HOW PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN WAS ASSASSINATED

Mr. Booth creeps up behind the movie-engrossed President and shot him 

WHO IS ABRAHAM LINCOLN?

Our obsession with the lives of extraordiary leaders is really somethimg. But we have, in particular, been interested in how these excptional leaders were eliminated.

We believe that their murders, beyond their unbelievable accomplishments, have made them true heroes. 

Here, I look into the murder of Lincoln.

WHO IS ABRAHAM LINCOLN?

Abraham Lincoln is the 16th president of the United States. Lincoln is a legend and a folk hero. Beyond President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945), President Lincoln is arguably the greatest American president ever. But in fact, it is rightly so and so quite indisputable. The unparalleled greatness of Lincoln is undebatable.

Of all the American presidents, Lincoln is probably the one whom the most has been written about. Many critical evaluations of his life have been published, but they have not diminished his stature, and he remains one of the foremost products of American democracy and an eloquent spokesman for its ideals.

He’s immortalized- there’s a Lincoln Avenue, Lincoln Memorial, Lincoln Bedroom and so forth. Quite interesting!

Born February 12, 1809, President Lincoln was president of the United States from 1861 to 1865. He was assassinated on April 15, 1865, and was buried days later in his home state of Springfield, Illinois.

THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN

Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre in Washington where the president and his wife had gone to see a movie on April 15, 1865.

John Wilkes Booth, a socially- neurotic, half-crazed lad who had been mad and angry at Lincoln for his heroic, and liberal role in the Civil War, had wanted to kidnap the president. The plan had fallen through when the state where he was going to effect the kidnap was lost during the war at the time.

When Richmond fell, Booth decided on murder. He planned to assassinate Lincoln on Good Friday, April 14, 1865.

That night the Lincolns went to the theater as scheduled. At about 10:30 PM, killer Booth made his way into the president’s box. Choosing a moment when viewers had fixed their eyes and minds on the stage, crept up behind the sitting president and put a pistol to Lincoln's head and fired once. The President slumped in his seat, unconscious.

Stricken, the president was taken to a lodging house across the street from the theater. Mrs. Lincoln, friends, and Cabinet members waited through the night while doctors worked to save Lincoln's life. At 7:20 AM on Saturday, April 15, 1865, Lincoln died.

Like his Secretary of War had said when they covered president Lincoln’s face with a sheet, we also believe that Lincoln “belongs to the ages.”

Now, historians and political enthusiasts wonder the real motivation for why John Booth shot the president. Was it a personal action from a crazy individual, or a concerted effort by a powerful group of people who wanted Lincoln’s life for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, proclaiming freedom for all slaves in the Confederate-held territory?