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KF5JRV > TODAY 15.04.26 13:04l 43 Lines 3084 Bytes #60 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Apr 15
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Sent: 260415/1042Z 24316@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.24
At 7:22 a.m., Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, dies from a bullet wound inflicted the night before by
John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer. The presidentâ€Ös death came only six days after Confederate General R
obert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, effectively ending the American Civil War.
Booth, who remained in the North during the war despite his Confederate sympathies, initially plotted to capture President Linc
oln and take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital. However, on March 20, 1865, the day of the planned kidnapping, the presi
dent failed to appear at the spot where Booth and his six fellow conspirators lay in wait. Two weeks later, Richmond fell to Un
ion forces. In April, with Confederate armies near collapse across the South, Booth hatched a desperate plan to save the Confed
eracy.
Learning that Lincoln was to attend Laura Keeneâ€Ös acclaimed performance in Our American Cousin at Fordâ€Ös Theater on April 1
4, Booth plotted the simultaneous assassination of Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William H. Se
ward. By murdering the president and two of his possible successors, Booth and his conspirators hoped to throw the U.S. governm
ent into a paralyzing disarray.
On the evening of April 14, conspirator Lewis T. Powell burst into Secretary of State Sewardâ€Ös home, seriously wounding him a
nd three others, while George A. Atzerodt, assigned to Vice President Johnson, lost his nerve and fled. Meanwhile, just after 1
0 p.m., Booth entered Lincolnâ€Ös private box unnoticed and shot the president with a single bullet in the back of his head. Sl
ashing an army officer who rushed at him, Booth jumped to the stage and shouted “Sic semper tyrannis! [Thus always to tyrants
]–the South is avenged!” Although Booth had broken his left leg jumping from Lincolnâ€Ös box, he succeeded in escaping Wash
ington.
The president, mortally wounded, was carried to a cheap lodging house opposite Fordâ€Ös Theater. An hour after dawn the next mo
rning, Abraham Lincoln died, becoming the first president to be assassinated. His body was taken to the White House, where it l
ay until April 18, at which point it was carried to the Capitol rotunda to lay in state on a catafalque. On April 21, Lincolnâ€
Ös body was taken to the railroad station and boarded on a train that conveyed it to Springfield, Illinois, his home before bec
oming president. Tens of thousands of Americans lined the trainâ€Ös railroad route and paid their respects to their fallen lead
er during the trainâ€Ös solemn progression through the North. Lincoln was buried on May 4, 1865, at Oak Ridge Cemetery, near Sp
ringfield.
Booth, pursued by the army and security forces, was finally cornered in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia, and died from a bu
llet wound as the barn was burned to the ground. Of the eight other persons eventually charged with the conspiracy, four were h
anged.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
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