In which theater was Lincoln assassinated? History pages. The complete liquidation of the United States is a foregone conclusion

The people who killed Lincoln

On April 4, 1865, an actor and angry Confederate sympathizer entered the presidential box during a play at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. and shot the American president in the head from behind. That man was John Wilkes Booth, known to us in the history books as the man who assassinated the sixteenth American president.

The photograph of Lincoln was taken circa 1861, the year the civil war. Bout had supporters all this time: a man who helped him get into the theater and then helped him escape. There were also plans to assassinate Lincoln's ministers. The assassination of the president took place, but all other plans of the conspirators failed. Our photo selection invites you to take a look at the people involved in this conspiracy. Most of the photographs that you will see were taken after the arrest of the conspirators.

Pictured: Lincoln at Antietam in 1862, with Alan Pinkerton (left), the intelligence agent who plotted to assassinate him, and Major General John A. McClernand. Three years after this photo was taken, the end of the Civil War was near, but Lincoln continued to play his part in the standoff between the states. His election as president is a direct prerequisite to the first shots at Fort Sumter, he controlled the course of the war, and also stirred up even more emotions with his public speeches. Lincoln was the main target of the Southerners.

No one knew this better than twenty-five-year-old John Wilkes Booth, an anti-slavery actor who greatly regretted not fighting on the side of the South. In March 1864, General Ulysses S. Grant further fueled Booth's hatred by refusing to conduct an exchange of prisoners of war, which was another blow to the South. It was then that Bout formed a plan to kidnap the president, and he began to look for supporters.

After Lincoln's re-election victory in November 1864, Booth managed to gather several supporters who agreed to help him kidnap the president. Among them were Samuel Arnold, George Atzerodt, David Herold, Michael O'Lafin, Lewis Powell and John Surratt. They met in Washington, D.C. at the home of Mary Surratt, John's mother, and plotted to kidnap Lincoln. The plan was to capture Lincoln, take him to Richmond, Virginia, and hold him hostage until the North agreed to revise its POW policy. The alternative was to trade Lincoln for several thousand captured Confederate soldiers.

On March 4, 1865, Lincoln was inaugurated for a second term and delivered one of his most famous and emotional speeches - the one that is now etched in stone in the Lincoln Memorial. Among the crowd was Booth, and although his plan at the time consisted only of kidnapping Lincoln, he later remarked: "what an amazing chance I had if I wanted to kill the president right on the day of the inauguration!"

One of Booth's supporters was Michael O'Loughin, an engraver whose family lived next door to the Booth family in Baltimore. Michael O'Loughin was one of those who were to assist Booth in his attempt to capture Lincoln on March 17, 1865 in Baltimore. Assuming that the President would attend a performance of "Still Waters Run Deep" that evening, the conspirators hid by the roadside while waiting for the President's carriage to pass. But it turned out that their information about Lincoln's plans for the evening was false, the crew was not Lincoln at all. Michael O'Loughin returned to Baltimore, and although he was in Washington on the day of the assassination, his involvement has not been confirmed. He was one of the few conspirators who served in the Confederate army.

Samuel Arnold was also present at the failed kidnapping attempt, but all evidence suggests that he soon broke off relations with Booth. In January 1865, the South agreed to the conditions put forward by the North, and the notorious exchange of prisoners of war took place, so that Samuel Arnold, like the bulk of the conspirators, lost his main motivation for participating in the conspiracy.

On April 11, 1865, Lincoln spoke to the White House for freed slaves to be given the right to vote. Booth, who was in the audience listening to the speech, was furious, saying that "That was his last speech." The picture shows the moment of Lincoln's assassination.

Three days later, the conspirators had a chance. On April 14, 1865, Booth wrote in his diary that he was "in a hurry" and that "there is almost no chance, something decisive, something great must be done." On the same day, while visiting acquaintances at the Ford Theatre, Booth heard by chance that Lincoln, General Ulysses Grant and their wives would be at the evening performance of My American Cousin. Booth knew the theater well and, feeling that fate was giving him a chance. Gathered his conspirators. Pictured: the presidential box at Ford's Theatre, 1865.

Booth gathered the conspirators who remained in Washington and presented them with his new plan. After 10 o'clock that evening, Louis Powell would assassinate Secretary of State William Seward, George Atzerodt would assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Booth would assassinate Lincoln and Grant at the Ford Theatre. Booth did not know that his information that Grant would be present at the performance would turn out to be false (Mrs. Grant and Mrs. Lincoln did not get along), nor did he know that other complications would arise.

George Atzerodt, having heard about Booth's plan, said that he would not participate in it, specifying that he joined the group of them when it was about kidnapping, and not about mass murder. Booth replied that it was too late to retreat, and forced Atzerodt to take a room in the hotel where the vice president was staying. To strengthen his own courage, Atzerodt drank all evening in the hotel bar, talking with the bartender about the vice president, he had a knife and a revolver with him. At 10 pm was the appointed hour for the assassination, but Atzerodt never brought himself to carry out his part of the plan. He drunkenly walked the streets of Washington and, in the end, already at 2 o'clock in the morning he moved to another hotel. After the assassination of the president, hotel employees reported him to the police - he seemed suspicious to them.

. David Herold, according to the plan of the conspirators, was supposed to help Lewis Powell in his assassination of the secretary of state, who dealt with domestic politics, and, therefore, was one of the key figures in Lincoln's politics. David Herold led Powell to Seward's secretary's D.C. home and later helped Booth out of Ford's theater. In addition, there is little information about Herold, which is why Gore Vidal in his novel Lincoln made him the main character, paying special attention to him.

Lewis Powell, also known as Lewis Payne. A Confederate spy known for his brutality (he was once arrested for beating a black maid in Baltimore), Lewis Powell was the only member of the group who was ideally suited for the assassination. Secretary Seward was recovering from a crew accident that broke his arm and jaw. Powell posed as a doctor and entered the house. Seward's son Frederick became suspicious and did not want to let Powell into his father's room. Powell stunned Frederick with the butt of a revolver and entered Seward's room, where he stabbed him several times with a silver-handled knife. But the room was dark, so he inflicted superficial wounds. He ran out of the house shouting "I'm going crazy!".

Now about what was happening at that time in Ford's theater. Major Henry Rathbone and his wife used Grant's tickets and watched the performance in the presidential box with Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd. Butt entered the box and blocked the latch on the door so that no one could enter after him. He knew the performance well and waited until the lines were spoken on the stage, followed by a guaranteed explosion of laughter. At that moment, he rushed forward and fired a single-shot revolver from behind at Lincoln's head.

Rathbone tried to stop Booth, but Booth stabbed him in the forearm and jumped out of the box. While jumping, he caught on the flag with which the presidential box was decorated, and, falling on the stage, broke his leg. The shocked audience watched as he, raising a bloody knife over his head, shouted: “Sic semper tyrannis” (This is how any tyrant will end!) The south is avenged!”

Edmund Spengler. Spangler helped Booth escape by preparing a horse for him. A carpenter and stagehand who spent the night at the theater, he was a friend of Booth and helped him sneak into the theater at 9:30 p.m., before the assassination of the president. It is not known if Spangler knew all the details of the plan.

After the murder, Booth meets with Herold. They leave the city and arrive in Bryantown, Maryland. There, they visit Dr. Samuel Mudd, who treated Booth, who had a broken leg. It is not known whether the doctor at that time was aware of the assassination of the president. In any case, he knew Bout before, and did not contact the authorities.

George Atzerodt and Lewis Powell were both arrested shortly after Lincolt's assassination. Mary Surratt was also arrested because Powell tried to hide in her house. A huge bounty was put on the heads of the other conspirators, Booth, Herold and John Surratt.

John Surratt denied his involvement in the murder, arguing that he only agreed to the kidnapping. Upon learning that he was among the suspects, he fled to Montreal. He was the man who introduced Booth and Dr. Mudd in December 1864. She also knew Lewis Powell from her own days in the Confederate Army. After Canada, he moved to England, and then to the Vatican.

On April 26, Union soldiers tracked Booth and Herold hiding in a barn in Bowlin Green, Virginia. Herold quickly surrendered, but Booth refused to surrender, so they opened fire on him.

Soldier Boston Corbett shot Booth in the neck. Paralyzed, Booth said, "Tell your mother I'm dying for my country!" He died two hours later. Corbett was very religious, in his appearance and life he tried to imitate Christ. He said that he shot at Booth because he thought he was going to shoot, but then he began to claim that he "heard the voice of providence."

The plot failed. Booth overestimated the Confederates. The war will finally end in June this year. The nation will mourn the loss of a leader. In the photo, the funeral procession with the body of Lincoln arrives at the City Hall in New York.

Millions of people came to pay tribute to the memory of Lincoln. The procession traveled 1,700 miles (2,735.88 kilometers) from New York to Springfield, Illinois.

The rest of the conspirators were treated harshly. Samuel Arnold, Lewis Powell (pictured), Edmund Spengler, Michael O'Loughin, David Herold, Samuel Mudd and Mary Suratt were arrested and put on trial. The trial was conducted by a military tribunal, which could approve the death sentence with a two-thirds vote.

Lewis Powell, David Herold and George Atzerodt were hanged, as was Mary Surratt - the nation was in anger and despair after the loss of the president. Arnold, Mudd, Spangler and O'Loughn were sentenced to life in Fort Jefferson, a prison located 70 miles from Key West.

President Andrew Johnson had to reunite the country, and he did the job. He tried to embody the precepts of Lincoln and took the principle of "do not single out anyone, take care of everyone" as the basis of his policy. O'Loughin died in custody, but Arnold, Mudd, and Spangler were pardoned in 1869. The photograph shows the laying of the cornerstone of the Lincoln Memorial.

Cranes lay marble slabs on the monument to the 16th President, 1914.

Abraham Lincoln is one of the most respected historical figures in the United States. His path to the top of the political Olympus, the role he played in uniting the nation at a difficult moment for her, the struggle for democratic ideals - all this provided Lincoln with an honorable place in the pantheon of America's national heroes. His tragic death also played a significant role in creating a real cult of this president.

Lincoln was born in 1809 to a poor farmer in Kentucky. The family moved from place to place, ending up in Illinois. Abraham received only a primary education, but he read a lot. Natural abilities helped him become a connoisseur of history, law, and literature. In his youth, the future president changed a lot of professions, he worked as a clerk, surveyor, postmaster. In the early 1830s, he took part in the war against the Indians, and then began political career. Lincoln was elected several times to the Illinois Legislature. From 1847, Lincoln represented his state in the lower house of the US Congress.

In 1856, he joined the Republican Party, and soon ran (though did not pass) for senators. Even then, Lincoln was a well-known politician. He gained particular fame thanks to his performances. He was a talented speaker, many of whose speeches have become classics of American literature. In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States.

Virtually all of Lincoln's reign took place during the Civil War. The President managed to unite the political forces of the North, to strengthen the Republican Party. Lincoln acted at times harshly, resorted to the help of the courts and emergency measures. He formulated the two main ideas of the war - the struggle for the unity of the nation and country and the struggle for the freedom of the people of America, i.e. slaves. He pushed for the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution to abolish slavery. Lincoln also showed himself as an outstanding organizer of the army, personally developing an effective concept for commanding military forces.

Elected for a second term, Lincoln, in his inaugural speech on March 2, 1865, spoke of forgiveness, of uniting the efforts of the population of the North and South for the good of America. But it was his successors who had to build the new state.

One of the most famous political assassinations in history took place five days after General Lee's army surrendered. On April 14, Lincoln and his wife gathered at the Ford Theater for the comedy Our American Cousin. The actors were informed in advance that the president would be in the hall. Among the actors was John Wilkes Booth, a southerner by birth, a racist who hated Lincoln fiercely.

The young actor and his associates have long been preparing an assassination attempt on the president and even made one attempt, which, however, was thwarted. On April 14, 1865, insolent conspirators were going to kill not only Lincoln, but also his Vice President Johnson, Secretary of State Seward, and General Grant, who at the last moment refused to go to the theater.

Booth came to the theater armed with two revolvers and a knife. I must say that the protection of the president was organized simply ugly. Actually, the entrance to the presidential box was guarded by one policeman, who, moreover, at the beginning of the eleventh evening left his post. Booth entered the box and fired at Lincoln at point-blank range. He then jumped over the barrier, fell onto the stage and broke his leg in the process. From the stage, the killer shouted: "Death to tyrants!" The most striking thing is that with an injured leg, Bout was still able to get away. When he reached the emergency exit, he jumped on his horse and galloped away. That same evening, another conspirator stabbed Seward, but it was not fatal.

By morning, Abraham Lincoln had died from his wound. Vice President Andrew Johnson became the new President under the Constitution. The funeral procession, passing through many states to the capital of Illinois, Springfield (where Lincoln was buried), watched by millions of people along the road, became a manifestation of the American "civil religion". Thanks to Lincoln's example, the idea of ​​the sacrifice that every American and the American people as a whole must make in order to preserve democratic values ​​has become one of the principles of this "religion".

Booth and one of his associates were overtaken in Maryland. During the arrest, despite the order to take the criminals alive, the assassin of the president was shot dead by one of the soldiers. This, according to some researchers, proves involvement in the murder of Secretary of Defense Stanton.

Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

On April 14, 1865, at a performance of Our American Cousin at the Ford Theater, actor John Wilkes Booth mortally wounded US President Abraham Lincoln. The killer managed to escape, but after 12 days the police caught up with him in a barn in Virginia, and when Booth came out of a torched hideout, Sergeant Boston Corbett shot him in the neck.

Official version

In addition to Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd Lincoln, Major Henry Rathbone and his beloved Clara Harris were in the presidential box. Booth found himself in the aisle connecting the box and the corridor at ten o'clock in the evening, and remained to wait for a certain comedy scene, which always aroused the laughter of the audience.
According to the plan, the rising noise was supposed to drown out the shot. At the beginning of the episode, the actor went behind the president, who was sitting in a rocking chair, and at the right moment shot him in the back of the head. Rathbone tried to detain the killer, but he stabbed him in the arm. The major recovered quickly and again tried to grab Booth as he was preparing to jump over the box railing. He, in turn, tried to hit Rathbone in the chest, and then jumped over the fence.
Falling onto the stage from a height of three meters, he caught his spur on the flag that adorned the box, and in the fall broke his left leg, which, however, did not prevent him from running onto the stage. At that moment, he raised a bloody knife over his head and shouted into the audience the Virginia state motto Sic semper Tyrannis! (lat. “It happens with all tyrants!”). Then he got out, hit the man holding the horse with the handle of the knife, and fled from his pursuers.

The wounded Lincoln was transferred to a boarding house opposite the theater. The next morning, the president died without regaining consciousness. At the same time, a certain Lewis Powell (Payne) made an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Secretary of State William Seward - an associate of Lincoln who later became famous for buying Alaska - in his house. Shortly before the assassination attempt, Seward was in a road accident: his jaw was broken and right hand, the ligament of the foot was torn, and the whole body was covered with bruises. Payne snuck into his house on the pretext that he needed to give Seward something from the doctor, and entered his bedroom. The conspirator inflicted several blows with a knife, including in the throat. The Secretary of State survived. During the assassination attempt, Seward's son August was injured.

An assassination attempt was also being prepared on Vice President Andrew Johnson, but the conspirator George Atzerodt “drank too much for courage” and did not go anywhere.

The conspiracy against the leaders of the United States, the investigation linked with the end of the civil war: only five days had passed after the surrender of the commander-in-chief of the Confederate army, the North won. The investigation identified ten participants in the conspiracy: Booth was killed during the arrest, four - David Herold, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt and Mary Surratt - were hanged on July 7.

Execution of Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold and George Atzerodt (left to right). Photo: Library of Congress

Three more - Dr. Samuel Mudd, Samuel Arnold and Michael O "Loughlin - were sentenced to life imprisonment, Edward Spangler received six years in prison. John Surratt, one of the main characters in this story, was hiding abroad for some time (where no one was looking for him), and then was acquitted.

conspiracy theory

In 1959, the American historian Theodore Roscoe published The Web of Conspiracy. In it, the author drew attention to the episodes official version consequences that seem incredible and raise questions.

The assassination attempt was immediately reported to Vice President Andrew Johnson, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles. Stanton immediately arrived at the scene of the assassination, and then, settling in the same boarding house, for many hours served as chief of police and supreme judge, giving orders to catch the killer and sending out telegrams. After a short conversation with the vice president, the secretary of war allegedly let him go home, although according to another version of Johnson, no one tried to look for him at all.

This is where the weirdness starts. One of Stanton's first orders was to block all roads leading out of the city. The police occupied train stations, the Potomac River was guarded by ships, and the six roads leaving Washington were blocked by the military. However, the conspirators were left with two paths that led to the state of Maryland, one of them - along the Navy Yard Bridge, which was guarded around the clock. On the day of the assassination, the bridge was guarded by a sergeant named Cobb. At 22:45 local time, Booth introduced himself to him by his real name and said that he was going home. The assassin of the president was released from the city.

Following Booth, David Harold drove up to the bridge, helping Powell at the home of Secretary of State Seward. His Sergeant Cobb, like Booth, allegedly mistook him for a reveler who had fun in Washington and missed the time when he had to return home.

A few minutes later a stable boy galloped up after Harold, from whom the conspirators borrowed horses and did not return them at the agreed nine in the evening. Seeing the rushing Harold, who clearly did not intend to give up the horse, its owner rushed after him. But Sergeant Cobb didn't let him across the bridge. Then the groom returned to the city and filed a complaint about the stolen horse with the police. The suggestion arose from its employees that this theft might be connected with the flight of the conspirators, and they turned to the army headquarters with a demand for the horses. The military rejected the request, saying that they had not received such orders, and they would deal with the criminals on their own. Until the next day, however, no one lifted a finger.

Another little-explained circumstance that Roscoe points out is how Bout was able to get into the presidential box without interference. On the eve of the performance, Lincoln asked Stanton to appoint Major Eckart as his bodyguard, but the Secretary of War announced that his aide-de-camp was busy and put John Parker, who had a reputation as a drunkard and frequenter of brothels, as well as many penalties for inappropriate use of weapons and sleeping on duty, to the president. Parker did not change his image and soon after the start of the performance he went to a bar. The path for the killer was clear.

The motive for the murder is also not entirely plausible. It is commonly believed that Booth, an ardent supporter of the southerners, decided to take revenge on Lincoln for defeating the Confederacy. But the fact is that, contrary to popular legend, the president fought not for the liberation of blacks, but for the unity of the state. By and large, he didn’t give a damn about the slaves: in his campaign speech, Lincoln said that there could be no question of any equality, but the superiority of the white race does not mean that blacks should be deprived of everything.

Lincoln himself took a soft stance towards the vanquished. At the same time, Secretary of War Stanton disagreed with this position and believed that the South needed to be occupied and avenged. It turns out that the "fanatical southerner" Bout for some reason killed a man who offered the most profitable terms defeated southerners.

On the night of April 15, when Harold and Boots met after crossing the Navy Yard bridge, they called on Dr. Samuel Mudd in Bryantown because the actor's broken leg was in severe pain. Before entering the house, Booth wrapped his face in a shawl so that the doctor could not see him. Mudd put a bandage on the damaged bone and built two crutches, after which the conspirators continued on their way. At the trial, Mudd said that Booth turned away from him all the time and did not let himself be seen, but the judges decided that it was the doctor who advised the fugitives to contact Colonel Cox, who was supposed to ferry them across the Potomac. This enterprise, however, failed, and Colonel Cox hid the conspirators a few kilometers from his house, where Booth began to keep a diary.

In Washington, meanwhile, they arrested Mary Surratt, the hostess of the boarding house, where the actor often went, and three other suspicious persons. Payne and Atzerodt were also captured.

Quite large rewards were assigned for the heads of Booth and Harold. Eventually, their trail was found near Port Royal, where they hid with a family of farmers, posing as Confederate soldiers. The soldiers had an order to take the conspirators alive, but in spite of him, Bout was mortally wounded and died the next morning. The soldiers found his diary and handed it over to the ministry, but they seemed to have forgotten about it. A few years later, Brigadier General Lafayette Baker remembered that he had given the actor's diary to his boss Stanton (Baker was then chief of police), and when he got it back, some pages were missing.

In 1961, a book that once belonged to Baker was accidentally found. 93 years earlier, a brigadier general wrote on its cover: “I am constantly being followed. These are professionals. I can't get away from them." This is followed by an allegorical story about the conspiracy of Judas, Brutus and the Spy, while references to Stanton are found in the words of Judas, and the owner of the book calls himself the Spy. Baker was poisoned a month later.

According to historian Roscoe, Baker or Stanton are also responsible for the loss of the only photographic plate on which photographer Alexander Gardner, who worked on this case, captured the corpse of John Wilkes Booth.

Roscoe believes that Stanton also let go John Surratt, the son of Mary Surratt, whose execution was later ruled a judicial murder because she could not be convicted of anything. Sarrat fled first to Canada, then to England, then he was seen in Italy. However, when information about his whereabouts reached the Secretary of War, Stanton did not pay any attention to it. In winter, the conspirator was caught in Egypt at the initiative of Secretary of State Seward, but guilty verdict he never received it. The second court case was dismissed due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

Everyone's gone crazy

Earlier this year, investigative author Dave McGowan began publishing a series on the Lincoln assassination.
McGowan notes that on April 14, in addition to the President and, as mentioned above, Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward, the conspirators also planned to kill General Ulysses Grant and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. He gives detailed descriptions lives of people involved in one way or another in events, and almost all of them have one thing in common - they were not mentally healthy.

So, Sergeant Thomas "Boston" Corbett castrated himself about seven years before he shot Booth. In addition, he was mentally unstable and heard voices. For refusing to follow orders, he was dismissed from service, but was allowed back in 1863. Corbett quickly rose to the rank of sergeant, and did not bear any responsibility for the murders of Booth. In 1887, the sergeant was hired by the Kansas state legislature, where one day he either fired or brandished a gun, for which he was finally placed in a psychiatric hospital.

In the presidential box, along with the Lincolns, were Major Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris. She was the Major's half-sister and was the daughter of US Senator Ira Harris. They later got married and moved to Germany. In 1883, after an unsuccessful attempt to kill his children, Rathbone stabbed his wife to death and then tried to commit suicide. He spent the rest of his life in an insane asylum.

The president's wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, became completely insane after her husband's death and began to suffer from hallucinations, as a result, her son placed her in a mental hospital.

Robert Lincoln was not crazy, but surprisingly managed to become involved in the assassinations of three US presidents at once: in 1881, he was present at the assassination of James Garfield, and in 1901, William McKinley. In late 1864 and early 1865, Robert was involved in a strange incident: on a railway platform, a stranger saved the younger Lincoln from injury and possibly even death. It was Edwin Booth, the elder brother of John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln maintained a friendship with him for many years and may have had an affair with the daughter of the US Senator Lucy Hale, who had previously been the bride of John Booth.

The Butes' sister Rosalie died in 1880 in a "mysterious attack". The third brother, Junius Brutus, is believed to have gone insane. The killer actor's nephew, Edwin Booth Clark, became a naval officer and disappeared at sea: according to the official story, he committed suicide by jumping overboard.

Following the announcement of a bounty on the heads of the fugitives, the War Department received the bodies of Frank Boyle and William Watson, who looked like Booth. Stanson's agency covered up the murders and disposed of the corpses (one of them was thrown into the Potomac).

Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

The tragedy took place at Ford's Theater in Washington in 1865. The criminal, a popular actor at that time and the most handsome man in the city (according to the overwhelming majority of women), John Wilkes Booth, freely entered the presidential box and shot the distinguished guest in the back of the head. Lincoln died the next morning. Booth himself, who managed to escape from the theater, was killed a few days later during a chase organized for him.

One gets the impression that the most dangerous position in the world is that of the President of the United States of America. After all, no security service can guarantee that the next head of the White House will not add to the mournful list of his predecessors who went to the forefathers ahead of schedule through the efforts of some descendant of Herostratus. The first in the list of attempts on the life of American presidents is the assassination of Honest Abe - Abraham Lincoln.

The morning of April 14, 1865 began as usual for the owner of the White House. Nothing indicated that this day would be Lincoln's last. Just three years ago, Honest Abe survived another assassination attempt: a hitman's bullet pierced his hat, but did not cause any harm to his health. In general, in America, many did not like this man: by abolishing slavery, Lincoln thereby made many enemies for himself among the white planters, who, by his grace, lost free labor. In addition, after several assassination attempts, the president himself seems to have come to terms with the idea that one of his “well-wishers” will still achieve his goal and send him to the next world. To arguments about ways to strengthen security, the first man of America gloomily laughed it off: they say that the only reliable way to save the president is to put him in an iron box; in this case, the security of the head of state, of course, will be ensured, but he will not be able to fulfill his immediate duties. However, it was Lincoln who first had permanent bodyguards. In addition, for some time the president was guarded by detectives from the Chicago detective bureau of Alan Pinkerton, who managed to prevent several assassination attempts on the head of government. Pinkerton, who lived until 1884 (his agency lasted until 1999), was fond of repeating: if his people constantly guarded the life of the 16th President of the United States, he would have died only of extreme old age. But since Lincoln was, in fact, a "military" president, the army was mainly concerned about his safety.

After reviewing the mail, as usual, Lincoln went to the cabinet meeting at 11 o'clock in the morning. Civil War hero General W. S. Grant was also present. After the meeting, the president asked him to stay and asked if the general and his wife could accompany him and Mrs. Lincoln to the Ford Theater. Tom Taylor's comedy "Our American Cousin" was just on there, and all of Washington was delighted with the performance of the famous actress Laura Keane. Grant lamented that he would love to keep a high-ranking couple company, but his sons would be waiting for him in New Jersey that evening. The gallant general had no idea that this refusal to visit the temple of art would save his life. Meanwhile, Lincoln Kennedy's personal secretary warned his boss of the dangers of this trip and insisted on canceling a planned theater visit that the entire city knew about. Unfortunately, Honest Abe shrugged off the obsessive adviser.

The actors of the Ford Theater knew that on April 14 the president himself was going to visit the performance. This news was especially aroused by one of the leading artists, John Booth. Handsome, who belonged to the number of ardent southern extremists, fiercely hated Lincoln. He believed that the president's policy, in fact, led the country to the Civil War. So the actor gladly joined the group of conspirators who set as their goal the elimination of the objectionable head of state. Many options were offered. Even the possibility of kidnapping Lincoln and using him as a hostage in exchange for arrested Confederate Southerners was considered. However, the final verdict of the organizers of the assassination was as follows: Lincoln was to be publicly assassinated (this version of the massacre seemed the most spectacular and dramatic), and after that, Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward would be successively eliminated.

So, on April 14, 1865, according to the killers, there were ideal conditions for the implementation of the first part of the plan for "adjusting" state policy. At Mary Sarrott's Washington boarding house, Booth hastily met with the other conspirators—George Atzeroth, Sam Arnold, David Harold, and Lewis Payne. The group discussed the details of the plan over a bottle of whisky. It is strange, but alcoholic vapors, it turns out, are capable of not only pushing on various kinds of "feats", but also awakening common sense that has fallen into a coma. In any case, after drinking heavily and plucking up courage, one of the conspirators - Sam Arnold - announced that he was leaving the case and was not going to take part in the assassination attempt.

Four friends, having expressed everything they thought about this to the "apostate", undertook to distribute roles among themselves. As a result, Payne and Harold had to deal with the Secretary of State, Azeroth had to take on the assassination of the Vice President (instead of taking decisive action at the indicated time, the conspirator got drunk half to death in the nearest tavern), and Bout got the "honor" of destroying the president.

Lincoln nevertheless found a company for himself and his wife to visit the theater. About nine o'clock he appeared in his box, accompanied by Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée, Miss Clara Harry. The comedy was already in full swing, but about 2,000 spectators present in the hall hurried to rise, welcoming the head of state, and the orchestra began to play a march. The actors waited until everyone was seated again, and resumed the performance.

At 21.30, Booth, dressed in all black and carefully made up, drove up to the theater building, armed with two Colts, a pistol and two knives. He showed the sentry at the door some kind of pass, which he could not even read in the semi-darkness. The artist said that he had to convey an important message to the president, and was let upstairs. For some time he hid at the entrance to the box, waiting for the right moment. And he soon introduced himself. One of Honest Abe's guards, John Parker, decided that nothing bad would happen in the time it would take him to look into the nearest bar. As soon as he was out of sight, Booth burst into the box and pulled the trigger of his pistol, shouting the slogan of the southern states in the Civil War: "Death to tyrants!" The bullet pierced the president's head and got stuck in the right eye area. Major Rathbone tried to stop the killer, but the artist, having wounded the officer with a knife, managed to jump from the box onto the stage. And then Bout was unlucky: he got entangled in the curtain, fell on the stage, breaking his leg just above the knee. Nevertheless, the criminal managed to take advantage of the general turmoil, get out of the theater and ride away on horseback in an unknown direction. At the same time, Payne stabbed (fortunately not fatally) the Secretary of State.

Meanwhile, Abraham Lincoln, with the utmost care, was seated in a rocking chair and transferred to one of the nearby houses, where a doctor was urgently brought. But the Aesculapius only shrugged helplessly. Only a miracle could help the president, but it never happened. On the morning of April 15, the sad list of US presidents who died in office was opened.

At the agreed place, Booth met with Harold, after which the accomplices went to the state of Maryland, where they expected to receive asylum from like-minded southerners. Since the broken leg worried the actor more and more, he had to turn to a doctor he knew. He put a splint on the injured limb, and the fugitives set off again. But 11 days after the tragedy in the theater, the killer and his accomplice were tracked down and surrounded on a tobacco farm in Virginia. Negotiations with the criminals dragged on, because Booth did not burn with desire to voluntarily surrender into the hands of the military, who besieged the building. Finally, the patience of the "beaters" snapped - the farm was set on fire, after which Harold decided that it was better to be cowardly, but alive, than a hero, but freshly roasted. But, who perfectly imagined what awaited him in the event of an arrest, he preferred to shoot himself. True, there is an assumption that one of the pursuers shot the killer, thereby violating the order of Secretary of War Stanton: “Take the killer of the president alive!” For example, Lieutenant Colonel Conger, one of the secret police officers who led the operation to capture Bout, had such an opportunity. The fact that the artist was not a crazy lone fanatic, as is commonly believed, is evidenced not only by the check found in the pocket of the murdered man for a very large amount, signed by the head of the Confederation. The fact that very influential people were hiding behind Bout's back makes us think about a few more facts. So, the killer of the president, who received a bullet, lived for another three and a half hours, and all this time he was fully conscious. The doctor who examined the mortally wounded warned the military that his patient's hours were numbered, so in order to obtain information about the assassination attempt, it is worth hurrying to interrogate. However, despite this, the actor was never interrogated. As for Booth's diary, his Minister of War for some reason considered it necessary to hide it from the court. When authorities formally requested this document from Stanton, 18 pages were missing. What did the military man want to hide from the investigation? And what did the strange phrase, drawn by Booth’s hand, mean: “I am almost inclined to return to Washington and. justify what I think I can do.” It seems that the killer could justify himself only in one case - by revealing the names of his high-ranking accomplices, who remained in the shadows. And there were, apparently, a lot of them. The notes mention 11 members of Congress, 12 army officers, three navy officers and 24 civilians: the governor, journalists, big bankers, wealthy industrialists. In addition, rumors have long circulated in America that Bout was not killed, that the government played this performance for the sole purpose of closing the case of the assassination of the president. The executor of the “order” himself allegedly lived for another 38 years, however, at the end of his life he drank himself and killed himself. Nevertheless, the answer to the question of whether Bout was actually killed, oddly enough, is not to this day.

The participants in the conspiracy were quickly found and put behind bars. The decision of their future fate was to be dealt with by a military tribunal. Why not to a civil court, an inquisitive reader will ask. Yes, because, as James Speed ​​said, who was Attorney General at that time, "in times of war, the laws and customs of war become part of the general laws of the land." So, at a high-profile trial, the conspirators were found guilty of plotting the assassination of the US President and the attempted assassination of the Secretary of State. The three most active individuals were sentenced to death penalty. Sam Arnold, who did not take part in the assassination attempt, but did not warn Lincoln's guards about their preparation, was waiting for life hard labor. The same fate befell the surgeon Samuel Mudd, who "collected" the killer's leg. As for the stagehand Edward Spangler, through whose fault Booth managed to get out of the theater building, he received six years in prison.

But the ending of the story of the murder of Honest Abe has not been completed to this day. I wonder if this case will be reviewed in the future? Will new facts and names come up that once eluded the investigation or were diligently not noticed by officials?

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Abraham Lincoln was born in Hodgenville, Kentucky on February 12, 1809. His father was Thomas Lincoln, a respectable farmer, and his mother was Nancy Hanks, who moved to the state from West Virginia. Alas, young Abraham was not destined to grow up in a wealthy family: in 1816, his father lost most of his property during legal feuds, which was caused by a fatal legal error in the farmer's property documents.

The bankrupt family moved to Indiana, hoping to try their luck in the development of free new lands. Soon Nancy Hanks died, and her older sister Sarah took over a number of her responsibilities in caring for Lincoln Jr. In 1819, Thomas Lincoln, recovering from his loss, married Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow who at that time had three children from her first marriage. The future president had a very warm relationship with Sarah Bush, and gradually she became his second mother.

Young Abraham had to take on any part-time job to help his family make ends meet. The exception was fishing and hunting: young Lincoln never undertook such work, as they did not correspond to his moral principles.

Abraham was the first in his family to learn to count and write, and also to love reading very much. At the same time, it is interesting that in all his young years the young man attended school, in total, no more than a year. He was forced to work to help his relatives, but his tireless thirst for knowledge helped him become a literate person.

When Abraham Lincoln turned 21, his large family decided to move. At the same time, a stately, intelligent young man, whose height was 193 cm, and the level of erudition was not inferior to the knowledge of any peer who had completed full schooling, decided to start an independent life. Until then, he had worked diligently for the benefit of the family and gave all his income to his parents, but such activities did not suit him in the context of his life as a whole.

It is worth noting that the success story of Abraham Lincoln is not only a story of inspiring victories, but also resounding slaps from fate, which the politician has always been able to withstand with true dignity. So, in 1832, he tried to be elected to the Legislative Assembly of Illinois, but failed. Then Lincoln began to study the sciences even more seriously than before (he was especially interested in law).

In parallel with this, a young man in a company with his friend tried to make money in a trading shop, but the business of young entrepreneurs went from bad to worse. Abraham, forced to count every penny, was saved only by reading a lot and constantly dreaming. Around the same time, Lincoln formed his negative attitude towards slavery.

Subsequently, young Abraham managed to get a postmaster's position in the town of New Salem, and after a while he took the post of land surveyor. While living in New Salem, Lincoln received one of his most widely known nicknames: "Honest Abe".

With money, the politician was still tight, so he often had to borrow from his friends. But he always repaid his debts on time to the last penny, for which he received such a nickname.

The beginning of a political career

In 1835, Abraham Lincoln tried again to run for the Illinois Legislature, and this time he was successful. In 1836, the politician successfully passed the exams for the official title of lawyer, having studied all areas of law on his own. Subsequently, he worked for a long time in the legal field, including taking on difficult cases and refusing to receive payment from poor citizens who needed his help. Abraham always emphasized democratic values ​​in his speeches.

In 1846 Honest Abe entered the House of Representatives of Congress. As in elections to the Illinois Legislature, he was elected from the Whig party. Lincoln condemned the aggressive actions of the United States in the American-Mexican War, supported the desire of women to get the right to vote, spoke in favor of the country's gradual deliverance from the slave system.

After some time, Abraham had to move away from politics for a while, since his negative attitude towards the US-Mexican war, which was then very popular among the masses, became the reason for the rejection of the politician by his home state. Not throwing ashes on his head because of this failure, Lincoln began to devote a lot of time to the practice of law.

In 1854, the Republican Party of the United States was created, which advocated the abolition of slavery, and in 1856 the politician became part of a new political force. It is worth noting that at that time, many former followers of the Whig party joined the Republican Party.

A few years later, he, along with the representative of the Democratic Party Stephen Douglas, ran for the US Senate. During the debate, Lincoln once again expressed his negative attitude towards slavery, which allowed him to create a good reputation, although he lost the election.

President of the U.S.A

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was nominated as the Republican Party's presidential candidate. He was known for his industriousness, high moral principles, and had the fame of "a man of the people." Interesting Facts politics were read with interest from the pages of newspapers, and his photos were invariably associated with honesty and valor. As a result, the politician won the election, gaining more than 80% of the votes.

As president

However, the newly elected president also had many opponents. His policy, which ruled out the possibility of the spread of slavery, was the reason for the announcement of several states to secede from the United States. The President's statements that the abolition of slavery in those states where it already functions is not planned in the near future, could not resolve the irreconcilable contradictions between the supporters of the slave system and its opponents.

American Civil War

The war between 15 slave states and 20 states where the institution of slavery did not exist began in 1861 and lasted until 1865, becoming a serious test for the newly elected president. In this war, an order of magnitude more American citizens met their untimely death than in any other armed clash in which the United States participated.

The war included a lot of small and large battles and ended with the surrender of the Confederation, which united the states that advocated the legality of the slave system. The country had to go through the difficult process of integrating the liberated black population into American society.

During the war, the president's primary interest was democracy. He made every effort to ensure that even in the conditions of the Civil War the two-party system successfully functioned in the country, elections were organized, freedom of speech and other civil liberties of the US residents were preserved.

Second term and murder

Abraham Lincoln made many enemies during the war years. However, the president benefited from the abolition of the transfer of arrested citizens to court, thanks to which all deserters, as well as the most zealous admirers of the slave system, could be immediately imprisoned.

The people also liked the Homestead act, according to which the settler, who began to cultivate the land on a certain plot and erect buildings on it, became its full owner.

All this allowed Lincoln to be re-elected for a second term, but, alas, he did not have to govern his native country for long. On April 14, 1865, five days after the official end of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in the Ford's Theater by Southern actor John Wilkes Booth. It is noteworthy that many coincidences were subsequently discovered between the circumstances of Lincoln's death and how he was assassinated about a century later.

To date, Lincoln is considered one of the most worthy US presidents, who prevented the collapse of the nation and made a lot of efforts to free African Americans. A statue of the President has been erected in Washington as a sign of gratitude to the entire American people. Quotes from the 16th President of the United States have become part of the popular wisdom of Americans.

Personal life

Honest Abe most likely suffered from such a disease as Marfan's syndrome. In addition, depression was a frequent companion of Abraham: they say that in his youth the young man even tried to commit suicide several times.

In 1840, the future president met Mary Todd, and in 1842 the couple married. The wife always supported her husband in all his endeavors, and soon after his death she lost her mind.

Four sons were born in the family, but, alas, many children of the Lincoln couple died in infancy or young age. The only child of Mary and Abraham who survived adolescence and died in old age is the eldest son Robert Todd Lincoln.