Posted on 04/14/2009 10:22:38 AM PDT by Non-Sequitur
John Wilkes Booth shoots President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford's Theater in Washington.
Five days earlier, Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered his army to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The war was nearly over, although there were still Confederate forces yet to surrender. The president had recently visited the captured Rebel capital of Richmond, and now Lincoln sought a relaxing evening by attending a production of Our American Cousin starring Laura Keene. Ford's Theater, seven blocks from the White House, was crammed with people trying to catch a glimpse of Grant, who was rumored to be in attendance. The general and his wife had cancelled abruptly for an out-of-town trip.
Lincoln occupied a booth above the stage with his wife; Henry Rathbone, a young army officer; and his fiancýe, Clara Harris, daughter of New York Senator Ira Harris. The Lincolns arrived late for the comedy, but the president was in a fine mood and laughed heartily during the production. At 10:15, Booth slipped into the box and fired his .44-caliber single-shot derringer into the back of Lincoln's head. Rathbone rushed Booth, who stabbed the soldier in the shoulder. Booth then leapt from the president's box to the stage below, breaking his leg as he landed. He shouted, "Sic semper tyrannis!" ("Thus ever to tyrants!"--the Virginia state motto) and ran from the stage. There was a pause, as the crowd initially thought the unfolding drama was part of the production, but a scream from Mrs. Lincoln told them otherwise. The stricken president was carried from the box to a house across the street, where he died the following morning.
Booth was one of the most famous actors of his day, and Lincoln had seen him perform. He was a Maryland native with southern sympathies who hoped to aid the Confederacy by taking out the Union's political leadership in one night. With Confederate president Jefferson Davis still free and General Joseph Johnston's army still alive in the Carolinas, Booth thought the Confederate cause was not yet lost. He sent George Atzerodt to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson and Lewis Paine to assassinate Secretary of State William Seward. Atzerodt could not muster the courage to carry out his assignment, but Paine burst into Seward's home and stabbed him as lay sick in bed. Although seriously wounded, Seward eventually recovered.
I always say that if I could have been a fly on the wall in any period in history, 1860-1865 would be it. So much earthshaking drama for such a short period in history.
“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, FELLOW CITIZENS AND CITIZEN SOLDIERS: — I am opposed to the Democratic party, and I will tell you why.”
“The man that assassinated Abraham Lincoln was a Democrat. Every man that sympathized with the assassin — every man glad that the noblest President ever elected was assassinated, was a Democrat.”
“Every man that cursed Abraham Lincoln because he issued the Proclamation of Emancipation — the grandest paper since the Declaration of Independence — every one of them was a Democrat.”
http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/robert_ingersoll/indianapolis_speech76.html
Great link! Bump for later.....
Just imagine the boldness of Booth’s plan and the consequences if it had succeeded. Grant cancelled, or he likely would have been in Lincoln’s box with him. Killing the President and General Grant at the theater with Johnson and Seward killed in their homes. Would the Confederacy used the ensuing chaos to continue the fight? Would resconstruction have been more brutal and unforgiving?
Just amazing to think about how the entire world would have changed if Booth’s plan had worked.
The question then becomes, with what? Lee had surrendered. Johnston was being chased by Sherman. Davis was on the run. Nobody was left to rally around.
Would resconstruction have been more brutal and unforgiving?
I think Southern intransigence would have led to some sort of sanctions. Now whether they would be as severe as Reconstruction was? I doubt it. Reconstruction was also fueled by the memory of a martyred former president and the actions of a weak current one. With Lincoln in office both of those would be missing.
Just amazing to think about how the entire world would have changed if Booth’s plan had worked.
How much for the better would it have been if it had failed entirely?
Problem was, the Confederacy’s best weapon, Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, had surrendered two days earlier, and the Confederate government was running for its life. Johnston was still active in North Carolina, and some of the armies in the West as well, but by April 14, there basically was not a Confederate States of America left.
As harsh as Reconstruction was after Lincoln’s death (Booth giving the Radical Republicans the ammo they needed), I can only imagine how bad it would have been had Grant, the Union’s great war hero, been killed as well. Booth, by doing what he thought was his patriotic duty as a proud son of the South, instead consigned a lot of Southerners to up to twelve years of military rule and economic devastation. I’m as proud a son of Virginia as you’ll find on here, and I’ve no great love for Lincoln, but it would have been better for all parties concerned, North and South, had Booth’s pistol misfired.
}:-)4
It would have been even better if Lincoln had not plunged this nation into civil war, even better that he had not been elected president. But he did plunge the country into civil war, ignoring his campaign pledge. He does not deserve our respect, only our pity.
I could not agree with you more.
Got what he deserved.
Amazing how he managed to do that all on his own without any help from Jefferson Davis and his gang. </sarcasm>
Shot in the back in the presence of his wife. Southron heroism at it's finest.
It seems that there are more people than Lincoln who deserve our pity.
Out of curiosity, what campaign pledge do you think Lincoln broke?
Just finished reading a book for a book report on Dr. Mudd.
Interesting.
What parts?
The parts about how he was sentenced more from former slave testimony and the newfound status of a slave’s testimony being acceptable in court. That was basically the only thing they had to tie him to knowing Booth before the broken foot setting he did on the night of the shooting. But that is what he was convicted (as a citizen, by a military court which was really unconstitutional but it was an emotional time and Lincoln had already crapped on the constitution anyway...) of, conspiracy. Because a former slave said he saw Booth there before.
Anyway, he ended up being sent to a Devil’s Island style prison in the Caribbean and was released eventually for saving hundreds of lives, including soldiers and commanders, from Yellow Fever which was a big problem in that area at that time.
How much Dr. Mudd may have known about the Lincoln murder conspiracy is debatable. What is not debatable is the fact that Mudd did know Booth before the assasination, a fact supported by several witnesses and not just one. For Mudd to know Booth and to treat him and not inform authorities about it once Booth's connection to Lincoln's murder became known does make him part of the overall conspiracy.
As for Mudd's being tried by a military court, Virginia had just finished participating in armed rebellion. It was still under military authority at the time of the trial - May 1865 - and the Constitutionality of such tribunals would be upheld in the Ex Parte Miilligan decision handed down by the Supreme court about that same time.
That he would not interfere with the laws of the south on slavery. He broke it after the civil war broke out.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.