor to win Cox’s support. Cox decided to help Booth and anyone who helped them. Cox could not risk having them stay in his
Herold. He told them it was too dangerous for them to travel house and he knew that if they were caught nearby he would be
on or for them to stay at his farm. He showed them a pine suspected. He took it upon himself to help them in crafting a
thicket nearby where they could hide and told them to only strategy to evade manhunters. Booth and Herold had believed that
answer if they were approached by someone who gave a they would need to move quickly to escape; now they were finding
specific three-note whistle. The two men went to the thicket, that this logic was incorrect. They would need to shelter in place.
lay down on blankets and slept under the stars. They were
awoken by the chirping of birds a few hours later. There was
nothing to do but wait.

Cox knew of a man who could help the two fugitives get across Thomas Jones was a man whom John Wilkes Booth could admire.
the Potomac. He sent his son to summon Thomas Jones. Jones Booth wished to become a hero with a dramatic and consequential
was a veteran Confederate spy who had lost everything life, but he lacked Jones’s real-world skills and ability to survive in
supporting the Southern cause. He had spent time in the Old the wild. Jones was also uncompromising in his support of the
Capitol Prison when he was suspected in the North of his pro- Southern cause, despite having already sacrificed his freedom for a
Confederate activities. He had also lost a great deal of money period of time and lost much of his savings. Unlike Booth, who had
by buying Confederate bonds at the start of the war, and never had to suffer poverty for the causes he believed in, Jones had
because his salary from the Confederate authorities went been willing to be impoverished in the name of his principles. Booth
unpaid. Jones was unparalleled in his knowledge of rural had expected that all Southern gentlemen would have these
Maryland and had helped ferry hundreds of spies across the attributes he so admired.
river during the war. He knew exactly when to time a river
crossing to escape notice. As soon as Jones heard that Cox
wanted to see him, he wondered if it had something to do with
Lincoln’s assassin. When Cox affirmed this suspicion, Jones
weighed what to do. The war, after all, was over. Jones decided
he wanted to see Booth and Herold before he decided whether
to risk his life again for the South.

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Jones rode to the edge of the thicket and whistled the three Now that the news of what Booth had done was circulating
notes. Herold stepped forward, aiming his gun at Jones and throughout the country, travelling during the daytime was too
demanding to know who was there. Jones told Herold that Cox dangerous. This was especially the case in Maryland, which had not
had sent him, and Herold led Jones to where Booth was seceded from the Union. Once they crossed the Potomac into
concealed deep in the undergrowth. Booth, his face twisted by Virginia, they would be in Confederate territory. There, they thought
the pain in his ankle, told Jones that he had killed the president that they would be able to depend on vetted contacts and
and was determined to escape or die trying. More than sympathetic strangers for help. This new plan would depend on
anything else, he did not want to be taken into custody. Jones Jones to figure out the moment when it would be safe for them to
instructed the two men to wait in the thicket. They would have seize the opportunity to try to move deeper into the South.
to stay there for a few days, until the manhunters had moved
further South, before they attempted to cross the Potomac. In
the meantime, he would bring them food. Booth, filled with
curiosity about how Lincoln’s death was being portrayed, also
requested that Jones bring them newspapers. Jones’ simple
plan would work to foil the thousands of men pursuing John
Wilkes Booth.

Meanwhile, George Atzerodt visited a friend named Hezekiah Now that the news of Lincoln’s assassination had spread
Metz in Maryland. Another guest of Metz’s asked jokingly if throughout the country, ordinary citizens were on high alert and
Atzerodt had killed the president. Atzerodt laughingly said yes. eager to report any possible clues to the authorities. In some cases,
He also talked about the attack on Seward and his sons. this created false leads that distracted the manhunters, but in other
Atzerodt left Metz’s for his cousin’s house, but unbeknownst to cases it helped the manhunters find conspirators.
him, he had aroused one of Metz’s guest’s suspicions. This man
would report Atzerodt to the local authorities.

Meanwhile, Samuel Mudd was worried. He did not want to turn Samuel Mudd hoped to take advantage of the confusing
Booth in, but he knew that other people had seen Booth at his atmosphere at the start of the manhunt. From the atmosphere in
farm and that he would eventually be suspected. He came up town, he understood that rumors were swirling around and that if
with a plan. He would send his cousin George, who was not a he could create a lead that would not be very interesting to
Confederate sympathizer, to make a vague report to the investigators, his true involvement might get lost in the fray.
authorities. George would report that two strangers had come
to visit his cousin Samuel. In a stroke of luck, George delayed
carrying out this task, giving Booth additional time without the
authorities on his trail.

In Washington, the manhunters were frustrated that they had Booth’s capture was becoming an important matter of principle for
no leads on Booth, only information on his accomplices. They the government. The authorities needed to bring Booth to court, try
had evidence that Booth was the killer and that Atzerodt had him publicly, and then execute him. This act of violence sanctioned
been supposed to kill the Vice President, but no idea how by the state would counter Booth’s rogue assassination of the
Booth had meant to escape. Although a man had given the president. It would also, they believed, deal a blow to the
name “Booth” to Sergeant Cobb at the bridge to Maryland, Confederate cause that Booth meant to support by killing Lincoln.
they had no idea where the killer had disappeared to after that.
As time elapsed, the failure to catch Booth became an
embarrassment for the government.

On Monday, April 17, Thomas Jones brought food and Jones, as a Confederate spy, had some of the same talents for
newspapers to where Booth and Herold hid in the thicket. He deceiving people that Booth did as an actor.
also carried corn with him; if he was stopped by Union cavalry
he planned to say he was just going to feed his wild hogs in the
woods.

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Booth, despite the worsening condition of his leg, was happy to Booth had surely read about himself in the newspaper before, when
finally read about himself in the newspaper, relishing the reviews of his performances as an actor appeared, so seeing his
reading as if it were a review of his performance in a play. name in print was not an entirely unfamiliar experience for him.

At that moment, the three men heard the familiar sound of This close call demonstrated how much the danger of the fugitives’
cavalry horses. There was no time to escape. They were situation was increasing as time passed. Although no dramatic
outnumbered, Herold had never been in a battle before, and confrontation with the cavalry occurred at that moment, Booth and
Booth was injured, so there was no way they could have fought Herold recognized that they would need to wait for the right chance
if discovered. Lucky for them, the cavalry did not explore the to cross the river.
thicket, but rode by, passing only two hundred yards from the
fugitives’ hiding place. Jones told Booth that this was all the
more sign that Booth and Herold should stay put. Booth
agreed, placing his full trust in Jones.

Also on the morning of the 17th, Dr. Mudd waited for troops to To Mudd, it seemed like his plan to slip under the manhunters’ radar
come investigate his cousin George’s report on the visit by two was working and that he might escape discovery. This was true for
strangers. But George did not make that report until the next the time being, but it seemed unlikely to last as larger and larger
afternoon. Lucky for Booth and Mudd, Lieutenant Dana numbers of investigators joined the manhunt and as other clues
considered this lead old and irrelevant. He continued following began to suggest more about the trail the assassins had taken.
other false leads. Mudd thought that the manhunters would
soon leave Bryantown and the area around his farm, and
perhaps his involvement would go undiscovered after all.

In the thicket, Thomas Jones told Booth and Herold that it was Once again, Booth and Herold faced the limitations of their
too dangerous for him to carry horse feed when he came to see preparations for their get-away. They had planned to move quickly
them the next day. Herold led the horses to a quicksand pit a on their horses to safety in the Deep South. Instead, feeding the
mile away, shot them, and watched their bodies get swallowed horses while staying still in the thicket had become an unacceptable
up. Herold and Booth prepared for another night in the thicket, additional burden.
even more vulnerable and dependent on Thomas Jones for
help than before.

CHAPTER 8
Back in Washington, the authorities returned to Mary Surratt’s Still largely without clues about Booth’s whereabouts, the
boardinghouse. John Surratt was still suspected of being authorities centered their focus on the Surratt family. Although
Seward’s attacker, and the authorities wanted to arrest Mary John Surratt had had nothing to do with Lincoln’s killing, his
and her daughter Anna to put pressure on them to talk. absence seemed suspicious.

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At the very moment when the women were being questioned, Had David Herold not abandoned Powell at the Seward mansion,
Lewis Powell showed up at the boardinghouse. Instead of Mary Powell would likely not have wandered straight into the arms of the
Surratt, a soldier answered the door and immediately began authorities. Powell had lost the will to fight violently for his
questioning Powell, who carried a pickax. Powell claimed Mary principles. The barbarity of his own actions when attacking the
Surratt had hired him to dig a gutter for her. The soldier asked Sewards had been too much for him. Two days spent hiding in a
Mrs. Surratt for confirmation of the man’s story. Although she tree, uncertain of what to do next, had also softened his resolve to
recognized Lewis Powell, Mrs. Surratt denied ever having seen kill for Southern principles. Despite being armed, he let himself be
him before. Caught in a lie, Powell did not fight against the taken in.
soldiers, but allowed himself to be arrested. Soon, the servant
identified Powell as the man who had attacked Seward.

Photographs of Confederate generals, Confederate President Mary Surratt remained loyal to Booth. Through him she hoped to
Jefferson Davis, and John Wilkes Booth found in her aid the Confederate cause, which she believed in. By prolonging the
boardinghouse proved that Mary Surratt was a Confederate uncertainty surrounding the case and failing to disclose what she
sympathizer. But under questioning, Surratt was careful not to knew, however, she became a symbol of treachery against the
reveal anything that investigator Colonel Wells did not already Union. This failure to disclose what she knew made her an
know. She gave nothing away about Booth’s visit to her the day unapologetic enemy of the Union, and a prime candidate to receive
of the killing or about her ride to Surrattsville to prepare the the death sentence for her involvement.
shooting irons for the killer to pick up. Still, the investigator
sent her to Old Capital Prison. She would never return to her
boardinghouse again.

Also on April 17, the authorities arrested Michael O’Laughlen Given the seriousness of Booth’s crime, in the absence of any clue to
and Sam Arnold, who were mentioned in the letter found in his whereabouts, the authorities focused on arresting as many
Booth’s room and who had been involved in the earlier failed people as possible. They hoped to get maximal information out of all
kidnapping plot. They also arrested Edman Spangler, who had those who had dealt with Booth, whether they had known about his
done nothing more than briefly hold Booth’s horse in the alley earlier plan to kidnap Lincoln or not. The authorities
outside Ford’s Theatre. The Fords themselves and other underestimated how much Booth’s own expertise about the theater
theater employees were also arrested, under the suspicion that had allowed him to act independently on the night of the crime;
they had helped Booth to escape. In fact, more than a hundred they suspected the theater owners and staff of helping him.
people were arrested under suspicion of aiding Booth. But
despite his fame, the authorities had no leads on Booth’s
whereabouts.

Edwin Stanton had already spent too much of his energy on the Although a tipping point in the war had been reached, the forces of
manhunt. After all, the war was not yet over, with Confederate the North still had to deal with Southerners who would not give up
armies still fighting in some places and Confederate President fighting. The manhunt for Booth was only one element in the ever-
Jefferson Davis also being sought by manhunters. Stanton changing political and military picture of the country in mid-April
decided to delegate authority in the manhunt to Colonel 1865.
Lafayette Baker, who had arrived from New York.

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CHAPTER 9
In the woods, Booth and Herold looked like the dirty, hunted Booth had believed that his polished manners and appearance,
fugitives that they were. They had planned to travel light and along with his charms as an actor, would allow him to persuade
move quickly, not to camp out for an extended period in the people to help him. Being injured and dirty was a new experience to
words. After crossing the river, Booth had planned to charm him, which might have shaken his confidence in his ability to gain
people into sheltering him in their Virginia households—but people’s trust.
this would be dependent on his good looks and fine clothing,
and these assets were slipping away with each day passed in
the woods.

Booth was also shocked and disappointed by the coverage of A consensus was emerging around the nation about how to
the assassination in the newspapers that Jones brought him on understand the killing of the president. The consensus was that
his third visit to the thicket. He was roundly condemned for Lincoln had been killed for what he believed in and that the country
killing the president. Worse, whereas Lincoln had been a should rally around those beliefs in the name of the slaughtered
controversial president while he was alive, in death he was president. Meanwhile, the savageness of Powell’s attack further
hailed as a martyr. Booth was also horrified by the details he enhanced the popular impression that Booth and his co-
read about Powell’s savage attack on the members of the conspirators were monstrous villains. Instead of inspiring the South
Seward family. to fight on, Booth’s crime was inspiring the North to rally around its
victories.

Booth found no sign of the letter he had entrusted to a friend As would happen throughout the manhunt, Booth overestimated
to be delivered to the newspapers. He believed that the the willingness of others to put themselves in danger for him. He
newspapers were suppressing this letter, but, in fact, his friend believed that everyone ought either to share his principles or be won
had feared being implicated in Booth’s crime and had burned over by his personal charisma, and he was furious when these
the letter instead of giving it to the papers. Booth opened a calculations proved incorrect. Booth now wished to set the record
small notebook and began to write his own personal account of straight for posterity.
why and how he had killed Lincoln.

On Tuesday, April 18, the manhunters finally followed up on the Mudd sought to continue to feed the authorities misinformation in
tip they had received from George Mudd. George Mudd had order to throw them off Booth’s trail, but he was no practiced actor
already told them all he knew, so the manhunters took him with and something about his story rubbed the investigators the wrong
them to see Samuel Mudd. At the farm, the soldiers way. As he tried to conceal the extent of his involvement with Booth,
interrogated Mudd and his wife. Mudd gave vague answers, Mudd’s story had odd and implausible holes in it. For instance, it
saying he had not known the identity of the man with the would seem strange to anyone that Mudd had not discovered the
broken leg. He then told the manhunters that the strangers had identity of the man with the broken leg whom he had treated.
gone west, sending them in a wrong direction. Although the
investigator could not yet prove it, he suspected Mudd was
guilty of something and planned to arrest him later.

In Washington, the presidential funeral procession created a Along with newspaper coverage that defined the president’s death
solemn spectacle. Every building on Pennsylvania Avenue was as a martyrdom, the funeral procession through Washington was
wrapped in black crepe, and thousands came to see the another moment that unified Americans around a single
president’s open casket in the Capitol dome. At day’s end, interpretation of the meaning of Lincoln’s death.
Lincoln’s remains were loaded onto a special train bound for his
hometown of Springfield.

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On April 20, 1865, detectives arrived at the house of George Although Atzerodt had not gone through with his part of the
Atzerodt’s cousin Hartmann Richter. Atzerodt should have conspiracy, he had still failed to turn his co-conspirators in. It was an
realized that his room at the Kirkwood would have been oversight on Booth’s part, however, to think that he could bully
searched and his connection to Booth uncovered. Instead he Atzerodt into murdering the Vice President. Booth did not have
had spent time at his cousin’s house in Maryland, unaware that Atzerodt’s full loyalty, and the details that Atzerodt would give in his
he was in danger of being arrested. Richter at first told the testimony to the authorities would help them figure out Booth’s
detectives that Atzerodt was not there, but when they said whereabouts.
they would search the house, he confessed that his cousin was
upstairs. Atzerodt made a full confession. He gave details about
the kidnapping plot and the conspirators’ meeting on April 14.
He also described Mary Surratt and Samuel Mudd’s
involvement in the scheme.

With two of the four central conspirators in captivity, Stanton With the manhunt already five days along, Stanton was impatient
issued a proclamation. He would pay $100,000 for Lincoln’s to capture Lincoln’s killer. He now sought to appeal not only to
killers: Booth, Herold, and John Surratt. Posters with the men’s Americans’ desire for justice against Lincoln’s killer, but also to their
photographs and the amount of reward money went up across desire for personal enrichment.
the country.

CHAPTER 10
On Thursday, April 20, Thomas Jones saw the cavalry ride Jones had waited for the right opportunity to guide Booth and
away. The manhunters had heard that the assassins were Herold on to the next stage in their escape. Now that the cavalry
spotted in a different county. Jones brought the news directly had ridden out of town, he thought that they would have a better
to Booth and Herold, telling them it was now time to attempt chance of safely crossing the river. It might have aroused the
the river crossing. Jones led Herold and Booth to his house. authorities’ suspicions if it had been found out that Jones had
Booth rode a horse while the other two men walked. Jones crossed the river that night, so he could not escort them. But Jones
brought them food and then immediately headed to the river. brought them food and a boat, in addition to providing them with
Jones had arranged for a servant to leave on the river. Jones his deep expertise as a Confederate spy who had often smuggled
waded into the river and found the boat, and then he and people across the river. It was up to Booth to follow his directions
Herold helped Booth in. Herold sat in the bow to row, while and steer the boat.
Booth would steer. Jones showed Booth which direction to go
on his compass, and warned the two men to hide the light from
the candle he gave them so that they would not be noticed by
patrol boats. Jones then told Booth the name of a contact
across the river.

As Jones pushed the boat off, Booth tried to give him a handful Once again, by refusing to accept any money despite having been
of Union bills. Jones refused the money, saying he had not impoverished during the war, Jones lived up to all of Booth’s ideals
helped them in order to profit. At last, he accepted eighteen about the behavior of principled man who supported the
dollars for the cost of the boat. Confederate cause.

Jones returned to his farm, reassured to think that Booth and Once again, Booth’s skills proved to be too impractical to help him
Herold would soon be in Virginia. He would never see the two in the task he had undertaken. In the context of the theater, Booth
men again. And little did he know, they were rowing in the could have acted the part of a fugitive killer beautifully, but to
wrong direction! actually navigate a river at night was a different matter.

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In Bryantown on April 20, investigators re-questioned Samuel Mudd sought to stay loyal to Booth and the principles they shared,
Mudd. This time, Mudd said that the stranger had worn a false but he did not have the ability to lie convincingly to investigators.
beard. Mudd also revealed that he had met John Wilkes Booth His lies became more complicated, tipping detectives off to the fact
before, the preceding fall. This admission made Mudd’s story that he was feeding them bad information. Mudd began to cave
sound less convincing to the investigators: how could Mudd under the pressure, unsuited as he was to lying to authorities. But
have failed to recognize Booth if he had already met the although he was not a good liar, the time it took investigators to get
famous actor before and had even hosted him at his farm in the a clear answer from Mudd turned out to be enough time to give
past. After hours of questioning, Mudd was shown a picture of Booth the opportunity to make it across the Potomac to Virginia.
John Wilkes Booth and said that, now that he thought about it
more, the stranger had been John Wilkes Booth. After he
agreed to sign a statement the next day, the exhausted Mudd
was allowed to ride home. In the end, Mudd’s lies ended by
delaying the investigators long enough to give Booth time to
reach Virginia.

Thomas Jones and Captain Cox were both eventually The role played by two of the men who helped Booth the most
questioned and arrested because of their known Confederate during the manhunt was not exposed until decades after the fact.
sympathies. But the two men did not incriminate themselves, This suggests that there might be other accomplices to Booth’s
and the authorities had no witnesses to prove their escape whose role was never uncovered and whose story has been
involvement. They were both released. It was not until decades entirely lost to history.
later, when Thomas Jones told his story to a journalist, that the
part he played in Booth’s escape would become known.

Herold relished being on the move again as he rowed on the Booth’s confidence in his own abilities, derived from his success on
Potomac River. Booth checked the compass and saw that they the stage, did not translate into practical skills that he needed for his
were rowing the wrong direction. They had rowed north, real-world escape from manhunters. Luck was on the two fugitives’
instead of west and then south along the riverbank on the sides once again, however, as they were able to find a place to
Virginia side of the river. They were still in Maryland and, what shelter, despite still being in Maryland.
was worse, farther north, in a more dangerous area than they
had been before their boat journey. It was the early morning.
Herold recognized the area and knew of people who lived
nearby with whom they could shelter. There, they received
news and were fed.

What Herold and Booth learned was not comforting. There The uncertainty of the early days of the investigation had given way
were manhunters swarming the area. The reward offered by to much more organized teams of manhunters. Booth and Herold’s
the War Department had brought out droves of troops and delayed departure may have happened at Booth’s request. Unused
detectives. There was no way to escape except back across the to the rigors of living outdoors, Booth would go on to convince
river. Yet instead of moving to recross the river into Virginia Herold to shelter in place again.
that night, the two fugitives inexplicably waited another night
in Maryland.

Government forces were closing in on the fugitives. The During this delay, the manhunt for the fugitives was getting more
knowledge that Booth and Herold had left from Mudd’s farm and more organized. New information was helping the manhunters,
helped the manhunters narrow their search. It was also known while the increasing number of manhunters increased the likelihood
that Booth was on crutches and that he had shaved his that the fugitives would be caught soon.
mustache. Information was spread quickly by couriers on
horses and telegraphs. Soldiers were told to enlist the help of
fishermen and others on the river to be on the lookout.

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CHAPTER 11
On the night of April 22, Booth and Herold finally made the Once again, Booth and Herold were lucky enough to benefit from
river crossing and stepped foot on Virginia soil. Herold left the experience of a more experienced Confederate operative. In this
Booth by the boat and walked half an hour to their contact, an case, Elizabeth Quesenberry knew her own limitations and reached
ex-Confederate spy named Elizabeth Quesenberry. Once out to her fellow Confederate sympathizers for additional help. This
Herold told Mrs. Quesenberry that he had been sent by realistic attitude towards her own capacities can be contrasted to
Thomas Jones and that he was travelling with an injured Booth’s belief in his own abilities to survive in the wild, despite his
companion, she may have guessed who that companion was. experience being mostly limited to the stage.
She decided it was too big a responsibility to shoulder alone,
and got the help of other operatives to secure horses for the
two men so that they could journey south as quickly as
possible.

Booth and Herold rode to the house of Dr. Richard Stuart. Even Booth’s experience with Dr. Stuart was, perhaps, his sharpest
though Mudd had sent them, Dr. Stuart was suspicious of the disappointment in his expectations for Southerners to stand by him
ridiculous cover story Herold told him and did not want to help in upholding Southern principles. In the first place where he sought
them. Reluctantly, he fed them. By the end of the meal, Dr. shelter in the South, he did not receive the Southern hospitality he
Stuart understood that the dirty, desperate men in front of him expected to encounter wherever he went in the South. By sending
were the fugitive killers of Abraham Lincoln. He ordered them Stuart money in the mail, Booth meant to suggest that Stuart was
to leave. Booth was disappointed in Stuart and later sent him a incapable of doing anything selfless out of principle, and that he
critical letter with money enclosed to pay for the meal that he would instead only act for his own gain.
had given them so unwillingly. This money was an insult to
Stuart, whom Booth felt had failed to show proper Southern
hospitality.

Expelled from Dr. Stuart’s, Booth and Herold sought help and a Booth would not have expected a black man to treat him with
place to stay at a nearby house owned by a man of color named hospitality, nor did he show that man any of the respect he felt was
Lucas. Only after Booth threatened Lucas with violence did owed to white men. As a flipside of this, he saw it as natural that he
Lucas allow them to stay the night. The next day, for twenty would pay for a service from someone whom he thought could not
dollars, Lucas’s son Charlie drove the two men to Port Conway be his equal.
in a wagon. Booth and Herold were dropped off at the house of
William Rollins, who they asked to take them across the
Rappahannock River to Port Royal, where there was a railroad
station.

At that moment, Booth and Herold saw three soldiers. They got Having found sympathetic support from Confederate soldiers,
ready for a fight, but were soon reassured to see that the men Booth felt that he was finally going to begin getting the support for
were Confederate soldiers. At first, Herold pretended that they his escape and respect for his deed that he deserved. Booth feared
were also Confederate soldiers who wanted to travel South the negative publicity of the trial that would inevitably follow his
and continue fighting. But when one of the soldiers, Willie Jett, capture, but he eagerly desired the positive attention that he
asked Herold who they really were, Herold confessed: “we are thought he would get among Southerners who considered him to be
the assassinators of the president!” The three soldiers decided a hero. Meeting Jett and his friends felt to him like the beginning of a
to accompany Booth and Herold across the river and help them new chapter in his story.
in any way they could on the other side. The successful crossing
of the river and the newfound support of Confederate
strangers inspired joy in Booth, who yelled, “I’m safe in glorious
old Virginia, thank God!”

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In Virginia, Willie Jett brought Booth and Herold to the farm Although Booth felt more confident now that he was in Virginia, he
owned by Richard Garrett. He presented Booth as a wounded followed Jett’s lead and kept his identity as Lincoln’s killer a secret.
Confederate soldier and asked Garrett for shelter. Garrett, Garrett took Booth in based on a shared principle, but there was no
whose sons had fought in the Confederate army, agreed to take certainty that he would take Booth in if he knew who Booth was.
them in. Booth told Garrett that he had been wounded in battle
and was now on the run from Union cavalry.

Meanwhile, the investigation was changing course. Lafayette Stanton had led the investigation out of a sense of his duty to
Baker, a favorite of Stanton’s, was deceitful and egotistical in Lincoln and to the Union cause. Lafayette Baker, in contrast, was
his approach to the manhunt. He wanted to capture the killers much more interested in rewards and fame than in catching Booth
and get the credit and reward money for it. He was even willing out of principle. For this reason, he made sure to give the tips he
to steal other detectives’ tips for this reason. While snooping found to his relative, so that he could keep credit for the capture of
around a telegraph office, he heard a tip that two men had Booth in the family.
crossed the Potomac. Baker contacted his cousin, Luther Byron
Baker, and told him to ride out to pursue this lead.

Word was sent by telegram to Lieutenant Edward P. Doherty The manhunters now had good information and ample resources.
to report to Luther Byron Baker. Baker showed Doherty a Unlike the earlier confusion, when cavalry spread out across
freshly printed photograph of Booth and two other men. Maryland, searching for Booth in every town, there was now a
Colonel Baker would stay behind in Washington, but Edward specific tip about Booth’s whereabouts and dedicated officers
Doherty, Luther Baker, and Everton Conger went by steamboat assigned to follow that tip and see if it would produce the fugitives.
to Virginia. It was April 24, and the manhunters rode on
horseback with the troops they commanded. They were now
on the right trail and would reach the place where Booth had
crossed the Rappahannock the next afternoon.

At the Garrett farm, Booth enjoyed a pleasant evening with the Booth and Herold felt that they needed to improve their
Garretts and slept in a proper bed. Herold rode with Willie Jett appearances in order to win over the acquaintances that they would
and his two comrades, Ruggles and Bainbridge, into Bowling make in the South.
Green to buy a new pair of shoes. He would return to Garrett’s
the next day.

Meanwhile, the cavalry divided forces to search Virginia Now that the authorities had good information, they were able to
farmhouses more quickly, with Everton Conger leading one use the recent technological innovations of the telegraph and
column and Edward Doherty the other. It had taken Booth ten steamboat to move quickly in pursuit of Booth and Herold. The
days to reach Port Conway from Washington. The cavalry, fugitives had, for many days, relied on more antiquated travel
relying on fresh information transmitted by telegraph and methods (rowboat and horse) for their escape.
traveling by steamboat, traversed the same distance in one day.

At Garrett’s farm, Booth spent a leisurely day with the Garrett Surrounded by comfort and people to talk to, Booth began to rest on
family, who did not know his true identity. John Garrett his laurels. Instead of doing the practical thing, which would have
reported that there was now a $140,000 reward placed on the been to continue further South as quickly as possible, he enjoyed
heads of Lincoln’s killers. Booth joined the family in speculating exercising his skills as an actor, pretending to be another man
as to the assassins’ motivations for killing the president. Booth speculating at Booth’s motivations.
said he would try to get a horse and then ride south to join a
Confederate army that was still fighting. But at this point,
Booth was becoming too comfortable. He ought to have left
sooner and continued south, placing more distance between
himself and the Union troops.

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On the Garretts’ porch, Booth spotted men on horses riding Once again, Booth failed to realize the limitations of his own charm.
past the gate and panicked. This reaction alarmed Richard Although he had spent a pleasant day with the Garretts, his odd
Garrett. Then, when a man approached the house, Booth asked reaction to the sight of horsemen passing by and to a man
Garrett’s eleven-year-old son to run upstairs and get him his approaching the farm tipped them off that there was something he
pistols. It was only David Herold returning from town, and no was not telling them. They began to suspect that they were being
gun battle broke out. Booth’s reactions, however, had startled taken in.
the Garretts.

Booth told Herold he wanted to spend another night at the Booth believed that the Garretts shared his principles and would
Garretts’. Herold thought this was a mistake. The fugitives therefore continue to show him the Southern hospitality he
were surprised, however, when John Garrett, who was expected.
overseeing the farm while his father was away on business,
refused to let them stay another night.

On April 25, the Sixteenth New York Cavalry rode into Port Rollins had not known that he was helping Lincoln’s killer and he felt
Conway. Luther Baker questioned William Rollins, who told him no loyalty toward Booth. He immediately gave the most crucial
he had brought a man with a broken leg and three Confederate information of the entire manhunt, giving the investigators the key
soldiers across the river the day before. Rollins also helpfully to finding the fugitives.
told Luther Baker that Willie Jett was courting a young woman
whose father owned a hotel in Bowling Green. The soldiers
followed this lead in search of Jett.

At 4:00 PM on April 25, Ruggles and Bainbridge rode to Booth and Herold’s ability to get information from contacts was
Garrett’s farm with a warning for Booth: the Union cavalry had being badly outstripped by the coordinated efforts of the
crossed the Rappahannock and would likely be there soon. government. This was the last piece of information they would
Having delivered this warning, Ruggles and Bainbridge rode off. receive before their capture.
Booth and Herold ran and hid in the woods behind Garrett’s
house.

This new bout of strange behavior from his guests worried It seems odd that the Garretts were unaware that Booth and Herold
John Garrett even more. He ordered them to leave, saying he were Lincoln’s killers, as Swanson’s account suggests. Surely, if the
would help them find transportation, but Booth and Herold Garretts had seen the posters advertising the $100,000 reward for
said they would not leave until the next morning. That night’s Lincoln’s killer, they would have recognized the famous face of John
dinner was nothing like the friendly dinner of the day before. As Wilkes Booth. More likely, the Garretts knew who Booth was and
the fugitives discussed how to find transportation, John were scared that Booth would steal their horses in order to escape.
Garrett grew suspicious that Booth and Herold intended to In this case, it suggests that the Garretts might have been willing to
steal his father’s horses. After dinner, John Garrett told the two shelter Booth out of shared principles, but not to allow him to take
men that they could not sleep in the house. He would allow their property.
them to shelter in a tobacco barn. Booth and Herold settled in
for the night, and they did not notice when the Garrett
brothers locked them into the tobacco barn. The two brothers
camped out outside the tobacco barn, suspicious that the
fugitives would steal their horses.

In Bowling Green, Doherty, Baker, and Conger found Willie Instead of protecting Booth out of shared principles or personal
Jett at the Star Hotel, just where William Rollins had said he loyalty (as Booth would have expected), Jett gave in when faced
might be. They interrogated him harshly, trying to frighten him. with the prospect of likely execution for supporting Booth.
Jett gave in: he agreed to show the soldiers where Booth and
Herold were.

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As the cavalry arrived at Garrett’s farm, the barking of dogs At this point, the two fugitives’ luck had turned. They were not
and the clanking metal sounds of the horse riders woke Booth. prepared to make an escape, even if they had been able to get out of
He and Herold tried to escape the barn and were stunned to the barn. Their options for action had run out.
find themselves locked in. With Booth’s injury, the two men did
not have the combined strength necessary to break a board in
the wall and climb out.

At the farmhouse, the cavalry demanded that Richard Garrett Garrett’s refusal to show the cavalrymen where Booth was hiding
take them to the killers. He was reluctant to do so. Doherty was a further suggestion that he knew who Booth was and wished
grabbed John Garrett and put a gun to his head, demanding to protect him out of their shared principles. Only once his son and
that he give up the assassin’s location. Reluctantly, Garrett told his farm were threatened (which placed his survival on the line) was
the manhunters that Booth and Herold were in the tobacco he willing to give up those principles. Next, the manhunters sought
barn. Baker then ordered John Garrett to enter the tobacco to force the son to risk his life for their principles.
barn and take the fugitives’ weapons from them. John Garrett
refused, unwilling to risk his life. Baker told him he would have
to do it, or see all the Garrett property burned.

Baker unlocked the barn door and pushed John Garrett inside. At the moment of confrontation, the cavalrymen proved reluctant
Garrett told Booth that he was caught and should give himself to fight for their principles. They first tried to make an innocent
up. Booth damned Garrett for betraying him and threatened to bystander take on this task for them and Booth took this bait and
shoot him. Garrett fled. Swanson speculates: why had the blamed Garrett for treachery he had not committed.
twenty-six armed soldiers sent an unarmed civilian in to
confront Booth? Surely a few casualties would have been worth
the honor of capturing the assassin.

Booth spoke to the manhunters, buying time and refusing to Herold failed to grasp how culpable he was in the eyes of the law for
leave the barn. Herold, on the other hand, wanted to turn having aided Booth during his escape. Booth, on the other hand,
himself in. In his mind, he was not guilty of anything. He had turned on Herold at the last moment, giving Herold no credit for all
only accompanied Booth, not killed anyone. Booth at first that Herold had already done for him. Booth’s uncompromising
refused to let Herold turn himself in, but then he called him a sense of how principles should guide behavior allowed no
“damned coward,” and let him leave. Herold stuck his hands out exceptions, even for such a close comrade.
of the barn door and was grabbed and whisked off by the
soldiers.

Booth knew that this moment would go down in history. He Although he was about to be killed or captured, Booth was so
was keen to script the perfect ending to the dramatic thoroughly an actor that he focused on the part he was to play and
performance begun the night he killed Lincoln in Ford’s not on his own emotions.
Theatre.

Baker and Conger argued over what to do next. If they waited Once again, the manhunters were not operating under the same set
until morning, Booth would be able to see the manhunters and of assumptions as Booth. They did not want to risk their lives in
pick them off one by one with his weapons. A sergeant named order to capture him and defend their principles. Nor did they want
Boston Corbett offered three times to go into the barn and to give him the chance to honorably die in a duel, as Corbett offered.
fight Booth one-on-one, but Doherty ordered him back to his
position. Conger and Baker decided to burn the barn to force
Booth to come out.

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Conger ordered the Garrett sons to pile straw on the side of To the end, Booth wanted to fight in a matter that aligned with his
the barn. Hearing the noise, Booth threatened to shoot the principles. Duels were an important part of the Southern culture of
Garretts. They retreated. Then Booth challenged the twenty- honor; being burned alive while cowering in a barn was not.
nine manhunters to fight him honorably in a duel. Baker
declined. Conger lit the kindling. As the barn burned the
manhunters could see Booth inside.

Booth could either burn to death, shoot himself, or come out Booth was not only remaining loyal to his principles at this moment,
and try to fight the manhunters. More than anything else, but also to his instincts for what would make the most striking
Booth did not want to be captured and brought back to conclusion to the drama he was spinning with himself as a central
Washington for a very public trial and hanging. He decided to character. By trying to fight twenty-nine men while injured, he
fight the manhunters. Encumbered by weapons and crutches, hoped to be remembered for incredible bravery.
Booth hopped forward, readying himself to do battle with the
assembled men.

Meanwhile, Boston Corbett walked to the side of the barn and Booth expected to face gunmen coming from the front but not the
spotted Booth through one of the gaps in the barn walls. As he side. Like Abraham Lincoln, he was struck unexpectedly and went
saw Booth preparing to bring a carbine into firing position, down without a fight.
Corbett shot Booth with his revolver. Booth crumpled to the
ground.

Baker and Conger rushed into the barn to retrieve Booth. At this moment, which Booth had hoped would cement his image as
Booth was paralyzed and unable to speak as they brought him a brave hero, he did not get to engage the manhunters in a battle,
out of the barn and laid him on the grass. The bullet had passed nor did he get to give a moving final speech. Instead, the actor, who
through his neck and spinal column. Eventually, he managed to was so used to filling a full room with the sound of his own voice,
speak, saying “tell mother, I die for my country.” The soldiers could barely get a single word out.
brought Booth to the Garretts’ porch and tied David Herold to
a tree nearby. He would have to watch, powerless, as his friend
died.

Booth begged to be put out of his misery, but Conger told him Stanton wanted to find out from Booth who else had been involved
they wanted him to get well. Back in Washington, Stanton in Lincoln’s killing, and he also wanted to give Booth a very public
wanted to interrogate Booth, whom he thought was only a trial and execution. By executing Booth, Stanton hoped also to strike
pawn in a larger Confederate conspiracy involving Jefferson a death blow to the principles Booth had lived for.
Davis.

Conger angrily demanded to know who had shot Booth. In the moment of true danger, Boston Corbett had killed Booth. The
Boston Corbett stepped forward, saying he had shot Booth to lives of his comrades were more important than the principle that
protect his comrades. Since Conger, Baker, and Doherty had the authorities hoped to prove by putting Booth on trial and
failed to explicitly tell their men to hold their fire, Corbett’s executing him publicly.
action was not against protocol.

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A doctor arrived and determined that Booth was dying. “My As he faced death, Booth’s last words expressed despair, but in a
hands,” Booth whispered as he died. Baker raised Booth’s hands very dramatic and memorable way. It is difficult to say if, as he died,
so that the dying man could see them. “Useless, useless,” Booth he finally faced his limitations as a human being, or if he continued
said. As the sun came up, John Wilkes Booth died. to act the part of a hero and defender of a lost cause until the very
end.

CHAPTER 12
Lieutenant Doherty sewed Booth’s corpse into a blanket and Although Booth was dead, investigators would still seek to learn as
put it into a wagon for transfer back to Washington. Conger much as possible from his personal affects, especially his diary. They
rode ahead, hoping to be the first to tell Stanton the news that wanted to make sure all of Booth’s accomplices were punished.
Booth was dead. In Washington, Conger and Baker presented
Stanton with Booth’s compass and diary. Stanton made sure
the body was Booth’s. He ordered an autopsy and an inquest.
He also had a few people identify the corpse.

Newspapers were filled with detailed stories about the To keep Booth from being seen as a martyr, the authorities
climactic moments at Garrett’s farm. Reporters also sought to prevented people from attending the burial. Otherwise, Confederate
cover the story of Booth’s burial, but Luther Baker prevented sympathizers might have used mementos of Booth’s life to preserve
this. He staged a fake “burial at sea,” then buried Booth in a his memory just as Lincoln’s supporters did.
plain crate at Old Arsenal Penitentiary. The grave was
unmarked.

CHAPTER 13
Stanton put eight defendants on trial: Mary Surratt, Lewis Several accomplices from the earlier conspiracy to kidnap Lincoln
Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt, Samuel Arnold, were tried for Lincoln’s death, despite having killed no one, while
Michael O’Laughlen, Edman Spangler and Samuel Mudd. Mudd those who were most instrumental to Booth and Herold went
was the only person who helped Booth during his escape to unpunished.
stand trial. Captain Cox and Thomas Jones were never
punished for the aid they gave the president’s killer.

Hundreds of manhunters sought to claim a piece of the reward Some of the manhunters may have been more interested in
money. In the end, sums ranging from $500 to $15,000 were receiving the reward money for capturing Lincoln’s killers than in
awarded to Conger, Doherty, Lafayette Baker, Luther Baker, defending the principles Lincoln stood for. For soldiers like these,
and to the noncommissioned officers at the barn, including who had been through four long years of war, this money would help
Boston Corbett, and to Colonel Wells and other interrogators. them to build new lives and provide for their families. This desire
Nineteen other men received smaller awards for their help was one that Booth might have disdained as being lacking in
capturing George Atzerodt and Lewis Powell. Richard Garrett principle, but the loving father and husband Abraham Lincoln
made a claim against the government for compensation for his would certainly have understood.
burned barn, which was rejected. Boston Corbett was never
punished for killing Booth. He enjoyed a period of fame, then
went insane and disappeared.

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CHAPTER 14
After a rapid trial in May and June, Mary Surratt, David Herold, During the months of the trial, the war was still slowly coming to an
George Atzerodt, and Lewis Powell received death warrants on end. This made it all the more important that the authorities make
July 6, 1865. They would be hung the next day. Since Booth an example of some, but show leniency to others. Samuel Mudd,
was already dead, his co-conspirators were now the focus of who helped Booth, was not executed, while Mary Surratt was. The
the attention. They were paraded to the scaffold, with their authorities may have wished to show the public that, because
arms bounds and their faces covered by hoods. Nooses were Mudd had eventually confessed, he was to be forgiven. Through this
slipped over their necks and they were hung simultaneously at act of mercy, the authorities could suggest to Southerners that they
1:26 PM on July 7. would not punish them harshly for what had happened during the
war.

EPILOGUE
President Andrew Johnson released John Wilkes Booth’s body To counter the principles that Booth stood for, the authorities
to his family in 1869. He was buried in a family plot in sought to prevent making his grave a shrine to those principles. In
Baltimore, Maryland, although no headstone marks the grave. contrast, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. stands to
immortalize the principles Lincoln lived for.

Today at Ford’s Theatre, a museum preserves the mementos By killing Lincoln, Booth created a role for himself in history that
collected after the assassination: including Booth’s keys, his would far exceed the fame he earned as an actor. But his intention
photos of his girlfriends, his Deringer pistol and his compass. was to be the hero of the story and to change the course of history,
The museum serves as a memorial both to Lincoln and to and in this he failed. He overestimated his own ability to reshape
Booth. But although Booth has gone down in history, the history at one stroke, using personal charm and skills learned on the
causes he gave his life for all failed. He failed to prolong the war stage. Booth also underestimated the legacy that Lincoln had
or to preserve a system of slavery. Lincoln became the true already built by the time of his death.
hero of the story that Booth set in motion with his plot to
assassinate the president. Across the street from Ford’s, there
is another museum at the Petersen house. There, visitors can
stand where Lincoln’s friends and family did as they watched
him die and vowed to continue to fight for the causes he
believed in.

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To cite any of the quotes from Chasing Lincoln’s Killer covered in the
HOW T
TO
O CITE Quotes section of this LitChart:
To cite this LitChart: MLA
MLA Swanson, James L.. Chasing Lincoln’s Killer. Scholastic Press. 2009.
Levine, Yael. "Chasing Lincoln’s Killer." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 20 CHICA
CHICAGO
GO MANU
MANUAL
AL
Feb 2017. Web. 21 Apr 2020.
Swanson, James L.. Chasing Lincoln’s Killer. New York: Scholastic
CHICA
CHICAGO
GO MANU
MANUAL
AL Press. 2009.
Levine, Yael. "Chasing Lincoln’s Killer." LitCharts LLC, February 20,
2017. Retrieved April 21, 2020. [Link]
chasing-lincoln-s-killer.

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