1865
The death of Abraham Lincoln
After four years of bloody civil war, America was at peace. The forces of the secessionist Confederate States had surrendered, slavery would be no more, and President Abraham Lincoln had announced that he was considering granting all African Americans the right to vote. But not all Confederate sympathizers were willing to lay down their arms: a group of plotters who had planned to kidnap Lincoln now decided to kill the president and members of his cabinet. Actor John Wilkes Booth would shoot Lincoln, ex-soldier Lewis Powell would target Secretary of State William H. Seward and carriage-maker George Antzerodt would attack Andrew Johnson, the Vice President.
On the evening of April 14, Booth entered Ford’s Theatre and shot Lincoln in the back of the head. He leapt to the stage shouting Sic semper tyrannis! (“Thus to all tyrants!”) and “The South is avenged!” Lincoln would die of his wounds the next morning. Powell entered Seward’s home and stabbed him, but the Secretary survived; Antzerodt backed out of his part and spent the night drunkenly wandering the streets. Booth died in a gunfight when surrounded by captors and the other two were hanged after a lengthy trial.
The assassination of Lincoln was undoubtedly a tragedy for the nation but particularly for the South which was deprived of the president’s moderation. As an observer said, “Those of Southern born sympathies know now they have lost a friend willing and more powerful to protect and serve them than they can now ever hope to find again.”
One final tragic note. The military officer in Lincoln’s box, Major Henry Rathbone, attempted to detain Booth but was badly stabbed in the attempt and passed out from loss of blood. His companion for the evening was his fiancée Clara Harris who helped tend to his wounds. They married and had three children but Rathbone’s mental health declined. In 1883 he attacked his children and murdered his wife who died trying to protect them; he spent the rest of his life in an insane asylum.