Okla-homey
4/26/2007, 08:04 AM
April 26, 1865: Death of John Wilkes Booth
142 years ago, on this day in 1865, the actor John Wilkes Booth is killed when American soldiers track him down where he is holed-up in a Virginia farm, 12 days after he assassinated the man who saved the United States from ruinous dissolution; President Abraham Lincoln.
http://aycu35.webshots.com/image/15394/2002974948539250163_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002974948539250163)
Booth was a famous actor in his own right, and a member of a famous American acting family. His dad was considered one of the world's finest Shakespearean actors.
26 y/o Booth was one of the most famous actors in the country when he shot Lincoln in the back of the head during a performance at Ford's Theater in Washington on the night of April 14. To put it in modern terms, this act would literally be analogous to Brad Pitt shooting GWB during some performance at the Kennedy Center in downtown DC.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/15823/2002611898176391228_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002611898176391228)
Booth was a Maryland native and a strong supporter of the Confederacy. Maryland, a slave state, did not secede and join its sister slave states -- which bothered Booth immensely. Curiously, despite Booth's military age and fitness for active service, he refused to join one of the regiments raised for Confederate service by pro-South men in Maryland. Instead, he sat out the war, acting, making a great deal of money, drinking heavily, using opiates and hatching plots.
As the war entered its final stages, Booth hatched a conspiracy to kidnap the president. He enlisted the aid of several associates, but the opportunity never presented itself.
After the surrender of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House on April 9, Booth changed the plan to a simultaneous assassination of Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward.
http://aycu03.webshots.com/image/15002/2002915339724597859_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002915339724597859)
The deadly crew
Only Lincoln was actually killed, however. Seward was stabbed by Lewis Paine but survived, while the man assigned to kill Johnson did not carry out his assignment.
After shooting Lincoln, Booth jumped to the stage below Lincoln's box seat. He landed hard, breaking his leg, before escaping to a waiting horse behind the theater. Being a famous actor, many in the audience recognized Booth, so the army was soon hot on his trail.
http://aycu20.webshots.com/image/13979/2002609098256430722_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002609098256430722)
The derringer Booth used to do the dirty deed
Booth and his accomplice, David Herold, made their way across the Anacostia River and headed toward southern Maryland. The pair stopped at Dr. Samuel Mudd's home, and Mudd treated Booth's leg.
This earned Mudd a life sentence in prison when he was implicated as part of the conspiracy, but the sentence was later commuted. Dr Mudd, was the ancestor of TV journalist Roger Mudd, who worked tirelessly to exonerate his ancestor. Modern historians agree that Dr Mudd probably had no idea Booth had killed the president or was a fugitive when he set Booth's broken leg.
Booth found refuge for several days at the home of Thomas A. Jones, a Confederate agent, before securing a boat to row across the Potomac to Virginia.
http://aycu18.webshots.com/image/15057/2002954405610360880_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002954405610360880)
After receiving aid from several Confederate sympathizers, Booth's luck finally ran out. The countryside was swarming with military units looking for Booth, although few shared information since there was a $20,000 reward.
While staying at the farm of Richard Garrett, Federal troops arrived on their search but soon rode on. The unsuspecting Garrett allowed his suspicious guests to sleep in his barn, but he instructed his son to lock the barn from the outside to prevent the strangers from stealing his horses.
A tip led the cavalry soldiers back to the Garrett farm, where they discovered Booth and Herold in the barn. Herold came out, but Booth refused. The soldiers, who loved their dead president, basically decided, "to heck with it, we'll just smoke him out." The barn was set on fire to flush Booth, and the detachment of troops began to randomly shoot into the blazing barn in order to make it "hotter" for Booth. They got him. Booth was dragged outside so he would not be burned alive.
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/12879/2002684645425843350_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002684645425843350)
Time running out for Booth as the barn burns
http://aycu25.webshots.com/image/15184/2002985916545408379_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002985916545408379)
Sgt Boston Corbett is generally credited with scoring the hit on Booth. Corbett was hailed as a hero for the deed. The shot resulted in a spinal injury to Booth and partially paralyzed him.
Booth lived for three hours before gazing at his hands, muttering "Useless, useless," as he died.
http://aycu26.webshots.com/image/13625/2002923269937477195_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002923269937477195)
The assasination conspirators were subsequently rounded up, tried and hanged.
http://aycu37.webshots.com/image/14436/2002986389432626863_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002986389432626863)
America and history do not look kindly on those who assassinate our presidents. While John F. Kennedy has an eternal flame at his grave, Lee Harvey Oswald is buried in an obscure grave somewhere in Texas. While William McKinley has a huge monument, few if any can remember the name of his assassin. And John Wilkes Booth, probably the most infamous presidential assassin, is buried in a grave with no name written on his headstone in the family plot in a Maryland cemetery, while the man he killed is memorialized by one of the largest tombs anywhere in the world.
http://aycu12.webshots.com/image/15171/2002919808111080700_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002919808111080700)
142 years ago, on this day in 1865, the actor John Wilkes Booth is killed when American soldiers track him down where he is holed-up in a Virginia farm, 12 days after he assassinated the man who saved the United States from ruinous dissolution; President Abraham Lincoln.
http://aycu35.webshots.com/image/15394/2002974948539250163_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002974948539250163)
Booth was a famous actor in his own right, and a member of a famous American acting family. His dad was considered one of the world's finest Shakespearean actors.
26 y/o Booth was one of the most famous actors in the country when he shot Lincoln in the back of the head during a performance at Ford's Theater in Washington on the night of April 14. To put it in modern terms, this act would literally be analogous to Brad Pitt shooting GWB during some performance at the Kennedy Center in downtown DC.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/15823/2002611898176391228_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002611898176391228)
Booth was a Maryland native and a strong supporter of the Confederacy. Maryland, a slave state, did not secede and join its sister slave states -- which bothered Booth immensely. Curiously, despite Booth's military age and fitness for active service, he refused to join one of the regiments raised for Confederate service by pro-South men in Maryland. Instead, he sat out the war, acting, making a great deal of money, drinking heavily, using opiates and hatching plots.
As the war entered its final stages, Booth hatched a conspiracy to kidnap the president. He enlisted the aid of several associates, but the opportunity never presented itself.
After the surrender of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House on April 9, Booth changed the plan to a simultaneous assassination of Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward.
http://aycu03.webshots.com/image/15002/2002915339724597859_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002915339724597859)
The deadly crew
Only Lincoln was actually killed, however. Seward was stabbed by Lewis Paine but survived, while the man assigned to kill Johnson did not carry out his assignment.
After shooting Lincoln, Booth jumped to the stage below Lincoln's box seat. He landed hard, breaking his leg, before escaping to a waiting horse behind the theater. Being a famous actor, many in the audience recognized Booth, so the army was soon hot on his trail.
http://aycu20.webshots.com/image/13979/2002609098256430722_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002609098256430722)
The derringer Booth used to do the dirty deed
Booth and his accomplice, David Herold, made their way across the Anacostia River and headed toward southern Maryland. The pair stopped at Dr. Samuel Mudd's home, and Mudd treated Booth's leg.
This earned Mudd a life sentence in prison when he was implicated as part of the conspiracy, but the sentence was later commuted. Dr Mudd, was the ancestor of TV journalist Roger Mudd, who worked tirelessly to exonerate his ancestor. Modern historians agree that Dr Mudd probably had no idea Booth had killed the president or was a fugitive when he set Booth's broken leg.
Booth found refuge for several days at the home of Thomas A. Jones, a Confederate agent, before securing a boat to row across the Potomac to Virginia.
http://aycu18.webshots.com/image/15057/2002954405610360880_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002954405610360880)
After receiving aid from several Confederate sympathizers, Booth's luck finally ran out. The countryside was swarming with military units looking for Booth, although few shared information since there was a $20,000 reward.
While staying at the farm of Richard Garrett, Federal troops arrived on their search but soon rode on. The unsuspecting Garrett allowed his suspicious guests to sleep in his barn, but he instructed his son to lock the barn from the outside to prevent the strangers from stealing his horses.
A tip led the cavalry soldiers back to the Garrett farm, where they discovered Booth and Herold in the barn. Herold came out, but Booth refused. The soldiers, who loved their dead president, basically decided, "to heck with it, we'll just smoke him out." The barn was set on fire to flush Booth, and the detachment of troops began to randomly shoot into the blazing barn in order to make it "hotter" for Booth. They got him. Booth was dragged outside so he would not be burned alive.
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/12879/2002684645425843350_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002684645425843350)
Time running out for Booth as the barn burns
http://aycu25.webshots.com/image/15184/2002985916545408379_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002985916545408379)
Sgt Boston Corbett is generally credited with scoring the hit on Booth. Corbett was hailed as a hero for the deed. The shot resulted in a spinal injury to Booth and partially paralyzed him.
Booth lived for three hours before gazing at his hands, muttering "Useless, useless," as he died.
http://aycu26.webshots.com/image/13625/2002923269937477195_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002923269937477195)
The assasination conspirators were subsequently rounded up, tried and hanged.
http://aycu37.webshots.com/image/14436/2002986389432626863_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002986389432626863)
America and history do not look kindly on those who assassinate our presidents. While John F. Kennedy has an eternal flame at his grave, Lee Harvey Oswald is buried in an obscure grave somewhere in Texas. While William McKinley has a huge monument, few if any can remember the name of his assassin. And John Wilkes Booth, probably the most infamous presidential assassin, is buried in a grave with no name written on his headstone in the family plot in a Maryland cemetery, while the man he killed is memorialized by one of the largest tombs anywhere in the world.
http://aycu12.webshots.com/image/15171/2002919808111080700_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002919808111080700)