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Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson book talk

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In the book, Chasing Lincoln's Killer, by James. L. Swanson, we learn about the notorious man, who killed President Aberaham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, after the end of the Civil War. His name was John Wilkes Booth. Booth was a conceited, handsome actor, who was a thrillseeker and had dreams of self Glory and revenge. But his dreams of self Glory became a nightmare for our nation.

John Wilkes Booth was a twenty-six years old, vain and talented actor, “Impossibly vain, an extremely talented actor. (P.10) He loved expensive clothing, food and beautiful women. As an actor, he had a flair for the dramatic and carefully plotted out the steps of his supposed glorious plan to assassinate President Lincoln. He was clever, yet wicked, he implicated some of his co-conspirators in a letter that he would publish in newspapers. Atzerodt knew thew details of the assassination plan that was unfolding. (P. 28) As a person, one can see that John Wilkes Booth was a very evil man.

John Wilkes Booth was a confident thrillseeker. “A Confident Booth, well known for his good looks and fine clothes, in all his splendor, much like he was dressed the night he shot the president”.(P. 20-21) He was so confident that he took a pistol over a six shot revolver, as he sought revenge, “Booth left behind no explanation for why he chose the pistol over the revolver.”(P. 20) which would be “The greatest thing in the world.” (P. 26) John Wilkes Booth thought he would be the greatest man alive and that he would be a victory for the confederacy.

John Wilkes Booth had crazy, illogical dreams of Glory, about killing Abraham Lincoln and saving the confederacy. After he shot the president in the back of his head on the lower left side,” (P. 41) Booth shouted “Freedom!” and jumped out of the stage, thrusting a bloody knife in the air victoriously,” Rathbone saw a large shiny knife, its blade pointed directly down at him.” (P. 42-43) he then happily yelled “thus always be tyrants. The South is avenged!” (P. 43)  He escaped, but eventually he was trapped in John Garett David Herold, an accomplice, wanted him to surrender, but he refused and wanted to script his own end like a theater performance, (P. 170) but his wish wasn’t granted, he got shot in the spine and was “carried out of the barn, paralized!” (P. 173) Afterwards he died. His evil dreams of Glory were finally over!

John Wilkes Booth was a vain, smart actor, who crazily dreamed of revenging the confederacy's defeat, by assassinating President Abraham Lincoln! He thought he would be a hero for dramatically killing Lincoln, but Booth is known by the total opposite. The real hero is Abraham Lincoln, who reunited the country and ended slavery. I thought this book was sad, but I learned a lot more about John Wilkes Booth and a little bit about Abraham Lincoln!

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(more about Booth, when he was on the run)

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(more about Booth, when he was on the run)

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After killing the president, Booth and Davey Herold started a 12-day journey that would end violently in a barn outside of Fredericksburg, Va. Along the way, Booth sought and received assistance from others, from Dr. Mudd binding his leg to Thomas Jones getting Booth and Herold into Virginia. Out of those that aided Booth, only Dr. Samuel Mudd would be sent to prison. While on the run, Booth kept a close eye to the media, believing that assassinating these four leaders would throw the United States into chaos and allow the Confederacy to resume its efforts. resulting in Booth lauded as the savior of the American Republic.

John Wilkes Booth would be disappointed. Though Booth was successful in murdering President Lincoln, he was the only conspirator successful in his efforts. George Atzerodt, the assassin that was to be responsible for assassinating the Vice President chickened out (he was still hanged for conspiring with Booth and the others), and Lewis Powell failed in killing Seward, though the attacks against Seward and his family caused the Secretary of State to bear the scar of his assassin’s efforts for the rest of his life.

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Video Tour of Ford's Theatre: The Assassination