Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Research Paper 11 Lincoln's Assassination Everybody has heard about the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. The assassin was John Wilkes Booth, but he didn't work alone as most people think. A lot of things happened that night and the following weeks, because of this the government was in disarray. J. W. Booth was not that bad of a person to start out with. John Wilkes Booth the assassin and murderer of President Lincoln was just a stage actor before the war. He worked at Ford's theater as a Shakespearean actor. His family was a large one from Maryland with great acting heritage. Booth at the time was 26 years old and was a confederate extremist (Sifakis 109). As most people think John Booth did not work alone although he did run the group. The group consisted of Lewis Payne, George Atzerodt, David Herrold, John and Mary Surrat. Lewis Payne was told that he was to assassinate the Secretary of State. But he didn't manage to kill him after stabbing him with a knife while he was sick in bed. George Atzerodt was supposed to kill the Vice President Andrew Johnson, but he didn't attack and was the only one to do nothing. David Herrold was the "getaway" and held Booth's horse for the time when he needed to run. After he helped him get away he also helped him hide. Mary Surrat is John Surrat's mom and the conspires met in her boarding house (Lentz 3). John Surrat

was the luckiest of the entire group and made it to England. When he came back the whole predicament was cooled down and he was tried and found innocent (Sifakis 111).

The original plan was not to kill Lincoln but to kidnap him. The plan originated during the Civil War. They were going to take Lincoln to Richmond and force the north to trade for their war prisoners. When the war was going on they thought that this would win the war. But since the war ended before their plan could be put into effect they could not perform it correctly. The only thing left for them to do to avenge the south is to...