Lincoln Assassination and TRUE Interesting Facts

On November 11, 1863, Lincoln watched a play starring John Wilkes Booth. He later said John was one of his favorite actors.

All three of the Booth brothers, including the father, were accomplished and very famous stage actors.

Edwin Booth, an older brother of John, saved Robert Todd Lincoln from falling from a platform onto the tracks beneath a moving train. Robert was Abraham's only surviving son.

Edwin was good friends with the owner of Ford's theatre.

The original plan against Lincoln was to kidnap him. John Wilkes Booth and his conspirators laid in wait outside Washington in March, 1865, just before Lee surrendered. Lincoln changed his plans.

The next plan was to kill Lincoln, the Vice President, and the Secretary of State. All was to take place at 10:15 pm on Good Friday.

That evening at the theatre, Booth supposedly had an accomplice whose job it was to turn down the lights of the house during a line in the play that would draw laughter. Booth's plan was to shoot the president then duck back out of the box.

Lincoln's body guard had left his post prior to Booth sneaking in. No one knows why.

When the line was read, no lights went out. Booth still lunged forward and shot the president almost at point blank, then was attacked by a friend of Lincoln's who was sitting with him, so he could not sneak out. They struggled and Booth stabbed him, then leapt over the balcony 11 feet up, caught his boot on the flag and lost his balance, then landed awkwardly in the middle of the stage. He broke his leg just above the ankle.

Booth flashed his knife at the audience, yelling "Sic semper tyrannis!" Which means "Thus to all tyrants!" in Latin before hobbling off the stage.

While all this was going on, the accomplice after the Secretary of State was pistol-whipping the secretary's son, then slashed the Secretary's throat. He, however, lived. The one going after the vice president had second thoughts.

The wounded president was carried across the street to a boarding house, and into a room rented by a Union soldier who was out at the time. Many drawings and such depict the president lying straight in bed with many pillows and under several sheets. In reality, his body had to be lain diagonally because the bed was too small, and they stripped him of his outer clothing. The whole pillow on which his head lay was darkened by blood. As soon as they moved his body, a photographer took a picture of the bed. http://news.webshots.com/photo/1002967183000142258ORDjdezpIR

In his belongings was a $10.00 Confederate bill, and no one knows why.

Just thought this was interesting. I believe that if one delves into details on almost any famous event, one will find things that are curious, different from the normal picture of the event, and sometimes just strange.

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