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The man that killed Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth

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The man that killed Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth

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David Herold, He was Boothe's main accomplice and stayed with him the longest.

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David Herold, He was Boothe's main accomplice and stayed with him the longest.

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If you scroll down, there is a video explaining why booth wanted to kill Abraham Lincoln

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If you scroll down, there is a video explaining why booth wanted to kill Abraham Lincoln

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John Wilkes Booth was aided by a network of conspirators who concealed his escape from pursuing Union soldiers.

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John Wilkes Booth, (born May 10, 1838, near Bel Air, Maryland, U.S.-died April 26, 1865, near Port Royal, Virginia), member of one of the United States' most distinguished acting families of the 19th century and the assassin who killed U.S. Pres. Abraham Lincoln.

Booth was the 9th of 10 children born to the actor Junius Brutus Booth. He showed excellent theatrical potential early on but also exhibited an emotional instability and a driving egocentricity that made it difficult for him to accept his brother Edwin 's rise to acclaim as the foremost actor of the day.

After an unsuccessful Baltimore theatrical debut in 1856, John played minor roles in Philadelphia until 1859, when he joined a Shakespearean stock company in Richmond, Virginia. He was widely acclaimed on a tour of the Deep South in 1860 and remained in demand as an actor throughout the American Civil War, including taking a turn as the lead in a production of William Shakespeare's Richard III in New York City in 1862.

A vigorous supporter of the Southern cause, Booth was outspoken in his advocacy of slavery and his hatred of Lincoln. He was a volunteer in the Richmond militia that hanged the abolitionist John Brown in 1859. By the autumn of 1864 Booth had begun to plan a sensational abduction of President Lincoln. He recruited several coconspirators, and throughout the winter of 1864-65 the group gathered frequently in Washington, D.C., where they mapped out a number of alternative abduction plans. After several attempts had miscarried, Booth resolved to destroy the president and his officers no matter what the cost.

On the morning of April 14, 1865, Booth learned that the president was to attend an evening performance of the comedy Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in the capital. Booth hurriedly assembled his band and assigned each member his task, including the murder of Secretary of State William Seward. He himself would kill Lincoln. About 6:00 pm Booth entered the deserted theatre, where he tampered with the outer door of the presidential box so that it could be jammed shut from the inside. He returned during the play's third act to find Lincoln and his guests essentially unguarded.

Entering the box, Booth drew a .44-calibre derringer and shot Lincoln through the back of the head. He grappled briefly with Union officer Maj. Henry Rathbone (who, along with his fiancée, was in the box as the Lincolns' guest), swung himself over the balustrade, and leaped off it, reportedly shouting, "Sic semper tyrannis!" (the motto of the state of Virginia, meaning "Thus always to tyrants!") or "The South is avenged!" or both. He landed heavily on the stage, breaking a bone in his left leg-though some believe that this injury did not occur until later-and was able to make his escape to the alleyway and his horse. The attempt on Seward's life failed, but Lincoln died shortly after 7:00 am the following morning.

Having met up with another of the conspirators, David Herold, Booth fled through Maryland, stopping to have his leg treated by Samuel A. Mudd, a Maryland doctor who would later be convicted of conspiracy. A massive manhunt ensued, fueled by a $100,000 reward. Booth and Herold hid for days in a thicket of trees near the Zekiah Swamp in Maryland. On April 26, Federal troops arrived at a farm in Virginia, just south of the Rappahannock River, where Booth was hiding in a tobacco barn. Herold gave himself up before the barn was set afire, but Booth refused to surrender. After being shot, either by a soldier or by himself, Booth was carried to the porch of the farmhouse, where he subsequently died. The body was identified by a doctor who had operated on Booth the year before, and it was then secretly buried, though four years later it was reinterred. There is no acceptable evidence to support the rumours, current at the time, doubting that the man who had been killed was actually Booth.

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John Wilkes Booth | Conspiracy, Siblings, Death, & Facts

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John Wilkes Booth, member of one of the United States' most distinguished acting families of the 19th century and the assassin who mortally wounded U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. After a manhunt Booth was killed during a standoff with Federal troops.

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On the evening of April 14, 1865, while attending a special performance of the comedy, "Our American Cousin," President Abraham Lincoln was shot. Accompanying him at Ford's Theatre that night were his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, a twenty-eight year-old officer named Major Henry R. Rathbone, and Rathbone's fiancée, Clara Harris. After the play was in progress, a figure with a drawn derringer pistol stepped into the presidential box, aimed, and fired. The president slumped forward.

The Martyr of liberty... [n. p., n. d.] (Library of Congress, Stern Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division.)

The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, dropped the pistol and waved a dagger. Rathbone lunged at him, and though slashed in the arm, forced the killer to the railing. Booth leapt from the balcony and caught the spur of his left boot on a flag draped over the rail, and broke a bone in his leg on landing. Though injured, he rushed out the back door, and disappeared into the night on horseback.

A doctor in the audience, Dr. Charles Leale, immediately went upstairs to the box. The bullet had entered through Lincoln's left ear and lodged behind his right eye. He was paralyzed and barely breathing. He was carried across Tenth Street, to a boarding-house opposite the theater, but the doctors' best efforts failed. Nine hours later, at 7:22 a.m. on April 15th, Lincoln died.

President Lincoln's funeral procession in New York City. From Harper's Weekly, May 13, 1865. (Library of Congress, Stern Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division. )

At almost the same moment Booth fired the fatal shot, his accomplice, Lewis Powell (alias Lewis Paine, Lewis Payne), attacked Lincoln's secretary of state, William Henry Seward, at his home on Lafayette Square. Seward lay in bed, recovering from a carriage accident. Powell entered the mansion, claiming to have a delivery of medicine from the secretary's doctor. Seward's son, Frederick, was brutally beaten while trying to keep Powell from his father's door. Powell slashed the secretary's throat twice, then fought his way past Seward's son Augustus, an attending hospital corps veteran, and a State Department messenger.

Powell escaped into the night, believing his deed complete. However, a metal surgical collar saved Seward from certain death. The secretary lived another seven years, during which he retained his seat with the Johnson administration, and purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867.

There were at least four conspirators in addition to Booth involved in the mayhem. Booth was shot and captured while hiding in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia, and died later the same day, April 26, 1865. Four co-conspirators, Powell, George Atzerodt, David Herold, and Mary Surratt, were hanged at the gallows of the Old Penitentiary, on the site of present-day Fort McNair, on July 7, 1865.

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Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln | Articles and Essays | Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress | Digital Collections | Library of Congress

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On the evening of April 14, 1865, while attending a special performance of the comedy, "Our American Cousin," President Abraham Lincoln was shot. Accompanying him at Ford's Theatre that night were his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, a twenty-eight year-old officer named Major Henry R. Rathbone, and Rathbone's fiancée, Clara Harris.

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The Lincoln Assassination: Did John Wilkes Booth Act Alone Or Was it a Confederacy-Ordered Hit? - History Unplugged Podcast

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Everyone thinks they know what happened at the Lincoln assassination... but do they? After 150 years, a multitude of unsolved mysteries and urban legends still surround the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Today's guest is Robert Hutchinson, author of the book "What Really Happened: The Lincoln Assassination."

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The Bounty Poster of John Wilkes Booth, David Herold, And John Surratt

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The Bounty Poster of John Wilkes Booth, David Herold, And John Surratt

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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As president, Abraham Lincoln faced our nation's greatest crisis-the Civil War. This installation highlights Lincoln's election in 1860, his leadership during the Civil war, and his tragic assassination.

Artifacts on display are from the John and Jeanne Rowe Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln Collection. The installation is supported by a gift from The Gupta Family with additional support from the Joyce Foundation in honor of Lawrence N. Hansen.

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Abraham Lincoln - Chicago History Museum

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As president, Abraham Lincoln faced our nation's greatest crisis-the Civil War. This installation highlights Lincoln's election in 1860, his leadership during the Civil war, and his tragic assassination. Artifacts on display are from the John and Jeanne Rowe Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln Collection.

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David Herold was born in Maryland on 16th June, 1842. He was the sixth of eleven children born to Mary Herold. David's father, Adam Herold was the chief clerk at the Navy Store at the Washington Navy Yard.

Herold was educated at Charlotte Hall Academy. It was here that he met John Surratt who in 1863 introduced him to his friend, John Wilkes Booth. Booth asked Herold to take part in his plot to kidnap Abraham Lincoln in Washington. The plan was to take Lincoln to Richmond and hold him until he could be exchanged for Confederate Army prisoners of war. Others involved in the plot included Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, Michael O'Laughlin and Samuel Arnold. Booth decided to carry out the deed on 17th March, 1865 when Lincoln was planning to attend a play at the Seventh Street Hospital that was situated on the outskirts of Washington. The kidnap attempt was abandoned when Lincoln decided at the last moment to cancel his visit.

On 9th April, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox. Two days later Booth attended a public meeting in Washington where he heard Abraham Lincoln make a speech where he explained his views that voting rights should be granted to some African Americans. Booth was furious and decided to assassinate the president before he could carry out these plans.

Booth persuaded most of the people, including Herold, who had been involved in the kidnap plot to join him in his plan. Booth discovered that on 14th April, Abraham Lincoln was planning to attend the evening performance of Our American Cousin at the Ford Theatre in Washington. Booth decided he would assassinate Lincoln while George Atzerodt would kill Vice President Andrew Johnson and Powell agreed to murder William Seward, the Secretary of State. All attacks would take place at approximately 10.15 p.m. that night.

At 10.00 p.m. Herold and Lewis Powell arrived at the home of William Seward, who was recovering from a serious carriage accident. When William Bell, a servant opened the door, Powell told him he had medicine from Dr. Tullio Verdi. When Bell refused to let him in, Powell pushed past him and rushed up the stairs. Frederick Seward, the Secretary of State's son, came out and asked him what he wanted. Powell hit Steward with his revolver so hard he fracturing his skull in two places. Powell was now confronted with George Robinson, Seward's bodyguard. Powell slashed him with his bowie knife before leaping onto Seward's bed and repeatedly stabbed him. Powell, thinking he had killed him, racing out of the house where Herold was waiting with his horse.

Herold went to Mary Surratt's boarding house and together with John Wilkes Booth, who had successfully killed Abraham Lincoln, headed for the Deep South.

At 4.00 a.m. Herold and John Wilkes Booth arrived at the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd who treated Booth's broken leg. With the help of other sympathizers they reached Port Royal, Virginia, on the morning of 26th April. They hid in a barn owned by Richard Garrett. However, federal troops arrived soon afterwards and the men were ordered to surrender. Herold came out of the barn but Booth refused and so the barn was set on fire. While this was happening one of the soldiers, Sergeant Boston Corbett, found a gap in the barn and shot Booth. His body was dragged from the barn and after being searched the soldiers recovered his diary.

On 1st May, 1865, President Andrew Johnson ordered the formation of a nine-man military commission to try the conspirators. It was argued by Edwin M. Stanton, the Secretary of War, that the men should be tried by a military court as Lincoln had been Commander in Chief of the army. Several members of the cabinet, including Gideon Welles (Secretary of the Navy), Edward Bates (Attorney General), Orville H. Browning (Secretary of the Interior), and Henry McCulloch (Secretary of the Treasury), disapproved, preferring a civil trial. However, James Speed, the Attorney General, agreed with Stanton and therefore the defendants did not enjoy the advantages of a jury trial.

The trial began on 10th May, 1865. The military commission included leading generals such as David Hunter, Lewis Wallace, Thomas Harris and Alvin Howe and Joseph Holt was the government's chief prosecutor. Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, David Herold, Samuel Mudd, Michael O'Laughlin, Edman Spangler and Samuel Arnold were all charged with conspiring to murder Lincoln. During the trial Holt attempted to persuade the military commission that Jefferson Davis and the Confederate government had been involved in conspiracy.

Joseph Holt attempted to obscure the fact that there were two plots: the first to kidnap and the second to assassinate. It was important for the prosecution not to reveal the existence of a diary taken from the body of John Wilkes Booth. The diary made it clear that the assassination plan dated from 14th April. The defence surprisingly did not call for Booth's diary to be produced in court.

Herold's lawyer, Frederick Stone, called several witnesses to show that his client did not hold strong political opinions. He also claimed that Herold had the mentality of an 11 year old and was not responsible for his actions.

On 29th June, 1865, Herold, Lewis Powell, Mary Surratt, George Atzerodt, David Herold, Samuel Mudd, Michael O'Laughlin, Edman Spangler and Samuel Arnold were found guilty of being involved in the conspiracy to murder Abraham Lincoln. Herold, Powell, Surratt and Atzerodt were hanged at Washington Penitentiary on 7th July, 1865.
Execution of Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold and
George Atzerodt at Washington Penitentiary on 7th July, 1865.

(1) Otto Eisenchiml, Why Was Lincoln Murdered? (1937)

Another bizarre feature in the story of Booth's pursuit is the failure of the War Department to prosecute some people who had sheltered Booth and helped him in his flight. Again, the House of Representatives Committee, debating the distribution of rewards, was puzzled. In a proclamation dated 20 April, Stanton had declared that "All persons harboring or secreting the conspirators or aiding their concealment or escape, will be treated as accomplices in the murder of the President and shall be subject to trial before a military commission, and the punishment of death.

(2) Ben Pittman, The Assassination of President Lincoln and the Trial of the Conspirators (1865)

Herold is a doltish, insignificant-looking man with a slender frame and irresolute, cowardly appearance.

I was determined to get rope that would not break, for you know when a rope breaks at a hanging there is a time-worn maxim that the person intended to be hanged was innocent. The night before the execution I took the rope to my room and there made the nooses. I preserved the piece of rope intended for Mrs. Surratt for the last.

I had the graves for the four persons dug just beyond the scaffolding. I found some difficulty in having the work done, as the arsenal attaches were superstitious. I finally succeeded in getting soldiers to dig the holes but they were only three feet deep.

The hanging gave me a lot of trouble. I had read somewhere that when a person was hanged his tongue would protrude from his mouth. I did not want to see four tongues sticking out before me, so I went to the storehouse, got a new white shelter tent and made four hoods out of it. I tore strips of the tent to bind the legs of the victims.

(4) William Coxshall, a member of the Veteran Reserve Corps, was assigned the task of dropping the trapdoor on the left side of the gallows.

The prison door opened and the condemned came in. Mrs. Surratt was first, near fainting after a look at the gallows. She would have fallen had they not supported her. Herold was next. The young man was frightened to death. He trembled and shook and seemed on the verge of fainting. Atzerodt shuffled along in carpet slippers, a long white nightcap on his head. Under different circumstances, he would have been ridiculous.

With the exception of Powell, all were on the verge of collapse. They had to pass the open graves to reach the gallows steps and could gaze down into the shallow holes and even touch the crude pine boxes that were to receive them. Powell was as stolid as if he were a spectator instead of a principal. Herold wore a black hat until he reached the gallows. Powell was bareheaded, but he reached out and took a straw hat off the head of an officer. He wore it until they put the black bag on him. The condemned were led to the chairs and Captain Rath seated them. Mrs. Surratt and Powell were on our drop, Herold and Atzerodt on the other.

Umbrellas were raised above the woman and Hartranft, who read the warrants and findings. Then the clergy took over talking what seemed to me interminably. The strain was getting worse. I became nauseated, what with the heat and the waiting, and taking hold of the supporting post, I hung on and vomited. I felt a little better after that, but not too good.

Powell stood forward at the very front of the droop. Mrs. Surratt was barely past the break, as were the other two. Rath came down the steps and gave the signal. Mrs. Surratt shot down and I believed died instantly. Powell was a strong brute and died hard. It was enough to see these two without looking at the others, but they told us both died quickly.

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David Herold was born in Maryland on 16th June, 1842. He was the sixth of eleven children born to Mary Herold. David's father, Adam Herold was the chief clerk at the Navy Store at the Washington Navy Yard. Herold was educated at Charlotte Hall Academy.

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The Insane Story of the Guy Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln | Washingtonian (DC)

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Meet Boston Corbett, the self-castrated hatmaker who was John Wilkes Booth’s Jack Ruby.

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America's Presidents: National Portrait Gallery

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John H. Surratt, John Wilkes Booth, and David E. Herold

See more items in

National Portrait Gallery Collection

Object number

NPG.85.32

Exhibition Label

Abraham Lincoln's assassination caused confusion, widespread panic, and anger in the North as well as foreboding in the South, as it anticipated a violent reaction if it turned out that John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865) had been acting on orders from the Confederacy. Wholesale roundups of suspected conspirators and sympathizers occurred in the weeks after the assassination. Union authorities identified the conspirators fairly quickly, however. It is evidence of the ongoing nature of the investigation that this "Wanted" poster correctly identifies John Wilkes Booth as the conspiracy's prime mover. It flanks him with two of the lesser actors in the plot. David E. Herold (c. 1842-1865)-misspelled "Harold" here-who had failed to assist another conspirator, Lewis Powell, escaped from the city with Booth. Both men eluded pursuit until April 26, when Union troops cornered them in a Virginia farmhouse. Herold surrendered, but Booth resisted and was shot and killed. John Surratt (1844-1919) successfully escaped the country but was captured and returned to the United States in 1867. He was tried for his part in the conspiracy and freed after a mistrial.

Credit Line

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Artist

Unidentified Artist

Sitter

John H. Surratt, 1844 - 1916

John Wilkes Booth, 26 Aug 1838 - 26 Apr 1865

David E. Herold, c. 1842 - 1865

Associated Person

Abraham Lincoln, 12 Feb 1809 - 15 Apr 1865

Alternate Title

One Hundred Thousand Dollar Reward

Medium

Printed Broadside with albumen silver prints

Dimensions

Image/Sheet: 61.4 × 31.9 × 1.6 cm (24 3/16 × 12 9/16 × 5/8")

Mat (Verified): 81.3 × 50.8 cm (32 × 20")

Data Source

National Portrait Gallery

Restrictions & Rights

CC0

Type

Print

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John H. Surratt, John Wilkes Booth, and David E. Herold

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Skip to main content John H. Surratt, John Wilkes Booth, and David E. Herold See more items in National Portrait Gallery Collection Object number NPG.85.32 Exhibition Label Abraham Lincoln's assassination caused confusion, widespread panic, and anger in the North as well as foreboding in the South, as it anticipated a violent reaction if it turned out that John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865) had been acting on orders from the Confederacy.

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John Wilkes Booth, (born May 10, 1838, near Bel Air, Maryland, U.S.-died April 26, 1865, near Port Royal, Virginia), member of one of the United States' most distinguished acting families of the 19th century and the assassin who killed U.S. Pres. Abraham Lincoln.

Booth was the 9th of 10 children born to the actor Junius Brutus Booth. He showed excellent theatrical potential early on but also exhibited an emotional instability and a driving egocentricity that made it difficult for him to accept his brother Edwin 's rise to acclaim as the foremost actor of the day.

After an unsuccessful Baltimore theatrical debut in 1856, John played minor roles in Philadelphia until 1859, when he joined a Shakespearean stock company in Richmond, Virginia. He was widely acclaimed on a tour of the Deep South in 1860 and remained in demand as an actor throughout the American Civil War, including taking a turn as the lead in a production of William Shakespeare's Richard III in New York City in 1862.

A vigorous supporter of the Southern cause, Booth was outspoken in his advocacy of slavery and his hatred of Lincoln. He was a volunteer in the Richmond militia that hanged the abolitionist John Brown in 1859. By the autumn of 1864 Booth had begun to plan a sensational abduction of President Lincoln. He recruited several coconspirators, and throughout the winter of 1864-65 the group gathered frequently in Washington, D.C., where they mapped out a number of alternative abduction plans. After several attempts had miscarried, Booth resolved to destroy the president and his officers no matter what the cost.

On the morning of April 14, 1865, Booth learned that the president was to attend an evening performance of the comedy Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in the capital. Booth hurriedly assembled his band and assigned each member his task, including the murder of Secretary of State William Seward. He himself would kill Lincoln. About 6:00 pm Booth entered the deserted theatre, where he tampered with the outer door of the presidential box so that it could be jammed shut from the inside. He returned during the play's third act to find Lincoln and his guests essentially unguarded.

Entering the box, Booth drew a .44-calibre derringer and shot Lincoln through the back of the head. He grappled briefly with Union officer Maj. Henry Rathbone (who, along with his fiancée, was in the box as the Lincolns' guest), swung himself over the balustrade, and leaped off it, reportedly shouting, "Sic semper tyrannis!" (the motto of the state of Virginia, meaning "Thus always to tyrants!") or "The South is avenged!" or both. He landed heavily on the stage, breaking a bone in his left leg-though some believe that this injury did not occur until later-and was able to make his escape to the alleyway and his horse. The attempt on Seward's life failed, but Lincoln died shortly after 7:00 am the following morning.

Having met up with another of the conspirators, David Herold, Booth fled through Maryland, stopping to have his leg treated by Samuel A. Mudd, a Maryland doctor who would later be convicted of conspiracy. A massive manhunt ensued, fueled by a $100,000 reward. Booth and Herold hid for days in a thicket of trees near the Zekiah Swamp in Maryland. On April 26, Federal troops arrived at a farm in Virginia, just south of the Rappahannock River, where Booth was hiding in a tobacco barn. Herold gave himself up before the barn was set afire, but Booth refused to surrender. After being shot, either by a soldier or by himself, Booth was carried to the porch of the farmhouse, where he subsequently died. The body was identified by a doctor who had operated on Booth the year before, and it was then secretly buried, though four years later it was reinterred. There is no acceptable evidence to support the rumours, current at the time, doubting that the man who had been killed was actually Booth.

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John Wilkes Booth | Conspiracy, Siblings, Death, & Facts

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John Wilkes Booth, member of one of the United States' most distinguished acting families of the 19th century and the assassin who mortally wounded U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. After a manhunt Booth was killed during a standoff with Federal troops.

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On the evening of April 14, 1865, while attending a special performance of the comedy, "Our American Cousin," President Abraham Lincoln was shot. Accompanying him at Ford's Theatre that night were his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, a twenty-eight year-old officer named Major Henry R. Rathbone, and Rathbone's fiancée, Clara Harris. After the play was in progress, a figure with a drawn derringer pistol stepped into the presidential box, aimed, and fired. The president slumped forward.

The Martyr of liberty... [n. p., n. d.] (Library of Congress, Stern Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division.)

The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, dropped the pistol and waved a dagger. Rathbone lunged at him, and though slashed in the arm, forced the killer to the railing. Booth leapt from the balcony and caught the spur of his left boot on a flag draped over the rail, and broke a bone in his leg on landing. Though injured, he rushed out the back door, and disappeared into the night on horseback.

A doctor in the audience, Dr. Charles Leale, immediately went upstairs to the box. The bullet had entered through Lincoln's left ear and lodged behind his right eye. He was paralyzed and barely breathing. He was carried across Tenth Street, to a boarding-house opposite the theater, but the doctors' best efforts failed. Nine hours later, at 7:22 a.m. on April 15th, Lincoln died.

President Lincoln's funeral procession in New York City. From Harper's Weekly, May 13, 1865. (Library of Congress, Stern Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division. )

At almost the same moment Booth fired the fatal shot, his accomplice, Lewis Powell (alias Lewis Paine, Lewis Payne), attacked Lincoln's secretary of state, William Henry Seward, at his home on Lafayette Square. Seward lay in bed, recovering from a carriage accident. Powell entered the mansion, claiming to have a delivery of medicine from the secretary's doctor. Seward's son, Frederick, was brutally beaten while trying to keep Powell from his father's door. Powell slashed the secretary's throat twice, then fought his way past Seward's son Augustus, an attending hospital corps veteran, and a State Department messenger.

Powell escaped into the night, believing his deed complete. However, a metal surgical collar saved Seward from certain death. The secretary lived another seven years, during which he retained his seat with the Johnson administration, and purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867.

There were at least four conspirators in addition to Booth involved in the mayhem. Booth was shot and captured while hiding in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia, and died later the same day, April 26, 1865. Four co-conspirators, Powell, George Atzerodt, David Herold, and Mary Surratt, were hanged at the gallows of the Old Penitentiary, on the site of present-day Fort McNair, on July 7, 1865.

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Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln | Articles and Essays | Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress | Digital Collections | Library of Congress

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On the evening of April 14, 1865, while attending a special performance of the comedy, "Our American Cousin," President Abraham Lincoln was shot. Accompanying him at Ford's Theatre that night were his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, a twenty-eight year-old officer named Major Henry R. Rathbone, and Rathbone's fiancée, Clara Harris.