The Assassination of Lincoln & Ford's Theatre | History Traveler Episode 25

in episode 15 we traveled to the National Museum of Health and medicine which is by far one of the most bizarre and extreme places that I've ever been we also saw the bullet that killed Abraham Lincoln at that Museum in this episode we're going to the very place where that bullet was fired at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC well few days ago we were at the National Museum of Health and medicine where we saw the bullet that killed Abraham Lincoln today I'm in Washington DC or in another place that is very closely tied with the assassination of Lincoln we are at Ford's Theatre where Lincoln was actually shot I've always wanted to come and visit this place definitely one of the spots in DC that is of very high historic significance so I already got my ticket we're going to go in and we're going to explore Ford's Theatre and see what we can learn all right so we're down in kind of the basement of Ford's Theatre which they've converted into Museum and as you can see it's a bit of a mosh pit down here right now pretty crowded even though we had tickets to get in I guess they give out a lot of them because a lot of people want to see this place well take a look at a few of the things they have down here though it's uh it's really crowded in here so I'm just gonna kinda have to do the best that I can and it's also a little bit dark but this is a quilt that was made in 1864 that features these signatures have a lot of prominent artists and politicians and military people so there's Henry Wadsworth Longfellow his signatures on there William Tecumseh Sherman and if you get up here the very middle there's the signature of Abraham Lincoln pretty cool there's also Winfield Scott right there here's the playbill for our American cousin play that was being performed with the night that Lincoln was killed we also have a life mask and a calling card and some other personal items of Lincoln's here well the other day we saw the bullet that killed Lincoln all here is the derringer that it was fired from this is John Wilkes Booth's gun that was used to assassinate Abraham Lincoln Wow so again this is really really dark in here some kind of pushing the limits of my camera but this boot know if you can see it kind of split there this is the boot that was worn by John Wilkes Booth and after he shot Lincoln he jumped down and busted his leg up and died by the name of dr. Mudd treated him and then up here is the Spencer carbine that Booth carried during his escape Wow and then this horn handled dagger right here was also used by John Wilkes Booth he stabbed a guy by the name of major Henry Rathbone after he shot Lincoln has the words Liberty and America engraved in it then these are the revolvers that were carried by booth during his escape Wow holy smokes this is the pillow that was used to prop up Lincoln's head over the Petersen house after he was shot and you can still see the bloodstains on it we smoked sand this is a piece of wood from a music stand that booth used to wedge the door shut for the door the that went to the balcony and you can see the door right there behind it Wow all right just came upstairs and we are entering the theater so they've done something really interesting here they've got a timeline for what April 14th look like for booth and also for Lincoln so at 8 a.m. Lincoln is having breakfast and at 9:00 John Wilkes Booth is at the National Hotel getting up and getting ready and then it just kind of bounces back and forth between the two as you get closer and closer to the balcony that spiral staircase that I just came up is the same one that Booth walked up during the play our American cousin and then he walked right here along the back on the second level went through this door right here barred it shut and then waited for the right moment when the crowd was going to be laughing at a joke and shot Lincoln right behind the left ear bullet lodged behind his right eye [Music] and while right there is the balcony that Lincoln and his wife were sitting in whenever booth shot him in the back of the head then after that booth tried to escape a little bit of a mix-up got a spur hung and fell down to the stage here man oh man okay well that was incredibly interesting so I just left Ford's Theater and now getting ready to go into the Petersen house where Lincoln was carried and where where he died the next morning pretty pretty fascinating stuff so far so this is the rear parlor where Edwin Stanton kind of took control the government and started the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth and right in here is the bedroom where Lincoln died at 7:22 a.m. on April 15th you held on for about nine hours Wow here they have different things from the aftermath funeral of Lincoln these are some different coffin tools there's a coffin handle funeral Clarkie invitation to the funeral and also some warning cards [Music] all right well that was awesome just as a matter of personal preference I think I enjoyed that more than I did the American History Museum man American history just has like these certain points where they're dividing marks and the assassination of Lincoln is one of them who knows what things would have looked like for african-americans had Lincoln not been assassinated really even for the South Jefferson Davis even said ten years after the assassination of Lincoln dead it was bad for the south because Lincoln had this policy of malice towards none but if you're in Washington DC that is definitely a stop to make very very cool place sweet heavenly days look at all of the books that have been written on Abraham Lincoln good grief [Music]

Channel: The History Underground

Views: 244,647

Keywords: history, history traveler, history underground, assassination, lincoln, abe lincoln, john wilkes booth, ford's theatre, washington dc, dc, assassin, american history, jd huitt, tour, things to do in dc

Id: -dzMLvXVdm0

Length: 10min 5sec (605 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 25 2019