Killing Lincoln

Although the Civil War is historically known in terms of North versus South, the narrative also paints the picture of Grant versus Lee. For those caught in the path of the war, the war was very much about the face-off between these two generals. As such, Grant exemplifies the North, and Lee the South. The North wants to coral the rebellious, unruly South. Grant works under Lincoln and wants both the nation to be healed and the Union to be reunified. He sees the soldiers of the South as workers and husbands who are needed on their farms and at their jobs, as opposed to soldiers who deserve to be imprisoned or killed. The North also sees the South as irresponsible, with many against slavery and the split in the Union. The South’s hatred of Lincoln adds to the North’s resentment of the rebellious states.

The South sees the North as overbearing, with many believing that Lincoln shouldn’t have authority over their individual and state rights. They believe Lincoln is heavy-handed and a tyrant. The South gives its allegiance to Confederate president Jefferson Davis in hopes that they may secede from the Union and carry on with their way of life. Lee represents this old way of thinking. With his polished genteel manners, he exudes “Southern charm.” Though Lee’s army is outnumbered, the tenacity of the South and its will to live as it chooses allows Lee’s army to fend off the North’s superior forces time and again, until Grant finally overcomes Lee’s ragtag army and forces a surrender.

The fight between the North and the South is also so traumatizing in that it often turned into a fight amongst families and friends. Loyalties were split, with people who were at one time friends turning into bitter enemies. An example of this is Longstreet, a soldier under Lee’s command who was the best man at Grant’s wedding. Many of the soldiers on both side of the war also knew each other from West Point and/or fought in previous wars on the same side. Similarly, Dr. Samuel Mudd was a Confederate sympathizer while his cousin, George, was staunchly pro-Union. It was George Mudd who turned his cousin Dr. Samuel Mudd in to the Union army.

According to the narrative, the plot against Lincoln’s life began with a plot to kidnap him and then deliver him to the South. Booth, in particular, became incensed with the president’s actions after the Emancipation Proclamation. Booth, Confederate sympathizers, and Confederates did not want freed slaves to have the same rights as whites. Confederate president Jefferson Davis’s government allotted $1 million that was stashed in Montreal. This money was to be used for espionage attempts against the North. Out of these attempts, the plot to kidnap Lincoln was hatched by those in the North and South. Booth met with spies and co-conspirators to form a network of anti-Union cohorts that would help him in the plot to kidnap Lincoln. There were a few attempts to kidnap Lincoln, including one at Soldiers’ Home where Booth and his friend Michael O’Laughlen waited in bushes to carry out their plan. The men were thwarted, as the carriage they were waiting for contained a judge and not Lincoln.

After plans continually failed, and with the South’s demise that included the fall of Richmond and Jefferson Davis’s flight into hiding, Booth takes matter into his own hand by escalating the plot from kidnapping to murder. He then recruits people to aid with this while keeping some, like George Atzerodt, in the dark about the real nature of the plan. Other people he blackmails into helping. Booth becomes increasingly convinced that he is the only person that can help the fallen South and end the tyranny of Lincoln by killing him. Booth, as a famous vain actor, wants to kill the president in a sensational way. He also plans on assassinating other notable members of the North so that there will be no upper leadership. He enlists Confederate sympathizers in the North like Mary Surratt, Dr. Samuel Mudd, and Lewis Powell to assist him. Much of the plotting and planning takes place at Mary Surratt’s boardinghouse, which is why she is later sentenced to death with the other conspirators.

Booth eventually determines to kill Lincoln at the theatre, and he gets his break when he learns that Lincoln will be attending Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865. Booth plots how he will enter the state box, shoot Lincoln, jump down onto the stage, and then flee to the Maryland countryside with the other conspirators. They will then head to the mountains of Kentucky, and then later to Mexico. The narrative paints a picture of all those involved that will help facilitate this plot and Booth’s escape, including those like Dr. Samuel Mudd who will help him during his flight to Maryland. The narrative also shows how there were many strange incidents, some of which are ongoing conspiracy theories. These include speculations about who was really involved, with the authors pointing fingers to the possible involvement of people like Secretary of War Stanton. In this way, the assassination plot against Lincoln morphs from a personal grudge by Booth to a larger conspiracy with shady, unknown players who may never be uncovered.