The Weapon that Killed a Hero: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

A taxi driver was killed during a night robbery in Columbia, South Carolina. Out of this rather ordinary crime, it had been boxed up for nearly four decade until 1997, when the sheriff department created a cold case squad. In 1961, John Orner was shot three times in the head because the suspect tried to remove any money from Orner’s taxi. Following morning, the bloodstained taxi was found abandoned within the streets of Columbia. Through ballistics evidence found in John Orner’s head, police suspected that a person named Edward Freiburger was involved. From forensics examination of those three bullets indicated that the bullets were fired from a .32 caliber Harrington and Richardson (H&R) revolver. Police did manage to catch

Is Mary Surratt guilty? Mary Surratt is being accused of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and is being hanged for it. Some people say that Dr.Mudd did it and other people say that Mary did it but who really killed Abraham Lincoln? Mary Surratt definitely deserved to be hanged for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

John Wilkes Booth may think that he did the right thing for the southerner, however people from the north had different point of views and by that misfortune called him out for what he has done. The Chasing Lincoln's Killer, by James L. Swanson stated the quest of what John Wilkes Booth received and the task that he needs to be done is not a easy nor an impossible job, but the outcome of the event will be macabre. Although John Wilkes Booth is doing the greater good for the south, the assassination that John Wilkes Booth did will not be forgotten. Consequently, the assassination is what some people would hoped for.

John Wilkes Booth was born on May 10, 1838 in the state of near Bel Air, Maryland (Encyclopedia Britannica 2017). He was the second youngest of 10 children, and was the son of the actor Junius Brutus Booth (Encyclopedia Britannica 2017). Booth “showed excellent theatrical potential early on, but also exhibited an emotional instability” (Encyclopedia Britannica 2017). John Wilkes Booth remained on demand after a “wildly acclaimed” tour of the South all the way throughout the

“With malice towards none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as god gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nations wounds; to care for him who shall borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphaned child-to do all which may be achieved and cherished a just and a lasting peace among ourselves, and with all other nations”-Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address (Great Documents of America 19).

The Presidential party arrived at Ford's at about 8:30 P.M. Armed with a single shot derringer and a hunting knife, Booth arrived at Ford's at about 9:30 P.M. Joseph Burroughs, a boy who worked at the theatre, held his horse in the rear alley. Booth went next door to a saloon for a drink. He entered the front of Ford's Theatre around 10:07 P.M. Slowly he made his way toward the State Box where the Lincolns were sitting with Clara Harris and Henry Rathbone. Lincoln's bodyguard, John Parker of the Metropolitan Police Force, had left his post. At about 10:15 P.M. Booth opened the door to the State Box, shot Lincoln in the back of the head at near point-blank range, and struggled with Rathbone. Booth stabbed Rathbone in the arm and jumped approximately 11 feet to the stage below. When he hit the floor he

Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia on April 9th in the year of 1865. You have learned this story all throughout your schooling, but have you only scratched the surface on one of history’s greatest events? The Battle of Appomattox Courthouse gave the Civil War a reflective and climactic end. The surrender of Robert E. Lee to Ulysses S. Grant ended the idyllic dream of the Southern way of life and paved the way for the nation to begin healing after almost 5 long years of war and death.

Why did John Wilkes Booth want to kill Lincoln?  Booth wanted to kill Lincoln because he didn’t liked how Lincoln wanted to let black people vote. But then he attended  Lincoln’s speech and Lincoln was trying to back out of letting the blacks vote.  After this John W. Booth was so mad that he was trying to get a group together to kidnap Lincoln. This then led to Lincoln’s  assassination.(9)

Davis claimed that he was not happy that Lincoln had been assassinated even though one man claimed he was. Lincoln was fair to the South and was respected in the North. His successor did not respect the South like Lincoln did and the people of the North did not respect him. Reconstruction would have been much smoother if Lincoln was still president. He would have been fair and treated them as equals while Lincoln’s successor Andrew Johnson vetoed crucial bills. Lincoln would have handled reconstruction better, and the South would have benefited from it. So there was no reason for Davis to want Lincoln to be dead. The next document is a letter from Carl Schurz to a newspaper about the mindset the people of Savanna Georgia have. He stated that

On April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee (1807-70) surrendered his approximately 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant (1822-85). In the front parlor of Wilmer McLean’s home in Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War (1861-65). Days earlier, Lee had abandoned the Confederate capital of Richmond and city of Petersburg, hoping to escape with the remnants of his Army of Northern Virginia, and meet up with additional Confederate forces in North Carolina and resume the fighting. When Union forces cut off his final retreat, Lee was forced to surrender, finally ending four years of bloody sectional conflict. In retreating from the Union army’s Appomattox campaign, which began in late March 1865,

BOOM, CRACK, SNAP. Those were the final sounds of the American Civil War when Confederate army Commander Robert E. Lee surrenders to the Union army on April 9 of 1865. Robert E. Lee surrenders in the Appomattox Courthouse in Appomattox, Virginia.

Just image oneself spending a nice evening at the theater, laughing with friends and then shots erupt and screams breakout, well that’s exactly what happened when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. No warning, not even a hint of what was to come of Lincoln, if only he had known maybe things would be different and maybe the world would have ended up in a different place.

Both were a weakness. On page 16, the writing says “It's a big .44 caliber ball, weighing in at nerl an ounce, was a solid, deadly round.’ This meaning, the gun would kill Lincoln if he was shot. Also, on page 20, the author talks about how “either the copper percussion cap might fail to spark, or the black powder in the barrel might fail to ignite because of dampness” the weapon could backfire causing Booth to be caught. “Booth was a thrill seeker, so perhaps he wanted to increase his excitement by risking the use of a one shot pistol.” This could be used as a weakness if he misses or the shot doesn't go as plan. The knife would be also used as a strength. “Then if he missed, or failed to kill the president, he would turn to his backup weapon, a Rio Grande camp knife, a handsome and extremely sharp type of bowie knife.” The knife would be used as a backup and would maybe help if he missed the shot. Either way, there were risk in these weapons. Although weapons were important, the location was way

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States of America. He was elected into presidency on November 6, 1860. Many of the southern states were unsupportive of Lincoln becoming president because he had run on an anti-slavery platform. Lincoln being elected into presidency caused states such as South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas to split from the Union. In his inaugural address Lincoln proclaimed it was his duty to maintain the Union; a month later the Civil War began. Although Lincoln did many great things for our country, his vital role in the Civil War is what most likely lead to his assassination.

American Experience presents The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, from Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Barak Goodman. This film interviews some of the nation’s best scholars, including several writers and historians, who recount the known facts of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865. The film was very interesting and conveys the story from the beginning starting with murderer John Wilkes Booth, a young energetic, happy kid who grew upon his family farm in Maryland and followed his family’s footsteps into acting. But he had big shoes to fill trying to follow the greatness of his family who were famous theatrical actors. His acting was not very good as he began but he eventually became