Story of John Wilkes Booth

Juan Martin

English Research Paper

November 7, 2010

John Wilkes Booth

A single .44 caliber bullet to the back of the head, that is what made me one of the most infamous men in the world and altered the history of America after the Civil War. Although Abraham Lincoln would not die till early in the morning the next day, the job had been completed. Some might say that the war was over days earlier when Robert E. Lee’s Army surrendered to the North and slavery was abolished, but I still believed that the war was still in full effect. A group was formed and a plan was put into place to assassinate President Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward. I was the only one to follow through with the plan on that fateful night on April 12, 1865.

When I was born on May 10, 1838 my mother would have no idea that over the next several years I would devise a plan to kill the President of the United States of America. Like most parents my mother wanted nothing but happiness for her little bundle of joy. My father wanted me to be the next big name athlete, but with the times changing the views of the nation I had a different calling to answer to. I grew up in Maryland during a time where the nation was becoming divided into the North and South. As I grew up I became increasingly more into the arts and more specifically into becoming an actor. I was called the most handsome man in America and was stopped regularly to sign autographs. But not everyone was a Booth fanatic; some critics said I was an outrageous scene stealer. My career began to soar from play to play nonetheless, I guess the saying there’s no such thing as bad press has some backing to it. Lincoln would even watch one of my performances when the Ford Theatre first opened. He sat in the same box that I would later shoot him in, I even made a gesture to him while during the play but he would have no idea what it meant.

Abraham Lincoln was said to be the most honest...