The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln Explained

what's happening specifically what's happening 150 years ago I'm mr. beat here's the story of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln once upon a time the United States President Abraham Lincoln was sleeping at the White House when he had a horrible dream a few days later he described that dream to his friend and bodyguard Ward Hill the moan quote there seemed to be a deathlike stillness about me then I heard subdued sobs as if a number of people were weeping I thought I love my bed and wandered downstairs there the silence was broken by the same pitiful sobbing but the mourners were invisible I went from room to room no living person was in sight but the same mournful sounds of distress met me as I passed along I saw light in all the rooms every object was familiar to me but where were all the people who were grieving as if their hearts would break I was puzzled and alarmed what could be the meaning of all this determined to find the cause of a state of things so mysterious and so shocking I kept on until I arrived at the East Room which I entered there I met with a sickening surprise before me rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments around it were station soldiers who were acting as guards and there were a throng of people gazing mournfully upon the corpse whose face was covered others weeping pitifully who is dead in the White House I demanded of one of the soldiers the president was his answer he was killed by an assassin then came a loud burst of grief from the crowd which woke me from my dream while so many Americans loved Abraham Lincoln the dream supports that he knew many people hated him one person who openly hated Lincoln was John Wilkes Booth Booth was basically the Matthew McConaughey of his day he was a rich and famous actor who many women adored I mean look how dreaming he was anyway he was also a racist and a southern sympathizer during the Civil War he blamed Lincoln for all of the South's troubles being rich and famous and all booth tended to always be close to important people on events in 1859 he was I witness to the execution of John Brown even standing near the scaffold with other armed men to guard against any attempt to rescue Brown on November 9th 1863 President Lincoln watched booth in the role of the villain Rafael in the marble heart in porch theater in Washington DC the same exact place where later he would well we will get to that here's Lincoln giving his second inaugural address there's Lincoln and there's booth standing less than 100 feet from him one other coincidence booths brothers saved the life of Lincoln's oldest son Robert Todd Lincoln anyway John Wilkes Booth first plan to kidnap the president and he recruited several buddies to help Samuel Arnold George Adso root David Herold michael o'laughlen Lewis Powell aka Lewis Paine and John Surratt were all part of the conspiracy serrat's mother Mary allowed booth to meet with his co-conspirators at her boarding house in Washington DC the original plan was to kidnap Lincoln and take him to Richmond Virginia the Confederate capital there they would hold him in return for Confederate prisoners of war as the Confederates were desperately short of quality soldiers at this stage in the war on March 17th 1865 the group planned to kidnap President Lincoln while he watched a play at a hospital located on the outskirts of Washington however Lincoln changed his plans at the last minute and the plot failed three weeks later General robert e lee surrendered to general ulysses s grant adds Appomattox and the American Civil War officially came to an end two days later Lincoln spoke from the White House to a crowd gathered outside again booth was there during the speech Lincoln suggested that voting rights be granted to certain blacks this made booth really angry with a war over and now Lincoln calling for more rights for people of color booth now thought it'd be better to assassinate Lincoln that is the last speech he will ever give Booth was quoted as saying on April 14th Booth stopped by Ford's Theater to pick up his mail while there he learned of Lincoln's plans to attend that evenings performance of our American cousin booth determined that this was the perfect opportunity he knew the theaters layout having performed there several times he also did the play early well by heart that afternoon booth also went to Mary Surratt sporting house in Washington DC and asked her to take a package to her Tavern in surrattsville Maryland he also asked her act to have guns and ammunition that Booth had previously stored at the tavern ready to be picked up later that evening that evening booth called for a final meeting with his co-conspirators at that meeting booth said that he would kill Lincoln while he watched the play that night he had also planned on stabbing General Ulysses Grant but Grant had declined the invitation to go that night as Mary Todd Lincoln's wife and Julia grant Grant's wife didn't get along he also gave orders for George as a route to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson at the Kirkwood house a five-star hotel where Johnson was staying at sir rout didn't want to kill Johnson as he had only signed up for a kidnapping but booth was like there's no turning back now you're too far in booth also ordered Lewis Powell to kill Secretary of State William Seward at his home with David Herold acting as a guide to help get Powell to the Seward house and then out of Washington to later meet with booth and Maryland all of the attacks were supposed to happen at the same time just after 10 o'clock that night President Lincoln and his wife Mary arrived to Ford's Theater late at about 8:30 p.m. they were joined by a major Henry Rathbone and his girlfriend Clara Harris the four sat in a balcony that looked down on the stage the play actually stopped in the orchestra played hail to the chief as the audience gave a standing ovation for the president Ward Hill Lamone was not available that night to be a bodyguard for Lincoln so a DC police officer named John Parker had been assigned to protect the president it was interesting that Parker was given such a big responsibility considering he had a record of misconduct and 14 disciplinary infractions Parker took a seat just outside the president's box but he couldn't see the stage from there so later left his post to find better seating at intermission Parker then left the theater to have drink with Lincoln's footman and coachman at a saloon next door at that very same saloon likely at the same exact time John Wilkes Booth was drinking at the bar another customer recognized him remember Booth was a celebrity but instead of asking for an autograph he rudely said quote you'll never be the actor your father was quote Booth reportedly replied when I leave the stage I will be the most famous man in America meanwhile back at Ford's Theater Lincoln had no one protecting him booth entered the theaters Lobby at about 1007 p.m. Charles Forbes the footman who had a drink with Parker was seated next to the door that entered the president's box Parker by the way was still at the saloon booth reportedly handed Forbes a card and shortly after Forbes let booth in booth propped the door shut with the wooden leg of a music stand which he had placed there earlier that day so that no one else could enter the box at around the same time George adds arute sat at the bar at the Kirkwood house he could not work up enough courage to kill Andrew Johnson so he just sat and drank while getting drunk at the bar he may have accidentally said too much asking the bartender where Johnson was for example as root never attempted to assassinate Johnson but he did leave behind evidence that he was thinking about it at around the same time Lewis Powell had entered Secretary of State William Seward home drawing a knife and punching many of Seward's friends and family to get to him pal found Seward lying in his bed recovering from injuries from a carriage accident a few days before pal savagely sliced Seward in the head and throat but Seward was wearing a metal and canvas splint on his jaw which remarkably deflected many of the blows assuming he was dead and in pursuit by Seward's relatives how escaped not before nything and pistol whipping a total of five people in the house back at Ford's Theatre booth waited he knew the play by heart and waited until the actor on stage would say what he thought was the funniest line in the play as predicted the time came and the roared with laughter at this precise moment booth came up behind Lincoln who was also laughing hysterically and shot him in the head at point-blank range meri scream and Rathbone began wrestling with booth booth pulled out his knife and stabbed Rathbone in the left arm booth next jumped 11 feet off the balcony to the stage below as he hit the floor he snapped his fibula bone in his left leg just above his ankle it was at this point that the audience of more than 1,000 people realized something was wrong booth reportedly yelled Sic Semper Tyrannis which means quote thus always to tyrants in latin flashed his knife at the audience and hurried across the stage everything apparently happened so quickly that no one had time to stop him booth went out the back door and climbed on the horse he had placed there earlier he rushed out the city using the Navy Yard bridge into Maryland as planned booth met up with Harold and they stopped by serrat's tavern to pick up his weapons at around 4:00 a.m. booth and Herold arrived at dr. Mudds home where mud sets and splintered booths broken leg meanwhile back in Washington Lincoln was unconscious after examining Lincoln's head wound army surgeon Charles Lille said the president wouldn't survive a carriage ride to the White House so he was carried across the street to the home of William Peterson many doctors were present and all of them knew there was pretty much nothing they could do Lincoln never again regained consciousness and died at 7:22 a.m. on April 15th 1865 that morning more than 2,000 soldiers rode out of DC in search of John Wilkes Booth eleven days later on April 26th a group of soldiers and detectives caught up to him at the farm of Richard H Garrett a tobacco farmer booth and Herold had been sleeping in the barn when the soldiers surrounded it and announced they would set the barn on fire in 15 minutes Herold surrendered but Booth refused to come out reportedly saying I will not be taken alive after hearing this the soldiers set fire to the barn of as the barn went up in flames booth stepped toward the doorway with a gun in each hand at that moment sergeant Boston Corbett shot booth hitting him in the back of the head booth died two hours later the rest of the conspirators were arrested before the end of the month except John Surratt who fled to Quebec and later Europe eventually he was captured in Egypt eight people were officially charged with conspiracy the trial began on May 10th and lasted until June 30th Lewis Powell was charged with conspiracy in the attempted assassination of Secretary of State William Seward he was found guilty and sentenced to death David Herold was charged with conspiracy and aiding booths escape he also was found guilty and also sentenced to death George adds a route was charged with conspiracy also guilty and also sentenced to death even though Mary Surratt had very little to do with the conspiracy other than provide a place for the conspiracy to happen she also was charged with conspiracy and sentenced to death before were hanged on July 7th 1865 Surratt was the first white woman in history executed by the United States government dr. Samuel Mudd was charged with conspiracy and aiding booths escape he was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison but President Andrew Johnson pardoned him in February 1869 Sam Arnold was charged with being part of booths earlier plot to kidnap Lincoln he was found guilty and sentenced to life but was also pardoned by Johnson in 1869 michael o'laughlen was also charged with the earlier plot to kidnap Lincoln and sentenced to life in prison however he died of yellow fever in prison two years later Ned Spangler was charged with helping booth escape from Ford's Theater immediately after the assassination he was found guilty and sentenced to six years but was also pardoned by President Johnson in 1869 Lincoln was the first of four presidents in American history to be assassinated while in office today the Secret Service is in charge of protecting the president coincidentally Lincoln signed the legislation creating the Secret Service the very day he was shot the end you

Channel: Mr. Beat

Views: 813,840

Keywords: Assassination Of Abraham Lincoln (Event), Abraham Lincoln (US President), Assassination (Cause Of Death), John Wilkes Booth (Theater Actor), Ford's Theatre (Theater), Killing Lincoln, hiphughes, history for kids, assassination of lincoln video, assassination of lincoln explained, Death of Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln assassination, conspiracy Lincoln assassinatino, How Abraham Lincoln died

Id: 9ozI11aFfNQ

Length: 13min 5sec (785 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 11 2015