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BOOK TWO: Chasing Lincoln’s Killer Students often associate Abraham Lincoln with three things: he wore a tall hat, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and he was assassinated. The murder of Lincoln, whom most historians consider one of the country’s two most important presidents, had major consequences for our nation and for the Reconstruction period that followed the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln’s killer, John Wilkes Booth, was a Maryland native born in 1838 who remained in the North during the Civil War despite his Confederate sympathies. As the conflict entered its final stages, he and several associates hatched a plot to kidnap the president and take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital. However, on March 20, 1865, the day of the planned kidnapping, Lincoln failed to appear at the spot where Booth and his six fellow conspirators lay in wait. Two weeks later, Richmond fell to Union forces. In April, with Confederate armies near collapse across the South, Booth came up with a desperate plan to save the Confederacy. Learning that Lincoln was to attend Laura Keene’s acclaimed performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, Booth—himself a well-known actor at the time— masterminded the simultaneous assassination of Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward. By murdering the president and two of his possible successors, Booth and his co- conspirators hoped to throw the U.S. government into disarray. John Wilkes Booth’s premeditated attack was a carefully orchestrated plot involving at least eight other participants. The fact that President Lincoln was shot while enjoying a show at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865, leaves students wondering how it could have happened. A week earlier General Lee had surrendered to General Grant. The nation was finally looking forward to peace. Yet out of the shadows came Booth to kill the president, while one of his conspirators attempted to murder the secretary of state. Students exploring this type of turning point in American history are frequently frustrated by a lack of understanding of the event. While comprehensive answers may never be available to explain how these crimes could have taken place, we can examine the circumstances surrounding them to gather a partial understanding of why they happened. Abraham Lincoln’s assassination was yet another wound that our country suffered due to the “peculiar institution” of slavery. In studying the Civil War, students will discover that slavery was at the core of the conflict that tore our nation apart and that ultimately killed the sixteenth president. States’ rights, while often cited as the reason why Southern states seceded, masked the political and moral arguments over slavery. Lincoln’s legacy—the abolition of slavery in the United States—was also the cause of his death. Want to know more? Causes of the Civil War: http://www.mtnbrook.k12.al.us/Page/10242 Who was Abraham Lincoln? http://www.mtnbrook.k12.al.us/Page/10243 Answer the following questions (typed, double spaced) in complete sentences (hint: complete sentence rarely begins with the word ‘because’) and in a way that shows your knowledge of the book. Your answers should be YOUR work, and only your work. Bring these questions with you the first day of school. 1. Swanson includes a prologue in his book? What is a prologue? What does the prologue help you to better understand about the Civil War? Explain. 2. Why is John Wilkes Booth so angry? How did his plan reach beyond Lincoln? How did Booth's career as an actor influence his plan for the assassination? How did it also help with his escape? 3. What happened at the home of Secretary of State William H. Seward? Explain in detail. How was the attack more brutal than the plan? 4. Evaluate the escape plans of the conspirators. What helped and hindered their escapes? Who aided them? 5. Who was Edwin Stanton? What decisions did he make after the assassination of Lincoln? Does he act with more leadership than new Vice President Johnson? Does he take his authority too far? Explain. 6. What part did Mary Surratt and Dr. Samuel Mudd play in the assassination? 7. Explain how Powell stumbled into the authorities' hands. 8. Who is Thomas Jones? How does he support Booth and Herold? How does his intimate knowledge of the Potomac become necessary? 9. Why was Booth surprised by the reactions to the assassination in the D.C. newspapers? Explain how the tide of opinion had changed about the president. 10. Did John Wilkes Booth plan his escape carefully? Why did he encounter so many mishaps? 11. How were the Garretts duped into helping John Wilkes Booth and David Herold? In the end, how did they end up aiding the Union troops in their pursuit of these most wanted outlaws? 12. Describe the capture scene of Booth and Herold? Who, What, Why, When, and How? 13. Who was Boston Corbett? What happened to him? Why? 14. Create a chart of who was put on trial and their punishments. 15. James Swanson includes an Epilogue. What is an epilogue? What information did you find interesting in the Epilogue? .
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