You’re probably familiar with the 1860s illustration The Assassination of President Lincoln. But who’s that pair sharing the private box with the ill-fated president and his wife? The man on the far left, rushing into action, is Major Henry Rathbone. President and Mrs. Lincoln specifically asked him and his fiancée, Clara Harris, to accompany them to the theater. After Booth fired the shot, Rathbone tried to tackle him to the ground, but Booth was able to get free by slicing Rathbone in the arm with a dagger. Rathbone was never free of the memory and guilt of that night, and he reportedly felt responsible for letting Booth get away. In the years to come, he experienced a myriad of health issues, from stomach ailments to heart palpitations, and his mental state deteriorated as well. On December 23, 1883 (18 years after the assassination), he attacked and killed Clara, now his wife, and attempted to kill himself. He would spend the rest of his life in a mental institution.
Interesting facts about Abraham Lincoln’s assassination
Where was Lincoln’s bodyguard?
John Parker, the bodyguard, initially left his position to watch the play, and then he went to the saloon next door for intermission. It was the same saloon where Booth was drinking. No one knows where Parker was during the assassination, but he wasn’t at his position at the door to the booth.
Where was the Secret Service?
It didn’t exist yet, but Lincoln signed the bill creating it that night before he left for Ford’s Theater.
How did Booth stay in hiding for so long?
Booth was able to escape Ford’s Theater alive and he was on the run for 12 days, accompanied by another conspirator, David Herold. The pair went to the Surratt Tavern in Maryland, gathered supplies, went to see Dr. Mudd to have Booth’s broken leg set, and then headed through forest lands and swamps to Virginia. They were also aided by a former Confederate spy operative and by other Confederate sympathizers. Military forces were hot on their trail, and they found a person who directed them to a Virginia farm. At the Garrett Farm, Booth was fatally wounded and Herold surrendered.
The original plan was to kidnap Lincoln and not kill him
Booth met with his conspirators in March 1865 and came up with a plan to kidnap Lincoln as he returned from a play at the Campbell Hospital on March 17. But Lincoln changed his plans at the last minute and went to a military ceremony. Booth then thought about kidnapping Lincoln after he left an event at Ford’s Theater. But the actor changed his mind after Lee's surrender.
Was Mary Surratt part of the conspiracy?
That’s a topic still being debated today. Surratt was a Southern sympathizer who had owned land with her late husband in Maryland. She also owned a home in Washington that was also used as a boarding house and she was friends with Booth. She also rented a tavern she owned in Maryland to an innkeeper.
Surratt was with Booth on the day of the assassination, and she allegedly had told the innkeeper to get a pair of guns ready that night for visitors. The innkeeper’s testimony doomed Surratt to the gallows. What was controversial was the decision to hang Surratt – which was personally approved by Andrew Johnson.
President Abraham Lincoln’s hearse in Springfield, Illinois, in 1865.
Scene at the deathbed of President Abraham Lincoln.
Dried flowers from the funeral of Abraham Lincoln.
Many women dressed in white accompany Lincoln’s hearse as it passes beneath an ornamental arch at 12thStreet in Chicago.
Lincoln’s funeral on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., on April 19, 1865.
Wanted: The poster issued by the War Departrment offering a $50,000 dollar reward for the apprehension of John Wilkes Booth
Comments