John Wilkes Booth: America's Most Infamous Assassin

this video is brought to you by noom if you have 10 minutes a day and want to get serious about better eating habits it's time to give a noom a try more on them in a bit [Music] it's a story that has become legendary one that every american is taught at a young age less than a week after the long and bloody civil war effectively came to an end the man who has become perhaps america's most beloved president abraham lincoln was shot to death while watching a play the man who shot him was not a confederate soldier or a politician but rather an actor who wasn't even from the south yet somehow became enamored with their cause the group that he assembled hoped to plunge the north into chaos and revive southern hopes for independence in this they failed but in killing lincoln they irrevocably changed the course of american history and the nation is still dealing with the fallout from the assassination today so who was john wilkes booth what would cause this young man from maryland who had already built a prosperous career for himself on the stage to become so devoted to the cause of southern nationhood that he would attempt to topple the federal government how did he get close enough to lincoln to shoot him what happened after he did and could his infamous act have been prevented when junius brutus booth immigrated to the united states in 1821 he was already a famous stage actor in london he brought scandal with him to america as he had abandoned his wife and young son and instead brought his mistress marianne holmes with him he introduced her to everyone as his wife and the scandal was soon forgotten as junior's booth went on to become america's most famous actor specializing in shakespearean tragedies like richard iii julius caesar and hamlet john wilkes booth was born on may 10 1838 at the booth family home in bel air maryland his father junius was never home constantly touring and when he was his alcoholism and erratic behavior made life difficult for his large family he was sent to well-regarded boarding schools but was an indifferent student much to the chagrin of his instructors junius booth died in 1852 when john was only 14. he decided soon afterwards to become an actor himself following in the footsteps of older brothers junius junior and edwin edwin booth was becoming a household name himself and was able to help his brother break into the theater his first performance was in 1855 in baltimore and after an initial rocky start of enduring stage fright and forgetting his lines soon he settled into a career as an actor he became just as famous as his brother and father gaining a reputation for stealing scenes that he was in and his charisma and good looks made him enormously popular with the nation's young women by the end of the 1850s he was a wealthy man earning over twenty thousand dollars a year over half a million dollars in today's terms and he was touring all over the nation as a leading man just as booth was coming into his own as an actor it seemed the country was on the verge of tearing itself apart the election of abraham lincoln in 1860 sparked fears throughout the southern states that their right to own slaves would be infringed on by the new administration they announced their intention to leave the union to secede and form their own nation which they called the confederate states of america lincoln held that the southern states had no right to leave the union and their state governments were rebelling against federal authority and he called for the raising of an army to stop them in april 1861 the first shots of the american civil war were fired at fort sumter in south carolina booth's home state of maryland found itself in a difficult position maryland was one of the four slave-holding states that didn't join the confederacy known as border states public opinion among marylanders was sharply divided even among families edwin booth was a staunch unionist while john wilkes booth was a passionate advocate for the southern cause the maryland state government tried to hedge its bets by voting to remain in the union but also to prohibit federal troops from passing through the state or being based there this would have made prosecution of the war impossible for the north and left the federal capital of washington d.c exposed to confederate troops across the river in virginia lincoln wasn't having it he suspended the writ of habeas corpus specifically in this case the rights to not be imprisoned without trial and jailed many maryland state leaders at fort mchenry and baltimore harbor he also imposed martial law on the city of baltimore and other parts of the state and effectively occupied maryland with federal troops for the duration of the war this outraged many pro-southern marylanders including boos who called lincoln a tyrant [Music] john wilkes booth had been involved in politics since 1854 when he campaigned for the no nothing party an early nativist movement whose major campaign plans were anti-catholic and anti-immigrant he was a passionate supporter of both the institution of slavery and of the confederacy and spoke to everyone he knew about his views by contrast his brother edwin refused to tour in the south and spoke out against the confederacy the two brothers argued with each other on the subject so viciously that they eventually stopped speaking to each other booths had promised his mother when the war began that he would not enlist as a soldier so he continued to tour across both the north and the south as a celebrated actor though he increasingly began to hate himself for his decision writing in a letter to his mother that he felt like a coward and despised his own existence in 1864 the war began to turn badly against the confederacy in virginia robert e lee's army was pinned down in petersburg losing men that it couldn't afford to replace while in georgia william t sherman's army had captured the city of atlanta and begun a campaign of destruction in the deep south it seems increasingly likely that lincoln would be re-elected and if so it was only a matter of time until the south was defeated and slavery was abolished booth felt increasingly frustrated at his own helplessness to prevent this from happening and began to channel his rage towards the person of abraham lincoln himself in a conversation with his sister asia he said of lincoln that man's appearance his pedigree his coarse low jokes and anecdotes his vulgar smiles and his policy are a disgrace to the seat he holds he has made the tool of the north to crush out slavery something snapped within him and he decided that he was going to do something about it and hey if you want to do something about your dietary habits it's time to talk about today's video sponsor name i know look it's a new year so a lot of you out there probably have health and fitness goals you know lighten up on the late night ice cream or lose 20 pounds by the summer you know the usual stuff and maybe you're 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success so if you want to count points buy a calculator but if you want to develop real healthy eating habits check out our friends at noom there is a link in the description below [Music] contrary to what many people think booth did not start out intending to assassinate the president he had an even more ambitious plan in mind he would kidnap lincoln and take him to richmond once there he would ransom the president back to the north in exchange for confederate prisoners held in northern prison camps both demoralizing the north and providing the south with desperately needed manpower to continue the war booth gathered around him a group of confederate sympathizers to help with the kidnapping plot prominence among them were john surat a former prose master and confederate spy george a prussian immigrant who ran a carriage repair business lewis powell a confederate army deserter and david herald a pharmacist's assistant the conspirators frequently met at the boarding house owned by john surrett's mother mary whose level of knowledge of and participation in the conspiracy is still debated by historians today on march 17 1865 booth assembled his fellow conspirators on the road outside of washington anticipating lincoln passing through there on his way to a function planning to seize him and secret him across the potomac river into virginia but lincoln never turned up it turned out that he had changed his plans at the last minute and instead attended a reception at the national hotel in washington ironically the same hotel that booth himself was staying at a few weeks later it seemed all over richmond the capital of the confederacy had been captured and after attempting to escape robert e lee's army was forced to surrender at appomattox on april the 9th for all intents and purposes the civil war was over the plot to kidnap lincoln no longer had any point to it and boos was despondent and filled with rage his thoughts immediately took a darker turn towards assassination [Music] no one is really sure what booth's exact motives were in killing lincoln it is clear that he hated the president viewing him as the cause of all the south's misfortunes but did he plot to murder lincoln based on dedication to the cause of the south perhaps he believed that taking out the head of the federal government would allow the remnants of the confederacy to reorganize and fight on since there were still armies in the field or were the motivations more personal he could have hoped to make himself a hero to the south the man who slew the tyrant as brutus killed julius caesar he could have wanted to do it merely to spite the north maybe even despite his lincoln supporting brother edwin or it could have been a combination of all of them what is known is that on the morning of april the 14th booth stopped in at ford's theater in washington to pick up his mail ford's was a popular theater that had opened two years earlier to replace a theater that burned down booth himself performed there regularly he learned that president and mrs lincoln were to attend to play there that night accompanied by the commander of the union army ulysses s grant and his wife booth decided immediately this was a perfect time and place to kill both the president and the general if he could manage it boos gathered together as conspirators to lay out his plan lewis powell was to murder the secretary of state william seaworth at his home george atzarot would go to the hotel where vice president andrew johnson was staying and assassinate him and moose would slip into the presidential box at ford's theater during the play shoot lincoln with the single-shot derringer pistol he had and then stab grant with a dagger that he would also be carrying booth probably assumed the presidential box would be guarded and thought he could talk his way into an audience with lincoln by leveraging his fame as an actor for his part lincoln was a fan of booth's performances and sent invitations to meet him at the white house several times in the past that booth had turned down it seems amazing to us now but in 1865 security precautions for the president were almost non-existent the secret service didn't yet exist and it wouldn't be until 1902 that they were assigned the duty of protecting the president's life the white house was open to practically anyone who wanted to petition the president and even in the middle of a civil war lincoln had few if any bodyguards around him when he went anywhere palace guards were thought to be the province of european monarchs not elected servants of the people thus on the night that lincoln went to the theater he had only one bodyguard a police officer named john frederick parker general grant and his wife decided not to go with lincoln to the play instead traveling to philadelphia to spend time with their children it has been widely reported that mary todd lincoln and julia grant didn't like each other and that was why the grants didn't go whatever the case the decision likely saved the future president's life president and mrs lincoln and their guests major henry rathbone and his fiancee arrived at the theater late situating themselves in the presidential box with john frederick parker guarding the door the play was stopped as the audience of 1 700 a full house gave a standing ovation and the orchestra played hailed to the chief the play was a popular comedy our american cousin that booth knew by heart the plan was for all three would-be assassins to strike at the same time 10 pm while he waited booth stopped in next door at the star saloon taking a drink of whiskey perhaps to calm his nerves around 10 15 the play was in the middle of its third act lincoln had been seen to be enjoying the play and nobody was paying attention to what was happening behind the presidential box booth had gone into the theater and up the stairs and found nobody outside the door to the presidential box the policeman john f parker left during the intermission to go drinking and wasn't at his post booth went into the small lantern room that separated the box from the hallway and barred the door behind him now only one door separated him from the president he looked through a peephole in the door ultimately described as being cut by booth himself or by the owner of the theater sometime earlier for an unrelated purpose and waited he knew from experience that the line in the play that caused the biggest audience reaction was coming up and he would strike then on stage the actor harry hawk said the line the booth was waiting for don't know the man is a good society eh well i guess i know enough to turn you inside out old gal you sock dollar jeising old man trap as the whole audience including president lincoln laughed booth opened the door to the box aimed his pistol at the back of lincoln's head and fired from point-blank range the president slumped forward in his chair major rathbone led to his feet and made to grab boos who dropped his gun and pulled out his dagger slicing open rathbone's arm almost the bone undeterred rathbone grabbed again at booth's coat as the assassin attempted to jump from the box to the stage 12 feet below booth had to twist away from rathbone and in the process his spur caught on the bunting draped over the front of the presidential box he awkwardly fell to the stage breaking his leg probably running high on adrenaline booth ignored the pain and with an actor's flare for the dramatic held his bloody knife up to the audience and yelled sic semper tyrannus which is latin for thus always tyrants it's also the state motto at virginia some witnesses also reportedly heard the south is avenged then he limped behind the stage and out the back door stabbed someone that tried to stop him mounted his horse and galloped away many in the audience initially thought the booth was part of the play until the first lady screamed just as booth was fleeing the scene as word spread that the president had been shot the city of washington fell into chaos things got even worse when reports that secretary seaword had been attacked as well came in lewis powell had arrived at stewart's house in lafayette park around the same time as booth was entering ford's theater he bluffed his way past the doorman but not one of seyward's sons who tried to intercept him powell pulled a gun on him but the gun misfired so powell bludgeoned him unconscious with the butt then he ran into the secretary of state's bedroom wielding a large bowie knife seaword was in bed recovering from a carriage accident 10 days earlier which had left him with a broken draw and arm powell slashed repeatedly at the secretary's face and neck with a knife but the splint that the doctor had fixed onto seyward's head to hold his broken jaw in place saved his life preventing powell from slicing his jugular vein another of two sons his daughter and a soldier who served as an attendant struggled with the attacker and all was stabbed in turn before pal ran out of the house cackling and screaming i'm mad i'm mad he stabbed another passer-by before escaping everyone powell attacked would eventually recover although william seawood would carry the scars from the attack on his face for the rest of his life as for george azeroth he never even tried to assassinate vice president johnson he made it to the hotel where johnson was staying but lost his nerve and got drunk at the bar instead wandering around the streets of washington before disposing of his knife in a storm drain lincoln was carried from the theater across the street to the home of william peterson where he was attended to by a brigade of doctors including the surgeon general but there was nothing they could do it is likely that even today with modern medicine the wound would have been mortal abraham lincoln died at 7 22 am on april 15 surrounded by much of his cabinet the news spread quickly across the country causing an outpouring of grief vice president johnson was sworn in as president of the united states at 11am but the reigns of government were now in the hands of the secretary of war edwin stanton he began the investigation into the plot before lincoln had died essentially running the government from peterson house john wilkes booth was quickly fingered as the assassin by multiple witnesses in the theater and he became the most wanted man in america [Music] booth had bluffed his way out of washington before the city was put into lockdown and escaped into southern maryland along with his accomplice david harold he hoped that the relatively rural area full of confederate sympathizers would be the perfect place to hide out while slipping into virginia where he expected to be fated as a hero he and harold picked up guns and supplies from mary suret's tavern outside the city and then stopped at the home of dr samuel mudd an acquaintance of booths who set his broken leg and gave him a place to sleep mud would later be arrested and sentenced to prison for assisting booths though his role in the conspiracy like mary suarez is hotly debated booths and herald then went to ground hiding in the swamps on the virginia maryland border it was there that booth seemed to grasp the magnitude of what he had done he was being given newspapers by a man named thomas jones a confederate spy who lived in the area and that was how he learned that stanton had put a fifty thousand dollar bounty on his head a staggering sum for the time he also learned that most of his co-conspirators had been arrested already including azeroth and powell and by april 21st the only conspirators still at large were booth himself heralds still with booth and john surat who had escaped across the border to canada and then to europe he wouldn't be arrested until november 1866. worse for booth he saw that the reaction to his act wasn't all that he hoped for far from considering him a tyrant almost everyone in the north was shocked and appalled at lincoln's murder even as fiercest critics many people in the south were similarly unimpressed with booths act though some of that may be chalked up to self-preservation many in the south feared that an angry northern population would exact revenge on the south for lincoln's death federal troops were scouring southern maryland for the assassin and with no heroes welcome to look forward to booth decided to cross into virginia and continue south perhaps all the way to mexico to escape federal authorities after getting lost along the way booth and herald made it to virginia on april 23rd they arrived at a farm owned by richard garrett a family that didn't know yet that lincoln had been assassinated or that booth was a fugitive whilst word got back to washington about booth's movement and a detachment of soldiers led by lieutenant colonel everton conga and lieutenant edward doherty were sent to find booth and capture him conga and dirty tracked booth to the garrett farmhouse and surrounded the tobacco barn they were hiding in shortly before dawn on april 26. david harold quickly surrendered but booth refused saying that he'd prefer to come out and fight in an attempt to smoke him out the soldiers set fire to the barn there are conflicting accounts about what happened next one of the soldiers sergeant boston corbett drew a bead on booth through a crack in the wall of the barn corbett said that booth raised his gun to shoot corbett upon which corbett fired others allege that corbett fired on an unarmed booth out of a sense of vengeance but no one will ever know for sure the bullet struck booth in the neck severing his spinal column and damaging three vertebrae he collapsed to the ground paralyzed and was dragged out of the barn by soldiers booth was unable to move and in excruciating pain over the course of next two hours he begged the soldiers to kill him at one point he asked one of the soldiers to pull up his hand so that he could see them the soldier complied and booth looked at them muttering useless useless they were his last words soon after he died two weeks shy of his 27th birthday edwin stanton had wanted booth taken alive and initially planned to court martial boston corbett for killing him but the case was dismissed and corbett went on to be known as lincoln's avenger by the public though other conspirators were tried by military tribunal soon afterwards four of them george atzrod lewis powell david harold and mary surat were sentenced to death and were hanged on july the 7th four more were sentenced to prison terms one died in prison but the other three were pardoned by president johnson shortly before he left office in 1869. john surat was never convicted of his role in the plot and many believed that his mother had been hanged in his place the consequences of abraham lincoln's death had a profound effect on american history it deprived the country of their leader right when they needed him the most to help heal the nation and bind it back together andrew johnson a unionist southerner had no interest in making sure the slaves freed during the war were set up for success in the post-war south his primary interest was in getting the troops out of the former confederacy as soon as possible and restoring order meaning control by the antebellum white politicians that had plunged the country into conflict in the first place it would set him against congress and most of his own cabinet and he became the first president to be impeached he was only saved from being removed from office by a single vote without lincoln support for freed slaves eventually dried up and by 1876 when the last of the federal troops were withdrawn the former confederate states had enacted so-called jim crow laws that segregated black citizens and made it almost impossible for them to exercise any of their civil rights while it is impossible to say how things would have been different if lincoln had lived it is certain that they would have been different and in all likelihood would have been better for everyone but especially african americans as with john wilkes booth his name as is the fate of many assassins is irrevocably tied to that of the great man he slew what sets boost apart from people like lee harvey oswald or james earl ray is that they were driven in no small part by the compulsion to become famous by killing a famous person booth was already famous before assassinating lincoln which makes it all the more strange that he would do it we must accept however that it was his fanatical devotion to the cause of the confederacy and the preservation of slavery that led him away from the comfortable path laid in front of him and down the dark road that ended with the deaths of both himself and the president that was so beloved by many yet hated by him it also seems obvious that if a modicum of protection had been in place booths would not have been able to access the presidential box that night armed as he was and history would have been much different but he did and that is why we considered john wilkes booth america's most infamous assassin so i really hope you found that video interesting if you did please do hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to subscribe also please do check out our fantastic sponsor noom who i'm linking to below and thank you for watching [Music] you

Channel: Biographics

Views: 247,525

Keywords: biographics, biography, biographies, people, famous people, simon whistler

Id: xiChw2mtJvE

Length: 22min 18sec (1338 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 28 2021