Friday, April 14, 1865, 10:20 PM; Ford's Theater, Washington D.C.
Ford's Theater, 1865
Asa, an American, had traveled to England with the hopes of picking up his large inheritance, but meanwhile, fell in love with a young woman named Mary, and so burned the will up, leaving the inheritance all to her. The problem was that a woman named Mrs. Mountchessington wanted to hook him up with her young daughter, Augusta, for a piece of that inheritance. Just before Asa entered the room to join them; Mrs. Mountchessington had told Augusta to lean her affections towards him. When Asa entered the room, Mrs. Mountchessington greeted him and said, “We were just talking of your archery powers.”
Asa responds, “Well, I guess shooting with bows and arrows is just about like most things in life, all you've got to do is keep the sun out of your eyes, look straight--pull strong--calculate the distance, and you're sure to hit the mark in most things as well as shooting.” The three then plunge into what would usually be a personal conversation, if there weren’t a thousand people sitting in on it.
Original playbill for "Our American Cousin".
The three actors stood center stage at Ford’s Theater, belting their lines to a packed house as they performed “Our American Cousin”. Harry Hawk played Asa, Ms. H. Trueman played Augusta, and Mrs. H. Muzzy played Mrs. Mountchessington. Backstage was the lead woman, Laura Keene, who played Asa’s mother. She had performed this role over and over about a thousand times, but tonight was her final night and they had made it to the final act.
Asa: [to the audience] This gal and the old woman are trying to get me on a string.
Ford's Theater interior, including the Act three, Scene two set of "Our American Cousin".
On stage left, about 12 feet above, were what would normally be two private VIP boxes, but on this occasion the divider had been removed, combining the two private boxes into one. The boxes would normally be bare of decorations, but not tonight. Tonight, the stars and stripes were spread over the balcony, with a picture of George Washington in the center. There were four people in the box watching the play. Major Henry Rathbone was seated on a small red couch to the far left, and his fiance, Clara Harris, was sitting on a chair to the right of him.
Sitting in her own chair to the left front of Clara Harris, was Mary Todd Lincoln. She wore a black silk dress with little flower designs, a velvet black evening cape, and a bonnet. She was holding onto her husband, Abraham Lincoln, who was sitting on a red rocking chair. He wore his usual black suit with a black vest, white gloves and a bow-tie. His iconic stove-pipe hat, with a black band, was sitting on the floor next to him. He had felt a chill, so he stood up and put on his black coat, that had some fancy stitching in the lining with the design of an eagle holding two banners that say "One Country" and "One Destiny". There were other boxes in the theater, but these were the only ones in use that night.
Ford's Theater, Presidential Box, decorated for Lincoln's visit.
There was one more person present in the theater to note: John Wilkes Booth. He was in the back of the theater on the second floor, the level called the "dress circle", slowly making his way towards the door leading to the President's box. He wore a black frock coat over a blue shirt, and dark pants with boots and spurs. In his pockets lay a large knife, and a tiny 44. caliber Philadelphia Derringer pistol. He had spent the day and the majority of the night drinking, plotting, riding and waiting... according to author Nora Titone, he reeked of "sweat and liquor".
Ford's Theater, Facing the outer door Booth entered.
7 AM, Earlier
President Lincoln woke up at the Executive Mansion at 7 AM, though he may have still been tired from the night before. Lee had surrendered to Grant at Appomattox on April 9th, so four days later on the 13th, great festivities began in Washington, including fireworks and parades.
After eating breakfast, Mary Todd revealed a pair of tickets to Grover's Theater for the evening, but told Abraham that she would rather see another play. After spending the remainder of the morning meeting visitors, Mr. Lincoln asked for a messenger to reserve the State Box at Ford's Theater. They had decided on "Our American Cousin".
Mr. Lincoln's cabinet members, as well as General Grant, joined him and begun their cabinet meeting at around eleven. Meanwhile, a few blocks east of the White House at Ford's Theater, the cast was arriving for rehearsal when the messenger arrived, requesting tickets for the President, Mrs. Lincoln and Mr. and Mrs. Grant. A short distance away at the National Hotel, two relevant people were having Breakfast. Harry Ford, brother of the manager of Ford's Theater, and John Wilkes Booth.
Harry was usually Treasurer at Fords, but today he was acting manager because John had traveled to Richmond after its surrender to check on family and friends. The crew at Fords began setting up the President's box once they learned of the Lincoln's interest. After dinner, Harry went to the theater to begin the days work when he heard that President Lincoln would be attending the night's performance. When John Wilkes arrived at Ford's to get his mail, a courtesy to actors back then since he was not part of the cast, Harry joked, "John, the President is going to be here tonight with General Grant. They've got General Lee here as a prisoner and he's coming too! We're going to put him in the opposite box."
After Booth retorted that "Lee would not let himself be used as Romans use their captives", Harry gave up on the joke and responded, "It would only be the Lincolns and Grants tonight". Harry went about his business while Booth, with two previously foiled kidnapping plans under his belt, went to the bar next door to the theater called the Star Saloon. There, Booth devised a new plan.
The Cabinet meeting in the Executive Mansion ended at two in the afternoon. It was around that time when General Grant took the liberty of personally declining his invitation to see the evening's performance. He told the President that he and the wife were to take the train to New Jersey. Rehearsal at Fords Theater ended around this time too, with John Wilkes, who now had a horse, inviting the cast and crew next door for a drink.
3 PM
They drank and socialized until about 3:30 PM. John Wilkes then left the bar and trotted in his horse down C Street. As he sat there, he saw a load of Confederate Soldiers being taken to the Capitol Prison as P.O.W.s. He soon met up with a fellow actor and gave him a letter, asking him to bring it to the editor of a local paper. As they bantered, his friend noticed Grant's carriage passing by.
After leaving the President's Cabinet meeting, Grant then picked up his wife and headed for the 4:00 PM train to Baltimore to make their way to New Jersey. John Wilkes took one look at the carriage, bid his friend goodbye, and began galloping towards it. Though he stopped after a while, Mrs. Grant caught a glimpse of him which spooked her out. Once he gave up on chasing them, or having properly identified the couple in the carriage, John Wilkes returned to the Theater and bought another round of drinks.
Around 5:15 PM, the crew arrived back at the Theater to get the set ready. One member remembered seeing someone up on the dress circle smoking a cigar. Perhaps it may have been Booth? Perhaps he made some preparations here? Crew members and actors would trickle in and get ready over the next two hours.
Abraham had taken Mary Todd on a horse carriage ride that afternoon and the two made plans to travel to California and the Middle East. When they returned from the ride, Lincoln entertained some of his guest by reading to them before joining Mary for dinner at around 7:00 PM. By 8:00 PM, Abraham and Mary Todd were getting ready for their carriage ride, on their way to Ford's theater, they were to pick up the Lincoln's alternative guests, Clara Harris and Major Henry Rathbone before heading to the theater.
The crowd at Ford's theater was packed. Many had heard of the newly victorious President's arrival and tried to pick a seat that got them the best view of both the stage and the box. Production was supposed to begin at 7:45 PM, but the Lincoln's hadn't arrived yet, they stalled until 8:15 PM, before finally beginning the first act.
At around 8:26 PM, as the play was well underway, the Lincolns and guests arrived at the Theater. Actress Laura Keene, still in character, announced their arrival and the production temporarily stopped. The orchestra played "Hail to the Chief". The crowd applauded as the guests of honor were led to the second level and into their boxes. The Lincolns acknowledged the affection before taking a seat. The house lights - powered by gas and flame - lowered once again and the production continued.
Abraham, enjoying the humor would give hardy laughs throughout the performance, which made everybody else comfortable to laugh as well. The first act ended just after 9:00 PM. The actors went next door to the Star Saloon where they saw Booth still drinking. The second act began at around 9:15 PM. At around 9:40 PM, Booth left the Saloon and got his horse ready for his escape, then continuously returned to checked the time on the clock in the lobby. The third act began at 10:05 PM.
10:25 PM
Augustine: What, no fortune?
Asa: Yes, you both look tickled to death.
Aug: Yes, ma, the nasty beast.
Ford's Theater interior, in color.
Back on stage, Asa had burned his will and Mrs. Mountchessington and her daughter Augusta were not happy about it. The mother had asked the daughter to leave the room and was about to leave herself, after giving Asa a piece of her mind. As the audience was fixated on the events on stage, Booth was on the dress circle level of Ford's Theater, and had creeped his way to the door leading to the President's Box. Lincoln's messenger, Charles Forbes noticed Booth and approached him. After exchanging a few words, Booth handed Forbes his calling card and was granted access to the box. It wasn't unusual to see Booth at the Theater and Lincoln appreciated his work, so a meeting would have most likely been welcomed. Many witnesses would later recall seeing Booth up on the dress circle, creeping his way over to the door, giving Forbes a card and moving past him and through the door.
There was supposed to be one more layer of security: The door that Booth passed led to a separate room with two doors leading to the respective boxes that are now joined. It also held a wooden stick and an empty chair. Washington City Police Officer John Fredrick Parker was part of a four man detail protecting the President at all times and this was his shift. He was supposed to be sitting in that seat, but he couldn't see the play from there, so he moved to a better viewing area, and then during one of the intermissions, was whisked away by Lincoln's carriage driver to the Star Saloon and had not been seen since. Parker later claimed that he was dismissed by Lincoln and went home after a few drinks at the Saloon, but we may never know. Ironically, earlier this day, Lincoln had signed a bill authorizing a police force for the US Treasury to combat counterfeit money called the "Secret Service".
Once inside, Booth used a wooden stick that he had hid earlier in the day to wedge the outer door shut. He then peeked though a hole in the door closest to his target, cocked his gun, and waited for the right time to quietly walk into the box. All four occupants were watching the play and none of them had noticed Booth enter. Still paying attention to the events on stage, the time Booth had waited for was now moments away and he was now so close he could touch Lincoln. On stage, Augusta had just left the room in a huff and Mrs. Mountchessington was about to give Asa a piece of her mind:
Mrs M: I am aware, Asa, you are not used to the manners of good society, and that, alone, will excuse the impertinence of which you have been guilty.
With that said, Mrs. Mountchessington walked out of the room, leaving Asa alone on stage to say the line the whole scene had been building up towards:
Asa: Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal-- you sockdologizing ...
The audience, won over by Asa's rustic charm, burst out into laughter before he could finish the sentence. This line was the instant John Wilkes had been timing all night for. It was the funniest line of the production and he was hoping that the roar of the audience in response to the comedic line would muffle the sound of the gunshot he was about to make - he was wrong. And something else was wrong too, in the split second the audience started to laugh, Abraham's head started to shift. Within that split second, with his Derringer aimed at the head of the most powerful man in the Country, John Wilkes fulfilled his destiny and squeezed the trigger.
"Sic Semper Tyrannis!"
The trigger released the hammer, which slammed into a percussion cap. The pressure from the hammer ignited the mercury within the percussion cap and the chemical reaction was filtered into the hollow "nipple" at the end of the hammer, forcing sparks into the barrel. The sparks then lit the main powder charge within the barrel - 15-25 grains of black powder. Much of that powder was converted into a mixture of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen gases. The immense and instant pressures created from the gasses were then forced out one way by the shape of the barrel, thrusting a .44 caliber "minnie ball" of lead through its shaft.
The .44 Caliber Philadelphia Derringer Pistol owned by Booth.
There's no telling exactly how far the ball traveled. Maybe a few inches, maybe even a foot or two, but it didn't travel far. Before anybody else was aware of it, the pressure from the flaming gases expanding within the barrel forced the ball out of the tip of the Derringer at high velocities. At point blank range, the tiny ball impacted the back, left side of Abraham Lincoln's head, about an inch away from the center, flattening significantly as it punched through the occipital bone of his skull and ripped into his brain. The sudden breach at the back of the skull also shattered his sinuses, and cracked his orbital plates - the bone behind his eyes.
The .44 caliber "minnieball" that entered Lincoln's brain.
Staying within the left hemisphere, the wad of hot lead tore through the President's lateral ventricle and his corpus striatum in the center of the brain. Just before reaching above the left eye, the deformed wad came to rest. The traumatic burrowing into the brain, disrupted the normal electrical patterns in Lincoln's neurons and axons, robbing him of his consciousness. As the President's world went to black, his head fell forward.
The path of Abe's ball.
After assuming the crowd's laughter would drown out the gunshot, the gasses in the barrel of Booth's Derringer had expanded with such speed that it broke the sound barrier, creating a mini-sonic boom that reverberated throughout the theater, over-powering the still laughing audience. With the explosion seeming so loud and so close, the laughter turned to frightened and confused gasps as people looked around to see where the loud bang had come from. After the bang, the black powder that followed the ball out of the barrel had finished burning, leaving a heavy puff of black and dark blue smoke lingering in the air between the murdered and the murderer for all to see. The actor Harry Hawk, now startled out of his "Asa" character, was the only person occupying the stage, and at this point was simply confused.
"What was that sound?", everybody must have thought as they froze. Did something accidentally fall backstage? Was it a very loud hand clap? Was it perhaps the pop of a champagne cork? Did someone, still celebrating the end of the war light a firecracker outside? Was it a gunshot? It certainly wasn't part of the play? Yet, did the audience know that?
Booth, instantly realizing that he had underestimated the acoustics of the theater, and probably with his adrenaline pumping now, may have then yelled a rehearsed, "Sic Semper Tyrannis!", causing everybody, including Hawk to turn their eyes toward the box containing their guests of honor. From those combined boxes of 7 and 8, came the first reactions. Major Henry Rathbone, inside the boxes, describes what he saw and did next:
"(W)hile I was intently observing the proceedings upon the stage, with my back toward the door, I heard the discharge of a pistol behind me, and, looking round, saw through the smoke a man between the door and the President. The distance from the door to where the President sat was about four feet." - Henry Rathbone
Rathbone charged at Booth in order to seize him. Booth was able to wrestle himself out of Rathbone's grasp, dropping his Derringer in the process. Booth then pulled out his knife and lunged at Rathbone with it, intending to stab him. With quick instincts, Rathbone raised his arm and parried the knife, saving himself from being stabbed, but leaving a deep gash in his left arm.
The knife Booth used to slash Rathbone with.
It was around this time - only maybe two or three seconds after the shot was fired and everyone lay silent so far - when Mrs. Lincoln let out a deafening scream that echoed all throughout the house and back stage. From then on out, she clung hard to her husband and sobbed over him, which prevented him from falling off his chair and slumping onto the floor. The comedic production below had just been hijacked by a fellow actor who was now in the mists of performing his greatest tragedy.
Free from Rathbone's grip, Booth then attempted to get away. He moved around the President and the sobbing Mrs. Lincoln, and hopped over the left side of the balcony. As he did, the spur of one of his boots caught the flag that was hung over the railing of the box. His boots also nicked a piece of the frame bearing George Washington off, flipping the entire picture around. The sound of the fabric tearing, followed by a thud and a stumble would have echoed as Booth landed awkwardly at the edge of stage left, knife still in hand. It might have been here where Booth broke the fibia in his left leg, or it might have been later, but many witnesses could see that by now, Booth was now somehow in pain.
Booth's spur that was caught on the flag as he jumped onto the stage. He may have broken his leg in the landing.
Injured or not, Booth was a performer, and wouldn't have let the audience see much weakness in him in his final performance. When he hit the ground, he caught his balance, broken leg be damned, and kicked the ripped piece of flag off of his foot. As self-aware and as dramatic as any actor could possibly be, Booth then walked to the headlights, stood tall, raised his knife above his head, as it still dripped with Rathbone's blood, and probably yelled out something like, "The South is avenged!"
It's actually hard to determine what exactly Booth said here. Whatever well prepared one liner he uttered, it didn't stick and it's unsure why. Maybe he flubbed his line, maybe he was really nervous and simply spit out the line really fast in a burst of adrenaline. Maybe he was simply drunk and thus unknowingly slurred his words, or maybe a combination.
Booth's swarthy figure leaping from the Presidential box, had caused a few members of the audience to jump to their feet, but for the most part, the audience was still frozen. Nobody knew what the hell was going on, but the after years of combat experience, that spider sense that the soldiers felt when there was danger began to kick in. One of those ready to chase down whoever jumped from the President's box was Major Joseph Stewart and another was James Knox. Both had seen the play before and so right away knew that something was wrong.
Harry Hawk, no longer "Asa", was still frozen on stage, but instantly recognized the man he had shared drinks with only hours before, now unexpectedly sharing the stage with him. That man, John Wilkes Booth, with the knife still in his hand turned around toward Hawk. The fight or flight response in Hawk's body took over as he bolted off of the stage and hid in his dressing room. Booth wasn't after Hawk though, running into the backstage area and pushing Laura Keene and others out of his way, he had already done what he came to do, and was trying to make his escape now. As Hawk ran to his dressing room, he later claimed he heard Booth say, "I've done it!"
Dr. Charles Leale was among the crowd of over a thousand who attended in part to get a glimpse of the President. With the crowd panicking, Leale was instinctively already moving toward the entrance of the President's box. Henry Rathbone, failing to stop Booth and seeing him beginning to escape out stage right, called out to the audience to "Stop that man!"
Taking that for his cue, both Stewart and Knox separately sprang into action and hopped over the tiny orchestra pit. They climbed on stage, but Booth had already exited stage right and was backstage by the time Rathbone finished his call to stop him. Now backstage, Booth ran straight down the empty hallway and out the back door exit, yelling "Let me pass!" as he slashed at an orchestra conductor, but only damaging his clothing and giving him PTSD. Booth burst through the back door which lead to Baptist Alley and his horse, who was being held by a teenage boy. Booth hit the boy in the head with the butt of his knife and kicked him as he hopped on his horse and galloped away.
Stewart and Knox followed Booth backstage, but was impeded by people and darkness. By the time they made it to the back door, Booth was already gone. Back inside the theater, pandemonium broke out .
Everything described from the moment of the gunshot, to Booth's exit from the stage was estimated to have lasted only about eight seconds. From here, Rathbone, still injured, turned his attention to the ailing President:
"I then turned to the President; his position was not changed; his head was slightly bent forward and his eyes were closed. I saw that he was unconscious, and, supposing him mortally wounded, rushed to the door for the purpose of calling medical aid." - Henry Rathbone
Rathbone now heard frantic banging on the outer door. Bleeding heavily, he went to the door to learn it had been braced closed by a stick, which he removed to allow Dr. Leale inside the box. As Leale entered and claimed his credentials, Rathbone pleaded for Leale to help him, for he was stabbed. Leale was sympathetic to Rathbone, but moved passed him to check on the President. Another doctor, Charles Sabin Taft, was lifted into the box from the stage and assisted Leale. John Bolton also climbed in and witnessed what happened.
The stick Booth used to keep the outer door of the Presidential box closed, with the original door inner door in the background.
While order was being organized in the box, the theater's house had gone into pandemonium. Most of the cast huddled on stage and stared at the confused but somewhat orderly proceedings occurring in the box. People from the audience rushed the stage in search of Booth, yelling out "the President has been shot!", and "hang him", as well as "kill him", "shoot the murderer" and "lynch him". The mob swarmed backstage, pounding on one particular dressing room until a frightened Harry Hawk emerged from it and reluctantly revealed the assassin as John Wilkes Booth. In the house, lights were constantly dimming on and off - a sign for patrons to exit the theater - and women began to faint as they realized the magnitude of the situation.
Once inside the box, Dr. Leale saw that Abraham was unconscious and leaning against his wife, Mary Todd. In the mists of panic and confusion, he decided to take control. He took Abraham's pulse, and couldn't read a heart beat, but noticed he was still kinda breathing. Leale's initial observations led him to believe that Abe was in shock, and so then ordered brandy and water to be delivered, since brandy was known to wake people in shock.
Trying to calm the situation among the panic and among the seats and rails being smashed, Laura Keene, still in full costume, came to the headlights, center-stage, yelling "Order gentlemen! Order! For god-sakes have presence of mind and keep your places and all will be well!" The audience momentarily stopped and glanced at the woman, still in disbelief. At that moment, Clara Harris, on request from Dr Leale, called to the audience for water to be delivered. A pitcher was filled and handed to Keene who made her way to the box.
Remembering Booth had brandished a knife on stage, and knowing that Rathbone was stabbed, the doctors laid Abe down on the floor and started checking him for stab wounds. To help facilitate his breathing, Leale stuck his fingers into Abe's mouth to keep an open airway and people would occasionally breath into his mouth. Soon, Abe's upper clothing was cut away in search for a wound. Leale felt along the shoulders first, then along the head until he felt a small and soaking wet deformation in the back of Abe's head. Remembering the boom earlier, he feared the worst had happened to the President. He felt his fingers around a blood clot and removed it from the back of Abe's head. As he cleared the clot and noticed that Abe's breathing began to improve, Leale also noticed that the clot he had removed was covering a small and smoothly round hole in the back of his head.
As the audience now began to exit the building, Laura Keene entered the box with the water. When she first walked in, she thought the scene resembled a old painting, as the doctors had begun a 19th century version of CPR on the shirtless and bloody Abe, where lifting his arms would expand his thorax, filling his lungs with air, while lowering them would cause the air in his lungs to exit. Keene asked Dr. Leale if she could hold Abe's head and he let her. The brandy came and it, mixed with the water, was fed to Abe and he took it well. Leale continued to clear clots from Abe's wound, which led to copious amounts of blood soaking through Keene's costume as she held his head.
While this was going on, Mary Todd was "weeping bitterly", and was constantly asking the doctors if Abe would live. Leale opened Abe's eyelids and saw that he had fixed dilated pupils. He realized right away that this meant that Abe's brain was damaged beyond the medical knowledge of the time. Leale tried to calmly inform Mary Todd that nobody could survive this type of wound. The bitter weeping Mary had been whimpering, immediately turned into helpless and hollow howls as Mary Todd lost her mind, still wanting to believe that there was hope for Abe. As Mary Todd now sat on the red couch convulsing with grief, Keene and Harris tried to comfort her, but to no avail.
Knowing Abe wouldn't last long lying on the floor of the theater among the panicked crowds, the doctors agreed to move him out of the building. If he was going to die, those with him would not allow him to die in a a public theater. A stretcher was gerry-rigged, and Abe was placed onto it. As troops now began to file into the theater, Abe was awkwardly being carried out of the box and down the stairs into the lobby, leaving Booth's pistol in the box, as well as Abe's coat and upper clothing, his hat and a lot of his blood.
The hat Lincoln wore to Ford's theater and left in the Presidential box. On display at the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington DC.
It took less than twenty minutes from the time they put him on a stretcher, and carefully brought the shirtless Abe out into the now crowded streets. People had now heard the news and had gathered outside. The idea of putting the delicate President on a bumpy carriage ride back to the Executive Mansion was immediately ruled out. Initially, the crowd planned to move him next door to the Star Saloon, but once outside, a man across the street urged them to bring him inside his place, so he was taken across the street to the Peterson Boarding House instead. At the end of a very narrow hallway was a small bedroom with a simple bed that Abe was placed in, his legs too long to lay straight, so they laid him diagonally instead.
The room, and soon the floor would soon fill up with medical personnel and government officials. Secretary of War, Edwin M Stanton, arrived as soon as he learned of the news and immediately took charge of the situation. He organized a hunt for John Wilkes Booth and any other conspirators who might have been involved, he took witness statements, and when he couldn't take the weeping anymore, ordered Mary Todd out Lincoln's room.
By around 2:00 AM on April 15, the Surgeon General arrived and brought a probe that they began to use to try and locate the ball. This involved sticking the probe in the wound and digging it in until it hit the lead ball, which would leave a mark on the probe and from that, they could determine how far deep it is.
One of the pillows used during Lincoln's last hour, soaked in dried blood.
Once completed, that was it. They didn't do anything else but wait. During that time, his pulse became erratically too fast one minute and too slow another, but by 6:40 AM, became so intermittent that it would become moments before the next beat was felt by doctors. His breathing soon became more guttural, a sign the President was about to die. Multiple doctors sat there and felt his pulse until around 7:22 AM when both his breathing and pulse stopped for good. Abraham Lincoln had died about nine hours after being shot. Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton said it plainly, "Now he belongs to the ages".
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