abraham lincoln assassination presentation

Abraham Lincoln Assassination — The Conspiracy to Kidnap and Kill the 16th President of the United States

April 14–15, 1865

The Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln took place on April 14, 1865, when Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln during a play at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. Lincoln died from his wounds early the next morning. After a massive manhunt, Booth was shot and killed, and eight others were found guilty of conspiring to kill the President. On July 7, 1865, four of them were executed at Fort McNair, ending the ordeal of the first American President to be assassinated.

Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in April 1865, while he watched a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C., just days after Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. Booth went on the run for 12 days and when the notorious assassin was caught, a Union soldier shot and killed him. Image Source: Library of Congress .

Summary of the Lincoln Assassination

The Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln took place on the night of April 14, 1865, when Lincoln was shot by actor John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. The incident was part of a larger plot, which also targeted Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward .

The assassination came after months of planning, including a failed attempt by Booth and his group of conspirators to kidnap the President. It happened just days after Robert E. Lee surrendered his forces to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House.

Following the surrender, Lincoln delivered a speech and gave details of his Reconstruction Plan to a crowd outside the White House. Booth was in the crowd and was incensed over the idea that Lincoln was going to give citizenship and voting rights to African Americans.

On the night of April 14th, President Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, attended a performance of a play — “Our American Cousin” — at Ford’s Theater. During the latter part of the play, around 10:20 p.m., Booth snuck into the President’s box above the stage and shot Lincoln in the back of the head at point-blank range. The President’s wife screamed and Major Henry Rathbone, a guest of Lincoln, tried to grab Booth, but Booth slashed him with a knife and then jumped out of the box onto the stage below.

Booth landed, turned to the shocked crowd, and shouted “Sic Semper Tyrannis!” which is Latin for “Thus always to tyrants!” Then he ran across the stage and out a side door of the theater as Rathbone shouted, “Stop that man!” and chaos erupted in the theater. Booth mounted a horse and rode out of Washington, to Maryland, where he met up with David Herold, one of his accomplices. Meanwhile, Lincoln was moved across the street to a house. The wound was mortal, and he passed away on the morning of April 15 at 7:22 a.m., becoming the first American President to be assassinated. When he was pronounced dead, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton said, “Now he belongs to the ages.”

A massive manhunt was launched to find Booth. On April 26, Union cavalry trapped Booth and Herold in a barn in Virginia. Herold surrendered, but Booth refused to leave, so the soldiers set fire to the barn. Sergeant Boston Corbett crept up the burning barn, took aim at Booth through a crack in the wall, and shot him in the neck. Booth was paralyzed and had to be carried out of the barn, where he died a few hours later. In the aftermath of that fateful night, the nation mourned the death of the President. Hundreds of thousands of people paid tribute as his body was taken by train from Washington to Springfield, Illinois. Meanwhile, Federal officials rounded up anyone they suspected of being involved in the plot and President Andrew Johnson had them prosecuted by a military tribunal. On June 30, eight people were found guilty, and four of them were sentenced to death by hanging. On July 7, the ordeal of the Lincoln Assassination came to a bitter end when they were hanged at Fort McNair. Among them was Mary Surratt, who became the first woman to be executed by the government of the United States.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Abraham Lincoln Assassination

Who assassinated abraham lincoln.

John Wilkes Booth was who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. Booth was an actor and supported the Confederacy. As an actor, Booth had a flair for drama, even in real life. Although he hated Lincoln, he may have also been motivated to carry out the assassination to increase his fame and be seen as a hero to the Confederacy and Lincoln’s political opponents.

When was Abraham Lincoln Assassinated?

Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 15, 1865. On April 14, Confederate sympathizer and actor John Wilkes Booth shot the President in the back of the head, mortally wounding him. Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C., around 10:20 in the evening. Lincoln was sitting in a private box at the theater, above the stage, watching a play called “Our American Cousin.” Lincoln died the next day, April 15.

What Happened Immediately After Lincoln’s Assassination?

Immediately after Lincoln was shot, Booth jumped out of the private box, landed on the stage, and shouted “Sic Semper Tyrannis!” to the shocked crowd. Then he ran out of the theater, climbed on a horse, and rode off. Lincoln was taken to a house across the street and a manhunt for Booth was launched.

Where did Abraham Lincoln Die?

Abraham Lincoln died at the Peterson House in Washington, D.C., at 7:22 in the morning on April 15, 1865. After he was shot, doctors had him moved to the house, which was across the street from Ford’s Theater. The Peterson House is located at 516 10th Street NW.

Why was Lincoln Assassinated?

Lincoln was assassinated because John Wilkes Booth wanted to eliminate the President to keep him from granting citizenship and voting rights to African-Americans, which Lincoln spoke about in a speech on April 11, 1865. Booth was in the crowd and said, “Now, by God, I’ll put him through. That is the last speech he will ever make.”

Who Became President After Abraham Lincoln Was Assassinated?

Vice President Andrew Johnson became President after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Johnson was sworn in as the 17th President of the United States on April 15 by Salmon P. Chase, who was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Overview and History of the Lincoln Assassination

John Wilkes Booth was a well-known actor and Confederate sympathizer from Maryland. He also had a flair for drama in real life. At the root of his conspiracy against President Lincoln was the issue of prisoner exchanges between the Union and the Confederacy.

The Dix-Hill Cartel and Prisoner Exchanges

On July 22, 1862, Union Major General John A. Dix and Confederate Major General D.H. Hill signed an agreement that defined how the system for prisoner exchanges would work during the Civil War. The agreement, known as the Dix-Hill Cartel, provided for equal exchanges for all soldiers who were captured and allowed them to return to their units to continue fighting.

When President Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation , he also approved the enlistment of African-Americans in the Union Army. In December, Confederate President Jefferson Davis issued a proclamation that said the Confederacy would not exchange any captured African Americans — or their white officers.

During the First and Second Battle of Fort Wagner in July 1863 , African-American troops from the Union’s 54th Massachusetts were captured . The Confederacy kept its word and did not exchange them. Lincoln responded by suspending the Dix-Hill Cartel on July 30, 1863. By August, there was a significant reduction in prisoner exchanges and the population of prison camps grew.

By the fall of 1864, there were roughly 30,000 Union troops in the Confederate prison camp at Andersonville, Georgia.

The Confederate armies suffered, as their ranks were reduced — by their own government — because it refused to exchange African-American soldiers.

John Wilkes Booth, his Conspirators, and the Plot to Kidnap Lincoln

After the prisoner exchanges stopped, Booth decided to take action and planned to kidnap President Lincoln, take him to Richmond, and hold him for ransom. The price the Union would have to pay would be to exchange the Confederate prisoners. Booth also believed if he was able to pull it off that he would be seen as a hero to his country — the Confederate States of America. Over time, Booth recruited a group of men — and possibly one woman — to help carry out the plan. The men involved were:

Samuel Arnold

• Michael O’Laughlen
• John Surratt

George Atzerodt

• David Herold
• Lewis Powell, who was also known as Lewis Paine or Payne
• Surratt’s mother, Mary, was eventually implicated in the plot. She owned a tavern in Surrattsville, Maryland, but moved to a house in Washington. Booth and some of the others were frequent visitors to her home.

March 17, 1865 — The Plot to Kidnap the President

In August 1864, Booth and Samuel Arnold — who were old friends — met at Barnum’s Hotel in Washington. They were joined by another of Booth’s friends — Michael O’Laughlen. The three of them talked about the war and found they were all Confederate sympathizers. It was there, at the hotel, that Booth suggested the idea of kidnapping Lincoln. Booth told them that Lincoln made frequent visits to the Soldiers’ Home outside of Washington and he usually went alone, on horseback. Booth wanted to kidnap Lincoln and take him through southern Maryland to Virginia and on to Richmond. The idea sounded reasonable to Arnold and O’Laughlen — especially since it would be done in a remote area — and they agreed to help. However, Booth had no concrete plan and had no idea how to move Lincoln to Richmond without being apprehended.

In the fall of 1864, Lincoln was re-elected President, which only made Booth want to carry out the plan more. He started working on the details of his plot. Throughout the fall and early part of the winter, he scouted roads and even bought supplies that were needed to kidnap Lincoln and transport him to Richmond.

Along the way, he met Dr. Samuel Mudd, John Surratt, and Louis Weichmann. On Christmas Day, he met with Sam Chester, an old friend, in New York. It was there that Booth introduced a new idea — kidnapping Lincoln at Ford’s Theater — and told Chester he wanted him to hold the back door of the theater open. Chester declined to participate. Booth was upset, and after a brief discussion, the two went their separate ways. However, Booth did continue to try to convince Chester to join the conspirators.

In mid-January, George A. Atzerodt was brought into Booth’s group of conspirators by John Surratt. Around the same time, Booth had dinner with Arnold and O’Laughlen, during which Booth introduced the idea to them of kidnapping Lincoln from Ford’s. They were shocked. Up to that point, all the preparations had been made based on the original plan. Booth even took them to the theater to show them around and tried to convince them how they could pull it off. Ultimately, it showed that Booth was thinking about making the kidnapping of the President much more dramatic than he had led them to believe.

Later in January, Booth met Lewis Powell, and the group of conspirators expanded. By February, some of them were making visits to Mary Surratt’s boarding house to meet with John. Despite his idea of kidnapping Lincoln at the theater, Booth continued to make preparations to kidnap him along the road to the Soldiers’ Home.

On Saturday, March 4, Lincoln was sworn in and gave his acceptance speech from the Capitol. Booth was in the crowd and heard Lincoln say, “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.”

Less than two weeks later, on Wednesday, March 15, Booth rented a private room at Gautier’s Restaurant and brought the group of conspirators together for the first time. Powell and Atzerodt were the first men to arrive. Soon after, they were joined by Herold, Arnold, and O’Laughlen. Arnold and O’Laughlen were apparently surprised and had no idea anyone other than the two of them and Booth were involved.

Around 1:30 in the morning of the 16th, Booth told the entire group he wanted to kidnap Lincoln at Ford’s Theater and he laid out the details of the entire scheme. Arnold disagreed with the idea, and told Booth, “You can be the leader of the party, but not my executioner.” Eventually,  Booth agreed to return to the original plan, but Arnold threatened to bail out unless they took action by the end of the week.

At 2:00 on the 17th, Booth called the group together and told them Lincoln was headed to Campbell Hospital, which was on the same road as the Soldiers’ Home. The conspirators met at Mary Surratt’s boarding house. From there, they moved to their assigned places. Booth, Arnold, and O’Laughlen rode about a mile down the road to the hospital with Booth but decided to turn back. Booth went on alone. When the group met up later at a restaurant, Booth told them the President never showed up at the hospital.

It is within reason to suspect that Booth orchestrated the entire event in an effort to implicate the others in the plot and to keep them from dropping out or even going to the authorities. Over the next two weeks, all of them went their separate ways and most left Washington. However, they still communicated, and the possibility remained for them to kidnap the President.

The Plot Revived

On Monday, March 27, an article in the Evening Star said the Lincolns would be attending some opera performances at Ford’s Theater. When Booth found out, he quickly sent word to the others.

April 9–10, 1865 — Surrender at Appomattox Court House

On Sunday, April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. Booth returned to Washington from a trip that night, and the news of Lee’s surrender appeared in the papers the next day. It was clear the war would officially be over soon. Booth responded to the news by going to a shooting gallery. Soon after, Booth gave up on any idea to kidnap the President and became determined to assassinate Lincoln.

April 11, 1865 — Lincoln Delivers His Last Speech at the White House

Two days later, on Tuesday, April 11, President Lincoln gave a speech at the White House that provided details of his plan — called Reconstruction — to restore peace and reunite the North and South. A crowd had gathered outside to hear him speak, which included Booth and Herold. Lincoln spoke about granting rights to African-Americans — including the right to vote to those who had fought for the Union.  When Booth heard that, he knew it meant African Americans would be able to become citizens. He turned to Herold and supposedly said “Now, by God, I’ll put him through. That is the last speech he will ever make.”

April 13 — Booth Expands the Plot

On the morning of Thursday, April 13, Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia, arrived in Washington. Grant went to meet with Secretary Stanton and recommended an immediate reduction in the war effort and restoration of trade with Richmond.

In the afternoon, Booth visited Ford’s Theater, where he learned the manager planned to invite the President to the performance on the 14th.

That night, Washington was filled with people celebrating the “Grand Illumination,” celebrating the end of the war. The Evening Star described it as “The very heavens seemed to have come down, and the stars twinkled in a sort of faded way, as if the solar system was out of order, and each had become the great luminary.”

Booth, Powell, Herold, and Atzerodt met in Room 6 at the Herdon House. It was there, as the celebration carried on in the streets outside, that Booth laid out his plan to assassinate not only Lincoln but also Secretary of State Seward and Vice President Andrew Johnson.

April 14, 1865 — The Lincolns Plan to see Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater

Lincoln made plans with his wife, Mary, to attend the British play “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater on Friday, April 14. The comedy starred actress Laura Keene and the show on the night of the 14th was the last in its two-week run.

Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia, were invited to join the Lincolns, but the Grants decided to make a trip to New Jersey to visit their son. There has also been speculation that the Grants declined to attend because Julia Grant and Mary Lincoln did not get along. Instead of the Grants, Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée, Clara Harris, joined the Lincolns.

Booth and the Conspirators Plan the Attack

After breakfast, Booth went to Ford’s Theater to pick up his mail. While he was there, he found out the Lincolns and Grants would be attending the evening’s performance.

Later that evening, Booth met with Mary Surratt at her home, and then Booth, Powell, Herold, and Atzerodt moved into their positions to carry out the plan.

Booth would shoot Lincoln. Because of his familiarity with the staff and the theater, it was reasonable to think he was the only one who would be able to get close enough to Lincoln at Ford’s Theater. Booth planned to shoot the President with his single-shot, .44-caliber Deringer Pistol and then stab Grant with a dagger.

Powell would assassinate Secretary of State William H. Seward at his home. Herold was told to show Powell the way to Seward’s house since Powell was not familiar with the city. Herold was supposed to wait outside while Powell killed Seward and hold his horse for him.

Atzerodt was assigned to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson, who was staying at the Kirkwood Hotel. Atzerodt was uncomfortable with the plan and tried to back out. He had been comfortable with kidnapping the men, but killing them took it to a new level. However, Booth pressured him to continue

After they had carried out their tasks, they were to meet up in Maryland.

Lincoln Arrives at Ford’s Theater

The Lincoln’s arrived late at Ford’s Theater, and the play had already started. However, when the crowd of around 1,700 hundred people saw the President, they rose in applause. The play stopped and the orchestra played “Hail to the Chief.” Lincoln took his seat in a rocking chair, which had been selected especially for him.

John Wilkes Booth Shoots Abraham Lincoln

It was around 10:20 when Booth arrived at the private box where Lincoln was. He found the room was relatively unguarded. The room had two doorways. The first door opened from the hallway to the room where the private box was. The second door opened from the room to the private box.

Booth slipped through the first door, into the room, and then barricaded the door behind him. Then he entered the box through the second door. He carried the pistol in his right hand and the dagger in his left hand.

He raised his pistol and shot Abraham Lincoln in the back of the head — at point-blank range. At the same time, he slashed at Rathbone with his dagger and cut him on the shoulder. Lincoln slumped forward in his chair.

Rathbone jumped out of his seat and lunged at Booth. Booth dropped his pistol, slashed at Rathbone with the dagger again, and cut him on the left forearm. It did not stop Rathbone, who forced Booth to the railing at the front of the box.

Booth jumped out through the front of the box — 12 feet above the stage — but caught his spur on the flag that was draped over the rail. He landed awkwardly and may have broken his left leg when he landed.

At first, the crowd was confused. Then they heard the screams of Mary Lincoln and Clara Harris from the box and heard Major Rathbone yell, “Stop that man!”

Booth Shouts to the Crowd — Sic Semper Tyrannis!

Booth stood up and yelled something to the crowd. Eyewitness accounts conflict with each other, but it is generally agreed that he yelled “Sic Semper Tyrannis!” It is the state motto of Virginia, which was adopted in 1776. It is a Latin phrase that translates to “Thus always to tyrants” and was meant to symbolize the American fight against the tyranny of Britain in the American Revolutionary War.

Booth Escapes from the Theater

Booth stabbed William Withers, Jr., the leader of the orchestra, and then ran out of the theater through a side door. In the audience, Major Joseph B. Stewart heard Rathbone. He climbed over the orchestra pit and footlights and chased after Booth. Outside, Booth found his horse waiting for him. He shoved Joseph Burroughs out of his way and jumped on the horse. He jumped on his horse and rode off in the night.

Dr. Charles Leale Tends to Lincoln

As Booth escaped, Dr. Charles Leale, who was in the audience, made his way up to the President’s box. He found Lincoln slumped in his chair, struggling to breathe, and paralyzed. Leale was joined by other doctors and they saw the bullet had entered Lincoln’s head, just behind his left ear. It had gone through his brain and was lodged behind his right eye. It was clear to them the wound was mortal.

The Attack on Seward Fails

At almost the same moment Booth shot Lincoln, Lewis Powell attacked Secretary of State  William H. Seward at Seward’s mansion on Lafayette Square. Seward was in bed, recovering from wounds he had sustained in a carriage accident. Powell entered the mansion by claiming to be delivering medicine from the secretary’s doctor. When he raised suspicions, he attacked Seward’s son, Frederick, and beat him with a gun. Then he forced his way into the room where Seward was resting and slashed at him multiple times with a Bowie knife. Private George F. Robinson and Seward’s other son, Augustus, tried to stop Powell, but he stabbed both of them, fought them off, and ran out through the front door of the house. Down in the street, Herold heard screams coming from the house and ran off, leaving Powell on his own. As Powell slipped away through the streets of Washington, D.C., Robinson and Fanny were able to stop Seward’s bleeding and save his life.

The Attack on Johnson Fails

Atzerodt rented a room at Kirkwood House, where Johnson was staying. Although he was armed, Atzerodt spent too much time at the house bar, became drunk, and wandered out into the streets.

Lincoln Taken to Peterson House

Union soldiers carried Lincoln across the street to the home of William Peterson. They took him into a room on the first floor and laid him on a bed. Leale remained at Lincoln’s side as other doctors arrived, including Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes and Robert K. Stone, Lincoln’s family doctor. The doctors all agreed there was nothing that could be done to save the President, and his death was imminent.

Over the course of the next few hours, family members and government officials arrived, including Robert Todd Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles. They could hear Mary Lincoln crying as she remained by her husband’s side. Eventually, Stanton took control of the situation. He had her removed from the room and then went about the business of running the government, including launching the chase for Booth and the people who were responsible for shooting the President.

Abraham Lincoln Pronounced Dead

At 7:00 in the morning of Saturday, April 15, Stanton let Mary back into the room. She left soon after and was not there when Lincoln was pronounced dead at 7:22 a.m. Stanton said, “Now he belongs to the ages.”

Funeral and Burial of Abraham Lincoln

In the afternoon of the 15th, Lincoln’s body was carried by an honor guard to the White House, where he lay in state in the East Room. On Tuesday, April 18th, the White House was opened to the public and a funeral service was held on the 19th. Afterward, the coffin was taken down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol Rotunda where it lay in state until the 20th. On the 21st, a prayer service was held for the members of the cabinet. At 7:00 in the morning, Lincoln’s body was taken to the train station, where it was loaded onto the funeral train. The train left the station at 8:00. It was taken to several cities throughout the nation, so people could view the body and pay their respects. On May 3, after three weeks, the journey ended in Springfield, Illinois. The casket was eventually buried in the Lincoln Tomb at the Oak Ridge Cemetery.

The Manhunt for John Wilkes Booth and the Conspirators

Booth went to Maryland, where he had his broken leg treated by Dr. Samuel Mudd. Word spread quickly that Booth was the one responsible. Stanton launched a massive manhunt and offered a $100,000 reward for Booth.

Booth and Herold hid near the Zekiah Swamp in Maryland while Union troops and others chased after them for 12 days. During that time, Booth kept a diary where he made it clear that he expected to be seen as a hero for what he had done.

Death of John Wilkes Booth

By April 26, Booth and Herold had made their way to a farm near Port Royal, Virginia, near the Rappahannock River. Around 2:00 in the morning, troops from the 16th New York Cavalry Regiment and two detectives — Luther Baker and Everton Conger — surrounded the barn.

Baker gave them five minutes to come out of the barn. If they failed to comply, he said they would set it on fire. Meanwhile, Conger prepared to start the fire.

Booth tried to negotiate and said, “I am a cripple. I have got but one leg. If you will withdraw your men in line 100 yards from the door, I will come out and fight you.” Herold disagreed with Booth’s tactic, and after a brief argument. Herold left the barn and surrendered. When Booth refused to come out, Conger lit the barn on fire. The fire spread quickly.

One of the soldiers, Sergeant Boston Corbett, moved in close to the barn and was able to see Booth inside through a crack in the wall. Supposedly, Booth raised his gun to fire and Corbett shot him in the neck. Baker and Conger went into the barn, picked Booth up, and carried him out. He was unable to walk because he was paralyzed. According to Conger, while Booth lay on the ground, he whispered, “Tell mother, I die for my country.” The soldiers moved Booth to the porch of the nearby house where he died around 7:00 a.m.

Trial of the Conspirators

Andrew Johnson was sworn in as the 17th President of the United States on April 15 by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase. Johnson retaliated against the South and the conspirators with a heavy hand. He put a price of $100,000 on the head of Jefferson Davis and decided the plot to assassinate Lincoln was an act of war, which Stanton agreed with. He ordered the conspirators to stand trial before a military tribunal. The members of the tribunal were:

• Major General David Hunter
• Major General Lew Wallace
• Brigadier General Robert S. Foster
• Brevet Major General Thomas M. Harris
• Brigadier General Albion Howe
• Brigadier General August Kautz
• Colonel James A. Ekin
• Colonel Charles H. Thompkins
• Lieutenant Colonel David Ramsay Clendenin

Over the months that Booth and the conspirators made their plans, they had spoken to, been seen by, and implicated hundreds of people. The proceedings were extensive and included the testimony of more than 360 witnesses.

The prosecution was led by U.S. Army Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt. He was assisted by John A. Bingham , a member of the House of Representatives, and Major Henry Lawrence Burnett.

Thomas Ewing, Jr. led the defense for Mudd, Arnold, and Spangler. The most notable portion of the defense was that of Mary Surratt. Her defense was led by Frederick Aiken and serves as the basis for the 2010 movie “The Conspirator.”

The trial lasted for seven weeks and eight defendants were found guilty of the charges against them on June 30.

• Samuel Mudd
• Michale O’Laughlen
• Lewis Powell
• Edmund Spangler

Mary Surratt

Spangler was sentenced to six years in prison.

Mudd, Arnold, and O’Laughlen were sentenced to life in prison

Mary Surratt, Powell, Herold, and George Atzerodt were sentenced to death by hanging. On July 7, 1865, they were hanged at Fort McNair.

Interesting Facts About the Lincoln Assassination

• Abraham Lincoln was the first President of the United States to be assassinated.
• At that time, the Secret Service did not exist, so Lincoln’s protection came from local policemen.
• Mary Surratt was the first woman to be executed by the United States.
• There were multiple plots devised by Confederate sympathizers to kidnap Lincoln.
• William Quantrill , the leader of Quantrill’s Raiders , also considered assassinating Lincoln in 1864.
• The rocking chair Lincoln was sitting in when he was shot is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

Facts About the Conspirators

Samuel Arnold was a childhood friend of John Wilkes Booth. In the 1850s, they went to school together at  St. Timothy’s School in Catonsville, Maryland. Arnold was a veteran of the Confederate Army and was initially recruited by Booth in 1864 to participate in the plot to kidnap Lincoln. When Booth suggested kidnapping Lincoln at Ford’s Theater, Arnold disagreed and they argued. They parted ways on March 15, 1865. Arnold was not in Washington at the time of the assassination and may not have known Booth had changed the plan and intended to murder the President. On April 17, Arnold was arrested at Fortress Monroe Virginia and investigators tied him to Booth and the kidnap plot. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, which was off the Gulf Coast of Florida. In 1689, he was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson. He published a memoir he hoped would vindicate his name. He died in 1906 and was buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, the same place as Booth and another conspirator, Michael O’Laughlen.

George Atzerodt was a German-born painter and boatman who ferried Confederate spies and supplies across the Potomac River between Maryland and Virginia. He was brought into the group because of his knowledge of the local waterways and his ability to handle a boat — skills that would be useful in the process of transporting Lincoln out of Washington after he was kidnapped. After Booth’s plans changed from kidnapping to murder, he assigned Atzerodt to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson, who was staying at the Kirkwood Hotel a few blocks from Ford’s Theatre. On the night of April 14, Atzerodt instead ordered a drink at the Kirkwood bar, became nervous, and left. He spent most of the rest of the night wandering the streets of Washington before he fled the city. On April 20, he was captured in Germantown, Maryland, at the home of his cousin, Hartman Richter. Atzerodt was accused of conspiracy to commit murder. He was tried, convicted, and hanged on July 7, 1865. He was buried in an unmarked grave at Glenwood Cemetery, Washington, D.C.

David E. Herold

David Herold met Booth for the first time in 1863 after a performance at Ford’s Theatre. Herold was friends with George Atzerodt and John Surratt and Atzerodt had introduced him to Michael O’Laughlen. Herold’s role in the assassination plot was to guide Lewis Powell through the streets of Washington to Secretary of State Seward’s home and then help Powell escape from the city. When Herold heard the screams coming from the Seward home during Powell’s attack, he panicked and fled the scene. He met up with Booth in Maryland and stayed with him until they were surrounded at the Garrett Farm. Afterward, Herold was taken to Washington for trial. During the trial, he was portrayed as slow, dull-witted, and simple-minded in an attempt to convince the court that he had been tricked by Booth. The argument was he could not be held responsible for his role in the plot. The reality was that Herold was intelligent and had studied pharmacy at Georgetown and also worked as a druggist’s assistant. When he was interrogated, he answered quickly and with clarity. Herold was convicted and then hanged on July 7, 1865. He was buried in Congressional Cemetery, in Washington.

Dr. Samuel Mudd

Samuel Mudd was a graduate of St. John’s College and Georgetown College. He received his medical degree from the Baltimore Medical College in 1856. He met Booth on several occasions and his house may have been planned as a safe stop for the kidnap plot. Booth and Herold arrived at Dr. Mudd’s farm around 4:00 in the morning on April 15. Booth was suffering from his broken leg and needed Mudd’s help. Mudd treated the leg and made a splint for him. Then he let them stay upstairs in his house the rest of the night. Booth and Herold left the next afternoon and headed into the Zekiah Swamp. Later on, Mudd insisted that he did not recognize Booth and that he did not know that Lincoln had been assassinated. However, he was evasive and nervous when he was questioned. He was tried and convicted of conspiring to kill the president, and given a life sentence of hard labor. He was sent to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, Florida. In 1869, he was pardoned and released by President Johnson. He returned to his farm and spent the rest of his life there. He died on January 10. 1883 at the age of 49 and was buried in the cemetery at Saint Mary’s Catholic Church in Bryantown, Maryland.

Michael O’Laughlen

Michael O’Laughlen was a childhood friend of John Wilkes Booth and lived across the street from him in Baltimore. O’Laughlen was a former Confederate soldier and one of Booth’s earliest recruits. In the fall of 1864, O’Laughlen agreed to assist in the plot to kidnap President Lincoln. At the trial, he admitted to participating in the failed abduction of Lincoln on March 17, 1865, but withdrew from other abduction attempts when it seemed that Booth’s plans were not realistic. He is unlikely to have had any role in the assassination plot. O’Laughlen turned himself in on Monday, April 17, two days after the assassination. He was tried as a conspirator and sentenced to life in prison. He was sent to Fort Jefferson in the Florida Keys and died there of yellow fever in 1867. He is buried in Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, MD, in the same cemetery as John Wilkes Booth and Samuel Arnold.

Lewis Powell, alias “Lewis Paine”

Lewis Powell was a former Confederate soldier with the 2nd Florida Infantry. He fought at the Battle of Gettysburg, where he was wounded and captured. After he recovered from his wounds, he escaped and joined Mosby’s Rangers in Virginia. In January 1685, John Surratt introduced him to Booth. Powell was tall and strong, and essentially served as the group’s “muscle.” During the months the conspirators planned to kidnap Lincoln, he used aliases, including Lewis Paine and Lewis Payne. After the plan changed from kidnapping to assassination, Booth assigned Powell to kill Secretary of State William Seward at Seward’s home. On the night of April 14, Powell entered the Seward’s home in Lafayette Square and severely injured Seward and others before he escaped. Ultimately, Powell failed, because Seward lived. Powell was tried, convicted, and executed by hanging on July 7, 1865. His remains were moved from place to place, and the only thing to survive — his skull — was eventually interred in the family plot at Geneva Cemetery in Geneva, Florida.

Edman “Ned” Spangler

Ned Spangler was a stagehand and carpenter at Ford’s Theatre who had met John Wilkes Booth years earlier while doing carpentry work on the Booth family home “Tudor Hall” in Bel Air, Maryland. When they crossed paths again at the theater, they became friends. On the night of the 14th, Booth asked him to hold his horse in the back alley behind the theater. Spangler turned the task over to “Peanut John” Burrows. It is unlikely that Spangler knew anything about Booth’s plan. Regardless, he was found guilty of helping Booth escape and was sentenced to six years of hard labor at Fort Jefferson Prison in the Dry Tortugas, Florida. He met Dr. Mudd in prison and they became friends. In 1689, they were both pardoned by President Johnson. Spangler moved to Maryland and spent time doing odd jobs on Mudd’s farm. He died in 1875 and was buried In St. Peter’s Cemetery in Waldorf, Maryland.

John Surratt, Jr.

John Surratt was one of the most important people in Booth’s group of conspirators. He had a college education and worked as a spy for the Confederacy. He traveled across Union lines and worked with Confederate Secret Service agents in Canada. Surratt was responsible for bringing Herold, Atzerodt, and Powell into the group. Surratt was involved in the failed kidnapping attempt in March 1865 but went to New York after it failed, He was in Elmira, New York on April 14. When he heard the news of the President’s assassination, he fled to Canada, then England. He lived as a fugitive in Europe for several years and served with the Papal Guards at the Vatican until someone recognized him. In 1866, he was caught in Egypt, extradited back to the United States, and tried in a civilian court in 1867. The case resulted in a hung jury and Surratt was set free. When he died in 1916, he was the last surviving Lincoln conspirator. He was buried in New Cathedral Cemetery, in Baltimore, Maryland.

Mary Surratt was a southern sympathizer who owned a boarding house in Washington. where the conspirators met, planned the kidnapping, and eventually the assassination of President Lincoln. President Johnson called her boarding house “the nest that hatched the egg.” Both Powell and Atzerodt also boarded there briefly. Following the assassination, John Wilkes Booth and David Herold stopped for supplies at the Surratt Tavern in Surrattsville Maryland – present-day Clinton MD — which Mary owned and had leased out to tenant John M. Lloyd. Earlier on the day of the assassination, she rode down to the tavern and gave Lloyd a package that Booth had given her earlier that morning. According to Lloyd, she asked him to “have the shooting irons ready.” Due mainly to Lloyd’s testimony, she received the death sentence for conspiring to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Despite five of the judges at the trial asking that she be granted clemency by President Johnson because of her age and sex, she was put to death by hanging on July 7, 1865. She was the first woman executed by the federal government in the United States. Her role in the plot to kill the President — and her death sentence — has been debated by historians for decades, and serves as the plot for the film, “The Conspirator.” She is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Washington, D.C. The Surratt boarding house still stands today at 604 H St N.W. Washington D.C.

Significance of the Lincoln Assassination

The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln was important to the history of the United States for many reasons. To begin with, it was the first time a President had been assassinated. It also slowed down the pace of Reconstruction and increased the intense hatred of some Northerners toward the Southern states.

Abraham Lincoln Assassination Videos

Abraham lincoln rocker at the henry ford museum.

This video discusses the history of the chair that Lincoln was sitting in on the night he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.

Last Living Witness to the Lincoln Assassination

Samuel J. Seymour was the last living person who witnessed the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Seymour appeared on the television show “I’ve Got A Secret” on February 8, 1956.

The Abraham Lincoln Assassination Devastates the Nation

This short clip from History discusses how Lincoln’s assassination affected the nation.

• Written by Randal Rust

The Abraham Lincoln assassination: what really happened?

What happened in Ford’s Theatre the night that Abraham Lincoln was killed? Jonny Wilkes breaks down the moments before the assassination, and the grief that followed…

• Jonny Wilkes
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The American Civil War was over: after four years of bloodshed and three-quarters of a million deaths, the United States had been preserved as a union. But the task of rebuilding – and establishing a nation without slavery – would not fall to the wartime president, Abraham Lincoln . For on 14 April 1865, taking a night off to go to the theatre, he was gunned down by an assassin.

Manhunt , a seven-part historical drama streaming on Apple TV+ from 15 March, offers a new perspective on that infamous night and the ensuing hunt for Lincoln’s killer, John Wilkes Booth , and his conspirators. As an adaptation of the bestselling 2007 book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L Swanson, it blurs the boundary between fiction and reality, bridging the gap between what we do know, and what we don’t. But what really happened?

The background to the Lincoln assassination

On 9 April 1865, Ulysses S Grant, the top general in the Union army, accepted the surrender of his Confederate counterpart, Robert E Lee, at Appomattox Court House, signalling the effective end of the American Civil War.

At the core of those four bloody years of conflict was the issue of slavery, with the Confederacy in the South fighting to prevent the emancipation of enslaved people. They lost. And what’s more, President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation , which freed more than three million slaves in the South, and preceded the 13th Amendment that would abolish slavery for good.

• Read more | How Abraham Lincoln's 1860 election victory set America on the path to Civil War

Then, two days after Appomattox, Lincoln gave an address from the White House balcony in which he voiced support for limited suffrage for the black population.

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Listening in the crowd was John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor and Confederate sympathiser from the slave state of Maryland, who blamed Lincoln utterly for the South’s woes. He had tried to abduct the president in order to cripple the US government; now, desperate, he decided to kill Lincoln.

“That is the last speech he will ever make,” said Booth.

The assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Three days after his address, on 14 April 1865, Lincoln went to Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC to see the popular comedy, Our American Cousin . He arrived late, causing the production to stop while he took his seat in the presidential box to the sounds of Hail to the Chief and a rousing ovation.

Joining Lincoln and his wife, Mary, were Clara Harris – a socialite and the daughter of a senator – and her fiancé, Major Henry Rathbone. The pair had been invited at the last minute: Lincoln’s general Grant was supposed to come, but he cancelled as his wife did not get on with Mary Lincoln.

• Read more | Why did John Wilkes Booth kill Abraham Lincoln? And how was he caught?

The play resumed and the president seemed to be enjoying himself, laughing along with the farce. But in the third act, Booth set his plan into motion. Having barricaded the door of the hallway, he snuck into the box.

The president’s bodyguard, John Frederick Parker, was nowhere to be seen. He was hardly a good choice as Lincoln’s sole protector that night anyway – a policeman with a long record of misconduct, including drunkenness on duty and frequenting brothels, it turned out he had gone to a nearby tavern in the intermission. The same one, by chance, that Booth had been waiting in.

Perfectly timing it with when he knew there would be a big, loud, laugh, Booth shot Lincoln in the back of the head with a .44 calibre derringer pistol. He then attacked Rathbone with a knife.

Abraham Lincoln’s death

After Booth shot Lincoln, the people inside Ford’s Theatre only realised what had happened, instead of thinking it was all part of the play, when the First Lady screamed.

A doctor in the audience, Charles Leale, immediately attended to the president, who was still alive but not conscious. He was carried across the street into a boarding house owned by William Petersen and placed in a bed – although he had to go diagonally due to being too tall.

With a host of doctors agreeing that there was nothing that could be done, members of his family, including Mary and son Robert, and his cabinet saw out the night at the bedside. At 7.22am, Lincoln died at the age of 56.

• Read more | Could modern medicine have saved Abraham Lincoln?

At that moment, Stanton reportedly said, “Now he belongs to the ages,” conveying the certain and far-reaching significance of Lincoln’s legacy.

As the next day was Easter Sunday, church congregations came together in huge numbers to mourn what became known as ‘Black Easter’. Lincoln instantly became a martyr, especially among the black population who came to see him as a saviour figure.

Lincoln’s body laid in state at both the White House and Capitol, before being taken on a funeral train for a procession to 13 cities. The train tracks were lined with tens of thousands of people despairing at the loss of the president who held the union together.

The last stop of the procession was Springfield, Illinois, where Lincoln was buried.

• Alternate history | What if Abraham Lincoln hadn't been assassinated?

What happened to John Wilkes Booth after he shot Lincoln?

Booth leaped from the box to the stage, landing heavily and breaking his leg, before yelling to the audience, “Sic semper tyrannis!”, the Virginia state motto meaning ‘thus always to tyrants’. Even injured, he escaped from the theatre and onto a horse left for him by a fellow conspirator.

A massive manhunt ensued, coordinated by secretary of war, Edwin Stanton . After 12 days on the run with the conspirator David Herold, Booth was caught hiding in a tobacco barn in Virginia. Refusing to give himself up, he was shot and killed by a sergeant named Boston Corbett.

Who else was involved in the conspiracy?

Eight other conspirators would be arrested and tried over seven weeks at a military tribunal. Four were executed: Herold, who accompanied Booth on the run; Lewis Powell and George Atzerodt, the men tasked with assassinating Seward and Johnson respectively; and Mary Surratt , owner of a boarding house where conspirators met.

Three others – Samuel Arnold, Michael O’Laughlin and Dr Samuel Mudd – received life sentences, although these were later commuted for Arnold and Mudd (O’Laughlin died in prison). Mudd had treated Booth’s broken leg, but the extent of his involvement in the conspiracy remains controversial – many historians believe he did not knowingly involve himself in Booth’s plot.

• Read more | Why do we say ‘your name is mud’ – and what does it have to do with Abraham Lincoln?

Finally, Edman Spangler, a stagehand employed at Ford’s theatre who aided the escape of Booth, was sentenced to six years of hard labour. Another man, Surratt’s son John, fled the country and escaped justice. Although he eventually stood trial, the jury failed to reach a verdict, and Surratt was released.

Jonny Wilkes is a former staff writer for BBC History Revealed, and he continues to write for both the magazine and HistoryExtra. He has BA in History from the University of York.

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Abraham Lincoln

By: History.com Editors

Updated: February 7, 2024 | Original: October 29, 2009

Abraham Lincoln , a self-taught lawyer, legislator and vocal opponent of slavery, was elected 16th president of the United States in November 1860, shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War. Lincoln proved to be a shrewd military strategist and a savvy leader: His Emancipation Proclamation paved the way for slavery’s abolition, while his Gettysburg Address stands as one of the most famous pieces of oratory in American history. 

In April 1865, with the Union on the brink of victory, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln’s assassination made him a martyr to the cause of liberty, and he is widely regarded as one of the greatest presidents in U.S. history.

Abraham Lincoln's Childhood and Early Life

Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, to Nancy and Thomas Lincoln in a one-room log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky . His family moved to southern Indiana in 1816. Lincoln’s formal schooling was limited to three brief periods in local schools, as he had to work constantly to support his family.

In 1830, his family moved to Macon County in southern Illinois , and Lincoln got a job working on a river flatboat hauling freight down the Mississippi River to New Orleans . After settling in the town of New Salem, Illinois, where he worked as a shopkeeper and a postmaster, Lincoln became involved in local politics as a supporter of the Whig Party , winning election to the Illinois state legislature in 1834.

Like his Whig heroes Henry Clay and Daniel Webster , Lincoln opposed the spread of slavery to the territories, and had a grand vision of the expanding United States, with a focus on commerce and cities rather than agriculture.

Did you know? The war years were difficult for Abraham Lincoln and his family. After his young son Willie died of typhoid fever in 1862, the emotionally fragile Mary Lincoln, widely unpopular for her frivolity and spendthrift ways, held seances in the White House in the hopes of communicating with him, earning her even more derision.

Lincoln taught himself law, passing the bar examination in 1836. The following year, he moved to the newly named state capital of Springfield. For the next few years, he worked there as a lawyer and served clients ranging from individual residents of small towns to national railroad lines.

He met Mary Todd , a well-to-do Kentucky belle with many suitors (including Lincoln’s future political rival, Stephen Douglas ), and they married in 1842. The Lincolns went on to have four children together, though only one would live into adulthood: Robert Todd Lincoln (1843–1926), Edward Baker Lincoln (1846–1850), William Wallace Lincoln (1850–1862) and Thomas “Tad” Lincoln (1853-1871).

Abraham Lincoln Enters Politics

Lincoln won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1846 and began serving his term the following year. As a congressman, Lincoln was unpopular with many Illinois voters for his strong stance against the Mexican-American War. Promising not to seek reelection, he returned to Springfield in 1849.

Events conspired to push him back into national politics, however: Douglas, a leading Democrat in Congress, had pushed through the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), which declared that the voters of each territory, rather than the federal government, had the right to decide whether the territory should be slave or free.

On October 16, 1854, Lincoln went before a large crowd in Peoria to debate the merits of the Kansas-Nebraska Act with Douglas, denouncing slavery and its extension and calling the institution a violation of the most basic tenets of the Declaration of Independence .

With the Whig Party in ruins, Lincoln joined the new Republican Party–formed largely in opposition to slavery’s extension into the territories–in 1856 and ran for the Senate again that year (he had campaigned unsuccessfully for the seat in 1855 as well). In June, Lincoln delivered his now-famous “house divided” speech, in which he quoted from the Gospels to illustrate his belief that “this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free.”

Lincoln then squared off against Douglas in a series of famous debates; though he lost the Senate election, Lincoln’s performance made his reputation nationally. 

Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 Presidential Campaign

Lincoln’s profile rose even higher in early 1860 after he delivered another rousing speech at New York City’s Cooper Union. That May, Republicans chose Lincoln as their candidate for president, passing over Senator William H. Seward of New York and other powerful contenders in favor of the rangy Illinois lawyer with only one undistinguished congressional term under his belt.

In the general election, Lincoln again faced Douglas, who represented the northern Democrats; southern Democrats had nominated John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky, while John Bell ran for the brand new Constitutional Union Party. With Breckenridge and Bell splitting the vote in the South, Lincoln won most of the North and carried the Electoral College to win the White House .

He built an exceptionally strong cabinet composed of many of his political rivals, including Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates and Edwin M. Stanton .

Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War

After years of sectional tensions, the election of an antislavery northerner as the 16th president of the United States drove many southerners over the brink. By the time Lincoln was inaugurated as 16th U.S. president in March 1861, seven southern states had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America .

Lincoln ordered a fleet of Union ships to supply the federal Fort Sumter in South Carolina in April. The Confederates fired on both the fort and the Union fleet, beginning the Civil War . Hopes for a quick Union victory were dashed by defeat in the Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) , and Lincoln called for 500,000 more troops as both sides prepared for a long conflict.

While the Confederate leader Jefferson Davis was a West Point graduate, Mexican War hero and former secretary of war, Lincoln had only a brief and undistinguished period of service in the Black Hawk War (1832) to his credit. He surprised many when he proved to be a capable wartime leader, learning quickly about strategy and tactics in the early years of the Civil War, and about choosing the ablest commanders.

General George McClellan , though beloved by his troops, continually frustrated Lincoln with his reluctance to advance, and when McClellan failed to pursue Robert E. Lee’s retreating Confederate Army in the aftermath of the Union victory at Antietam in September 1862, Lincoln removed him from command.

During the war, Lincoln drew criticism for suspending some civil liberties, including the right of habeas corpus , but he considered such measures necessary to win the war.

Emancipation Proclamation and Gettysburg Address

Shortly after the Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg), Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation , which took effect on January 1, 1863, and freed all of the enslaved people in the rebellious states not under federal control, but left those in the border states (loyal to the Union) in bondage.

Though Lincoln once maintained that his “paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery,” he nonetheless came to regard emancipation as one of his greatest achievements and would argue for the passage of a constitutional amendment outlawing slavery (eventually passed as the 13th Amendment after his death in 1865).

Two important Union victories in July 1863—at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania—finally turned the tide of the war. General George Meade missed the opportunity to deliver a final blow against Lee’s army at Gettysburg, and Lincoln would turn by early 1864 to the victor at Vicksburg, Ulysses S. Grant , as supreme commander of the Union forces.

In November 1863, Lincoln delivered a brief speech (just 272 words) at the dedication ceremony for the new national cemetery at Gettysburg. Published widely, the Gettysburg Address eloquently expressed the war’s purpose, harking back to the Founding Fathers, the Declaration of Independence and the pursuit of human equality. It became the most famous speech of Lincoln’s presidency, and one of the most widely quoted speeches in history.

Abraham Lincoln Wins 1864 Presidential Election

In 1864, Lincoln faced a tough reelection battle against the Democratic nominee, the former Union General George McClellan, but Union victories in battle (especially General William T. Sherman’s capture of Atlanta in September) swung many votes the president’s way. In his second inaugural address, delivered on March 4, 1865, Lincoln addressed the need to reconstruct the South and rebuild the Union: “With malice toward none; with charity for all.”

As Sherman marched triumphantly northward through the Carolinas after staging his March to the Sea from Atlanta, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House , Virginia , on April 9. Union victory was near, and Lincoln gave a speech on the White House lawn on April 11, urging his audience to welcome the southern states back into the fold. Tragically, Lincoln would not live to help carry out his vision of Reconstruction .

Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination

On the night of April 14, 1865, the actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth slipped into the president’s box at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., and shot him point-blank in the back of the head. Lincoln was carried to a boardinghouse across the street from the theater, but he never regained consciousness, and died in the early morning hours of April 15, 1865.

Lincoln’s assassination made him a national martyr. On April 21, 1865, a train carrying his coffin left Washington, D.C. on its way to Springfield, Illinois, where he would be buried on May 4. Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train traveled through 180 cities and seven states so mourners could pay homage to the fallen president.

Today, Lincoln’s birthday—alongside the birthday of George Washington —is honored on President’s Day , which falls on the third Monday of February.

Abraham Lincoln Quotes

“Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time.”

“I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.”

“I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot.”

“I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which that struggle was made, and I shall be most happy indeed if I shall be a humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, and of this, his almost chosen people, for perpetuating the object of that great struggle.”

“This is essentially a People's contest. On the side of the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men—to lift artificial weights from all shoulders—to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all—to afford all, an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.”

“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

“This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

HISTORY Vault: Abraham Lincoln

A definitive biography of the 16th U.S. president, the man who led the country during its bloodiest war and greatest crisis.

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The Lincoln Assassination

Crime and punishment myth and memorya lincoln forum book.

• Craig L. Symonds and Frank J. Williams
• Edited by: Harold Holzer
• X / Twitter

Please login or register with De Gruyter to order this product.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fordham University Press
• Copyright year: 2014
• Main content: 256
• Keywords: Biography ; Civil War ; History
• Published: December 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9780823263950

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Abraham Lincoln

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• Abraham Lincoln is one of America’s greatest heroes because of his unique appeal. His is a remarkable story of the rise from humble beginnings to achieve the highest office in the land; then, a sudden and tragic death at a time when his country needed him most to complete the great task remaining before the nation. His distinctively human and humane personality and historical role as savior of the Union and emancipator of the slaves creates a legacy that endures. His eloquence of democracy, and his insistence that the Union was worth saving embody the ideals of self-government that all nations strive to achieve
• Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in a one-room log cabin in LaRue County , Kentucky.
• Lincoln lived in Kentucky, until a land dispute forced his father to move to Indiana, when Lincoln was a boy. There Lincoln lost his mother at age 9, and gained a new step-mother.
• As was common on the frontier, Lincoln received little formal education. In his young adulthood, he moved with his family to Illinois, where he worked as a boatman, store clerk, surveyor, militia soldier, and ultimately a lawyer.

Political Career

• Abraham Lincoln began his political career and was elected to the Illinois state legislature in 1834 as a member of the Whig Party. He supported the Whig politics of government-sponsored infrastructure and protective tariffs.

Entering Politics

• Abraham Lincoln served a single term in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1847-'49. He used his term in office to speak out against the Mexican-American War and supported Zachary Taylor for president in 1848. His criticism of the war made him unpopular back home and he decided not to run for second term, but instead returned Springfield to practice law.
• In 1840, Lincoln became engaged to Mary Todd, a high spirited, well educated woman from a distinguished Kentucky family. In the beginning, many of the couple’s friends and family couldn’t understand Mary’s attraction, and at times Lincoln questioned it himself.

Lincoln’s Political Revival

• In 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise, and allowed individual states and territories to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery. The law provoked violent opposition in Kansas and Illinois. And it gave rise to the Republican Party. This awakened Abraham Lincoln’ political zeal once again and his views on slavery moved more toward moral indignation. Lincoln joined the Republican Party in 1856.
• In 1857, the Supreme Court issued its controversial decision Scott v. Sanford, declaring African Americans were not citizens and had no inherent rights. Though Abraham Lincoln felt African Americans were not equal to whites, he believed the America’s founders intended that all men were created with certain inalienable rights. Lincoln decided to challenge sitting U.S. Senator Stephen Douglas for his seat.

1858 Senate Campaign

• The 1858 Senate campaign featured seven debates held in different cities all over Illinois. The two candidates didn’t disappoint the public, giving stirring debates on issues ranging from states’ rights to western expansion, but the central issue in all the debates was slavery. Newspapers intensely covered the debates. In the end, the state legislature elected Douglas, but the exposure vaulted Lincoln into national politics.

Lincoln Becomes President

• In the general election, Lincoln faced his friend and rival, Stephan Douglas, this time beating him in a four-way race that included John C. Breckinridge of the Northern Democrats and John Bell of the Constitution Party. Lincoln received not quite 40 percent of the popular vote, but carried 180 of 303 Electoral votes.

Trouble Begins

• Before his inauguration in March, 1861, seven Southern states had seceded from the Union and by April the U.S. military installation Fort Sumter, was under siege in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.

Emancipation Proclamation

• The Emancipation Proclamation is a military order issued to the Army and Navy of the United States by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, It proclaimed all slaves in Confederate territory to be forever free; that is, it ordered the Army to treat as free men the slaves in ten states that were still in rebellion.

Gettysburg Address

• The Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg.
• Abraham Lincoln's carefully crafted address, secondary to other presentations that day, came to be regarded as one of the greatest speeches in American history. In just over two minutes, Lincoln reiterated the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and proclaimed the Civil War as a struggle for the preservation of the Union sundered by the secession crisis, with "a new birth of freedom, "that would bring true equality to all of its citizens, ensuring that democracy would remain a viable form of government and creating a nation in which states' rights were no longer dominant.
• Beginning with the now-iconic phrase "Four score and seven years ago," referring to the Declaration of Independence during the American Revolution in 1776, Lincoln examined the founding principles of the United States in the context of the Civil War, and memorialized the sacrifices of those who gave their lives at Gettysburg and extolled virtues for the listeners (and the nation) to ensure the survival of America's representative democracy, that the "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Only Pic of Lincoln in Gettysburg

13th Amendment

• The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude. On December 18, Secretary of State William H. Seward proclaimed it to have been adopted. It was the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted after the American Civil War.

Reconstruction

• Reconstruction began during the war as early as 1863 in areas firmly under Union military control. Abraham Lincoln favored a policy of quick reunification with a minimum of retribution. But he was confronted by a radical group of Republicans in the Senate and House that wanted complete allegiance and repentance from former Confederates

Assassination

• Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, by well-known actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. Lincoln was taken from the theater to a Petersen House across the street and laid in a coma for nine hours before dying the next morning. His body lay in state at the Capitol before a funeral train took him back to his final resting place in Springfield, Illinois.

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Abraham Lincoln

Election of 1860

Confederate States of America

Jefferson Davis

John Wilkes Booth

Ford's Theatre

Inauguration

Andrew Johnson

William Seward

George Atzerodt

Lewis Powell

Frederick Seward

Mary Surratt

David Herold

Multimedia:

Video - Lincoln's Assassination Devastates the Nation (5:49)

Video - What Booth Said After He Killed Lincoln (3:14)

Video - Abraham Lincoln's Long Goodbye (7:23)

Common Core Learning Standards:

Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies - 1,2,4,7

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How Americans rallied to find hope after the worst Good Friday in US history

We can only endure good friday because we know that sunday is coming. easter absorbs the lament of a cruel, violent world and declares that a better, just world is coming..

The worst Good Friday in U.S. history began with good spirits, as Americans rejoiced that the Civil War had essentially ended with Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender five days earlier.

Two days after Lee met Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House , jubilant crowds had gathered outside the White House, clamoring for a speech from President Abraham Lincoln, who delivered subdued words of reconciliation , not unaware of the long task of reconciliation and rebuilding that lay ahead.

Earlier that year, Lincoln had delivered one of the greatest speeches in the American canon, his second inaugural address : "With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. "

In the crowd at both speeches was a stage actor whom Lincoln had seen perform. John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer , was not stirred toward reconciliation by Lincoln’s rhetoric but was provoked. His original plan to kidnap the president and hold out for ransom was thwarted by Appomattox, so he turned toward darker fantasies.

On Good Friday at a Cabinet meeting, the story goes, the president admitted to strange dreams . In this nightmare, he approached the White House only to see his aides mourning the loss of the president . It was an eerie premonition of his own death.

When the meetings were over, Grant pulled Lincoln aside and politely turned down a request to attend a play, " Our American Cousin ," that night. The general and his wife were weary of the nation's capital, eager to see family in New Jersey and, according to many historians, not keen on a night out that included Lincoln’s mercurial wife, Mary.

Lincoln took Mary to the theater with guests Maj. Henry Rathbone and his fiancée, Clara Harris. The news of the president's planned attendance had been published in the newspapers, giving Booth the perfect opportunity to carry out his attack.

Shortly after 10 p.m. April 14, 1865 , Booth slipped into the presidential box and assassinated the man widely considered America's greatest president.

When news of the president’s death made its way across the country that weekend, pastors hurriedly changed their normally joyous Easter messages. Charles Hall, pastor of the Church of Epiphany in Washington, D.C., declared : “We gather now around an open grave, permitted to be opened on this Easter Day by the awful and wicked tragedy of this last Good Friday, to temper our pious gratulations as believers with the sorrow which has befallen us as citizens. The grave and gate of death open before us as a people, and we mourn the sanguinary crimes which have made our Good Friday so marked an event in the history of the world. … We are an afflicted nation, horrified by the darkest crimes which can befall a people.”

Trump is hawking Bibles. I hope he reads what it says.

What if Lincoln had lived?

Nearly 160 years later, Americans still wonder what could have been had Lincoln not died.

He would have faced the same challenges his incompetent and feckless successor, Andrew Johnson , faced, but Lincoln’s words and actions may have prevented much of the suffering endured by people of color over the next century.

Would the evils of Jim Crow have haunted America so deeply? Would progress toward America’s promise of “all men are created equal” have been realized sooner?

Historian Steven Lee Carson believes so: “The United States certainly would have been a better and more just nation, especially on matters of race, and in a far quicker fashion."

That Lincoln was slain on Good Friday is full of irony for a man who was raised by Calvinistic Baptists, quoted Scripture frequently and yet rarely attended church. Lincoln possessed a rare humility, shaped by his Christian upbringing.

In his second inaugural address, Lincoln suggested that the Civil War was God’s divine judgment on America for tolerating the evil of chattel slavery. And the weight of the awful slaughter his countrymen pushed him to depend on God’s providence.

“The purposes of the Almighty are perfect, and must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail to accurately perceive them in advance,” he wrote in a private letter in 1864.

Black history and the White House: How Black people have challenged US presidents to deliver on America's promises

Easter is a reminder of tragedy and hope

The story of Easter, of course, requires us to both lament the tragedy of evils such as slavery and the assassination of a president and to look forward to a world in which Christ will make all things new.

In Good Friday, we behold on a Roman cross an innocent man put to death by his enemies and raised up by God as atonement for sinners.

Lincoln, circumspect about his own role in history, believed, like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn would later declare , that “the line separating good and evil passes ... right through every human heart.”

This is an echo of the prophet Isaiah who declared: “We all have turned to our own way; and the LORD has punished him for the iniquity of us all.”

Yet, unlike the tragedy in Ford’s Theater on the worst Good Friday in American history, Christians look to the death of Jesus as good only because when Christ whispered his final words, “It is finished,” and when he walked out of a borrowed tomb three days later, it signaled the death of death.

We can only endure Good Friday because we know, we believe, that Sunday is coming. Easter absorbs the lament of a cruel, senseless and violent world and declares that a better, just and beautiful world is coming.

Abraham Lincoln could only dream of this for the country he loved. Christians believe with confidence that the city whose “builder and maker is God” is a reality.

Daniel Darling, director of  the Land Center for Cultural Engagement  at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, is the author of several books, including " The Dignity Revolution " and " Agents of Grace ."

‘Manhunt’s Tobias Menzies Explains Why You Have to “Park the Meta” When Working with Abraham Lincoln

Menzies also talks about the thrill of working with Julia Louis-Dreyfus on 'You Hurt My Feelings.’

[Editor's note: The following contains some spoilers for Manhunt.]

The Big Picture

• The Apple TV+ series 'Manhunt' explores Abraham Lincoln's assassination aftermath and the hunt for John Wilkes Booth through Secretary of War Edwin Stanton's eyes.
• The series uncovers layers of the conspiracy, the cat-and-mouse game, and the Black American story that played a role in the trial.
• Tobias Menzies found the compelling story, deep character curation, and exploration of the relationship with Lincoln intriguing.

The Apple TV+ seven-part limited series Manhunt explores the aftermath of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln ( Hamish Linklater ) and the hunt to find John Wilkes Booth ( Anthony Boyle ). Told through the eyes of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton ( Tobias Menzies ), a little-known figure in American history, the story unfolds as a personal and political tale of what can happen when people feel threatened by change. One of the things that’s so interesting about this series is that, even though you think you know the story of this famous presidential assassination, you’ll discover that there were so many layers that you hadn’t realized, from the conspiracy that set things in motion, to the cat-and-mouse game to capture Booth, to the Black American woman that played an important role in the trial that brought it all to light.

During this interview with Collider, Menzies talked about why he found Manhunt so compelling, how he approached finding who Stanton was, the way Stanton viewed Lincoln throughout their time together, what it was like to work with Linklater when he was in character, the Black American story that’s woven in, and what was lost when Lincoln was assassinated. He also spoke of the fun he had making a film with Julia Louis-Dreyfus , and the mix of things he tends to look for in a project.

Manhunt (2024)

The aftermath of the first American presidential assassination and the fight to preserve and protect the ideals that were the foundation of Lincoln's Reconstruction plans.

Collider: I found it so interesting to be so compelled by a story for which we already know the outcome. That really says something about the quality of the writing, the caliber of the acting, and the way it all comes together. What was the thing that most appealed to you? Was it the historical significance of it all? Was it something about your specific character? What was the first thing that really made you feel like you had to be a part of this?

TOBIAS MENZIES: Probably just the story. I was fascinated by a lot of the details that I wasn’t aware of. I knew that Lincoln had been killed in a theater by an actor, and I don’t think I knew much beyond that. There’s the vividness, complexity, and the sheer natural drama of what really happened over both the assassination and the timing of the assassination, within days of the end of the Civil War, and all the political and personal connections and relationships woven into it all. That was a pretty compelling thing to read, just to start with, and it made me very interested in being involved.

'Manhunt' Review: Gripping Conspiracy Drama Is Another Win for Apple TV+

A character like this guy that you’re playing, Edwin Stanton, is a real-life historical figure, but he’s not one that the general population would know much of anything about if they’ve even heard his name before. How did you connect with him? What helped you in finding him and figuring out who he was?

MENZIES: In a way, it’s an act of curation. You’re reading about him and finding out who the real man was, but also building something that can be at the heart of this TV genre piece. It was a combination of that and (show creator) Monica [Beletsky]’s writing. There’s obviously an interesting physical component because he’s an asthmatic, which is a seam through it with the physical rigidity to him. That rides alongside this fierce moral compass, which drives him through it. He had a personal relationship with Lincoln and a political relationship with Lincoln , which he is, on both fronts, trying to salvage, in some way. Those ingredients are all woven together. He was a man of sometimes few words, and there’s something of the Western about it, with this manhunt structure of one man hunting another man. You’re borrowing on the iconography of cinema for that, as well. That’s why it felt like pretty rich territory.

'Manhunt's Tobias Menzies Feels the Flashbacks Give a Real Sense of the Lincoln and Stanton Dynamic

There’s such an interesting dynamic between your character and Abraham Lincoln, and we get little bits of it throughout the whole season. What was it like to explore that relationship and dynamic, and to find that with your co-star, Hamish Linklater? How did you see the relationship that they had with each other?

MENZIES: It was really easy to do. We had the good fortune to have Hamish Linklater playing Lincoln. He’s a brilliant actor and a great human being, so in a way, we got a lot for free, in terms of just having him to do it with. I think an important ingredient of this show is that through these flashbacks, you get a sense of the depth and the warmth of the relationship . It was ideological because together they were deep driving forces to freeing the slaves and that political agenda, which wasn’t over. When Lincoln is killed, they haven’t delivered on land rights and voting rights, so they were cut off midstream, in a way. And then, there was also a personal friendship. When they first met, Stanton didn’t think much of Lincoln. He was just a lawyer from Springfield. But he came to understand his political genius and his ability to bring disparate factions together and unify people. One of the books I read is called Team of Rivals , which is a book about the cabinet that Lincoln brought together during the Civil War. They were very, very different political personalities who often didn’t like each other politically, but he was able to draw them together to great effect, and Stanton came to understand the power of that.

'Manhunt' Gives Tobias Menzies His Long-Overdue Chance To Own the Screen

When you’re doing a project like this and you’re playing a real-life historical figure, and you’re doing scenes opposite someone playing Abraham Lincoln, is it just two actors doing a scene together, or does it feel surreal to have a moment like that when you’re in it?

MENZIES: You park the meta aspect of it. You can’t replay the scene if you’re too busy thinking about who you are. You just have to be a person, and this is your friend, and you’re talking about what you’re talking about. You have to concrete it into the doable and not worry about that other aspect of it.

The Story of Mary Simms Plays a Big Role in 'Manhunt'

One of my favorite characters in the series is Mary Simms (Lovie Simone). I found myself really wanting to root for her. What was it like to do the scenes between your characters and to do all the courtroom preparation?

MENZIES: A big part of this show is an African American story. Monica was keen to articulate that throughout this piece, and at the heart of that is Mary Simms. There was a very natural frisson about those scenes. You can really feel the gears of history in those scenes, going to the encampment to ask her to take the stand and testify. There’s a poignancy about that because we, as an audience, know that a lot was lost through the death of Lincoln, and it took so long to get those rights back, until the Civil Rights movement. There’s a great poignancy, naturally, around that character, to a certain degree.

Exactly How Famous Was John Wilkes Booth Before the Events of ‘Manhunt’?

Acting is one of the professions where you can grow up watching and loving certain actors, and then you might become an actor and find yourself sharing scenes with the same actors that you used to watch. What is one of those moments that stands out for you? Is there someone that you were a fan of, that you later found yourself on set sharing scenes with?

MENZIES: I can think of quite a few examples. I worked a couple of years ago with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I made a film ( You Hurt My Feelings ) with her, and obviously, Seinfeld is in everyone’s blood, and lots of other amazing work. So, it was a real thrill to get to act with someone like that. One of the really fun parts of this job is that sometimes you get to work with heroes.

Tobias Menzies Pursues Projects With a Combination of Logic and Intuition

Do you know what you’re going to be working on next? How do you approach which roles you’re going to play? Is it an immediate connection that you have, especially since you have amassed quite an interesting array of characters?

MENZIES: That’s nice to hear. It’s a bit of a mixture of the writing, who’s doing it, and whether the story resonates. It’s partly logical and partly intuition, and a bit of a mixture. I like the variety. I’m in New York at the moment doing a play ( The Hunt ) at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn. It’s the variety that I’m drawn to, I guess.

What do you enjoy about doing theater and having that live reaction from the audience? It feels like it’s such a different experience to when it’s so contained in a film or a TV series.

MENZIES: It’s the same muscles, but a different kind of frame, I guess. As you said, it’s a live experience, so you get very immediate feedback. There’s a possibility of generating energy in that room each night, which you don’t really get in the more dissipated experiences of filming, which is broken up when you’re doing it in little bits. There are different challenges. When theater is good, it can be very exciting.

Manhunt is available to stream on Apple TV+. Check out the trailer:

Watch on Apple TV+

The Abraham Lincoln Assassination

Aug 04, 2014

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The Abraham Lincoln Assassination. By: Jackson Jerge. The Main Culprit.

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Presentation Transcript

The Abraham Lincoln Assassination By: Jackson Jerge

The Main Culprit • John Wilkes Booth was the main culprit killing Lincoln. Before John Wilkes Booth Shot Lincoln, Booth was a stage actor and a confederate sympathizer. After that, he joined a conspiracy that was going to kill William H. Seward, Andrew Johnson, and Abraham Lincoln. John Wilkes Booth had an easy assassination. The police guard who was supposed to guard the door to the presidential box left his post and went for a drink across the street.

The Doctor • Samuel Mudd was the doctor that helped John Wilkes Booth after he broke his leg. After when John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln, he jumped off the balcony and broke his leg. Samuel Mudd didn’t know that Booth shot Lincoln when Booth came to him for help. So basically today, he is now referred as the person who helpedhim escape.

April 14th, 1865 • That was the day that Lincoln got killed. That was good Friday that day. That day, Lincoln was going to see a play with his wife. The play was called “Our American Wife”. The play happened in the evening. During the play, the biggest shock in America happened. The scene happened at Ford Theatre in Washington D.C

The End • Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln • Lincoln: A photobiography By Russell Freedman • http://home.att.net/~rjnorton/Lincoln.html • Chasing Lincoln's Killer By James L. Swanson • Mr. Emmi • http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/lincoln.htm • For more information: http://emmi09.wikis.birmingham.k12.mi.us/Jackson+Jerge

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Ken burns speaks about lessons from lincoln during gettysburg film festival.

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Filmmaker Ken Burns sat center stage before a packed auditorium of 1,400 at Gettysburg Area High School. Actors Martin Sheen, Sam Waterston and film director and moderator Jake Boritt rounded out the panel. The topic: Abraham Lincoln.

All four men admit they've visited Abe in the middle of the night — paying homage at the Lincoln Memorial and seeking inspiration in his words that grace the marble there.

"'Four score and seven years ago.' Lincoln, in a sense, makes you do the math. They are words that invite you in," Burns said of the Gettysburg Address.

Burns has turned to Lincoln many times over the years as he has documented American history in a lifelong pursuit of appealing to "the better angels of our nature," a phrase Lincoln himself famously used in his first inaugural speech when trying to encourage unity in a country torn apart by the issue of slavery.

Burns shared with the audience a pivotal moment in the making of his landmark PBS documentary series, "The Civil War." It came during the audio mixing of Lincoln's assassination in Episode 9. Burns describes the mood in the audio room as he and his team worked with legendary sound mixer Lee Dichter.

Dichter was layering sound for the episode: the narration by David McCullough, the audio re-enactment of the play Lincoln was watching that fateful night at Ford's Theater ( Our American Cousin ), the audience's rising laughter, sound effects like soft footsteps ascending stairs (John Wilkes Booth's) and the door to the president's theater box opening and shutting, and finally, the gunshot that would change the course of American history.

Burns remembers the emotion and tension building in the audio booth as it was time for Dichter to lay down the sound of the fatal gunshot.

"Lee got right up to the final frame before the shot rings out, and I said 'STOP'!" Burns said.

Burns recalled how they all looked at each other with tears in their eyes and just paused and sat there, some with bowed heads.

"For 50 seconds we kept Lincoln alive, and that was one of the most memorable moments of my professional career," he said.

After the applause from the Gettysburg audience died down, Burns continued: "Good history is thinking it might not go the way you know it’s going to go."

It was the inaugural Gettysburg Film Festival, a weekend celebration and analysis of film and history thanks to a collaboration of Gettysburg College and the Adams County Historical Society.

More than 4,000 tickets were sold and most of the weekend sessions were sold out. Not a surprise after the success of a similar event last year — "Who Are We?: A Festival Celebrating the Films of Ken Burns," which was organized by Gettysburg College and the Majestic Theater.

The Gettysburg Film Festival also featured Burns as its premiere historian and filmmaker, as it aims to launch a diverse exploration of our history leading up to the nation’s 250th birthday on July 4, 2026.

"Film and television will be critical to this renewed historical exploration," said festival producer Andrew Dalton.

"History is not over. It’s still shaping us," added Boritt, the festival director and founder.

"You talk about Lincoln, and somehow it's not in the past, it's present and vital," said Sheen, acclaimed for the many historical roles he's played, including Confederate General Robert E. Lee and John F. Kennedy.

Sheen is also known for playing a president himself on "The West Wing."

"This place (Gettysburg) is a constant reminder of what he did. I cannot imagine our country without Abraham Lincoln," Sheen said.

Sam Waterston, who portrayed Lincoln on Broadway and in "The Civil War," then shared a story at the urging of Sheen. Waterston recounted how he prepared for the role with a visit to the Library of Congress, which houses a massive collection associated with the 16th president.

Waterston recalled how one of the library's directors "mustered a platoon of assistants to put as much information about Lincoln into me as humanly possible in one afternoon."

After a long day of research, one of the archivists led Waterston down into the cavernous basement of the building, through a labyrinth of hallways that led to a mostly dark room full of work tables. In the back of the room, Waterson observed another one of the researchers sitting under a light, finishing up his work.

As Waterson arrived tableside, his guide turned to him and told him: "Hold out your hands." The guide scooped up a small pile of items from the table and deposited it in Waterston's outstretched palms.

"The contents of Lincoln’s pockets the night he was shot," the guide whispered.

The captivated theater audience falls silent. This panel brought history to life in real-time, and they were just getting started.

Other special guests at the festival included filmmaker and longtime Burns collaborator Sarah Botstein; Expert-in-residence at Gettysburg College Susan Eisenhower; and award-winning, American roots musicians Jay Unger and Molly Mason, who have collaborated with Ken Burns on numerous documentaries, most notably The Civil War. Unger and Mason composed the series theme song Ashokan Farewell .

In addition to the legacy of Lincoln, the festival’s film clips and discussion sessions with Burns focused on what history teaches us about democracy being challenged and consequential elections. Burns, a resident of Walpole, New Hampshire, told the crowd that looking back is always relevant as we move forward as a nation.

"As a country, we can demand collectively of ourselves that we examine with an unflinching eye where we've been," Burns said. "If you don’t know where you’ve been, you can't possibly know where you are, and where we’re going,"

As for the contentious tone of politics in America today, Burns shared a string of film clips from his award-winning documentaries that quickly made it clear a divisive electorate is nothing new.

"I have been making films about the U.S. for 50 years, but I’ve also been making films about 'us,' and it took me that long to sort of realize there’s only 'us,' and there's no 'them.' And the hallmark of all authoritarianism is to say there's an enemy and it's a 'them.' So when you see somebody saying there's a 'them,' just run away," Burns said.

As for why history is always helpful in turbulent times, Waterston offered this: "There’s hope in history, and humor and heroism too."

"And lessons," Burns added. "That we must take forward to preserve the ideals of democracy we hold dear."

Which is exactly where Burns said his films factor in.

"The best arguments in the world won’t change a single person's point of view. The only thing that can do that is a good story," he said.