The Murder Of Abraham Lincoln

President Lincoln was killed by 4 to 8 to 20-ish people. I imagine some portion of you reading this are assuming I'm a bit off my rocker. After all, most people "know" that John Wilkes Booth killed Lincoln all by his lonesome, just like Lee Harvey Oswald, right? Except, history and the courts disagree. At least 4 people were willing participants to his death, plus 4 others conspired with Booth to kidnap Lincoln, and numerous others were accessories "after the fact" to murder.

I read this book last week. I had no intention of reviewing the book for you all till Jake posted his link to the article on 7 conspiracies that did exist, which strangely enough mostly included failed conspiracies. Since the article failed to mention the proven (and 8-times prosecuted) conspiracy around the assassination of a US President, I thought I'd blog about it here.

Prior to the assassination, Booth had 7 active conspirators: Michael O'Laughlin, Samuel B Arnold, Dr Samuel A Mudd, John H Surrat, David E Herold, George A Atzerodt, and Lewis Powell. They planned to kidnap Lincoln, and trade him for thousands of Confederate Prisoners of War to rekindle the Southern war efforts. Booth indicated that he'd kill Lincoln if the kidnapping went badly.

The kidnapping attempt failed. Ironically, the President didn't even notice the attempt. But since he'd chosen to abandon the route they were going to ambush him on, and instead stopped (with armed guards) at the same hotel Booth was staying at, the Conspirator's assumed they'd been found out. 4 out of 8 conspirators fled southward.

Meanwhile, the remaining 4 conspirators (Booth, Atzerodt, Herold and Powell) decide to kill not just Lincoln - but also VP Johnson and Secretary of State Seward.

On the night they shot Lincoln, they also stabbed Seward. His life was saved by the metal cast around his kneck - he'd been in a carriage accident a few days before, and was immobilized on Doctor's orders. The attack on Johnson never materialized, but they sent a strange message to his personal aide.

A minimum of 7 people in a minimum of 3 different locations actively assisted Booth and Herold's escape plans. Only one of those 7 is among the Booth & Herold's known 6 kidnapping conspirators. Atzerodt and Powell panicked and fled independently.

After Booth's death, his diary is given to Secretary of War Edwin McMasters Stanton, who loses it for two years, and when he later refinds it, 18 pages are missing. It's hard to say for certain if there's any meaning to little tidbits like that, or McMasters refusal of President Lincoln's request for an additional bodyguard on April 14th (the day of his assassination). It's possibly all coincidental, or possibly very sinister, and we'll never know the truth either way.

All in all, for their involvement in the conspiracy, 4 people were given Jail terms, 4 others were executed, and Booth died "in action". 2 of the 8 punished (including one of the executed) were likely innocent, but implicated maliciously and then trampled by a military court. The bodyguard who abandoned his post to go drinking at the bar Booth was waiting in, was never punished.

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Here's a touch of a review, for those who are interested:

The Murder of Abraham Lincoln (by Rick Geary) is a quick read - in finished it in a couple hours. It's packed with info and I was pleased with the level of historical detail and "character" background he presents to the reader. It's a non-fiction history book, presented in the "graphic novel" format.

I enjoyed Geary's illustrative and narrative style. A few of the backgrounds were busier than they needed to be, but the key panels are dynamic and the characters are easily identifiable. All-in-all, he did a really good job of cutting to the heart of what makes the case interesting. Booth isn't presented as a lone nut, but rather as a calculating mastermind and a bit of a glory-seeker. The author also details numerous oddities that suggest the conspiracy went deeper than 8 men, but very clearly avoids drawing conclusions that can't be supported by documented fact. He points out some injustices and mistakes, and clearly has great respect for Lincoln and some dislike of Stanton, but never sermonizes.

It was well worth the $8.95 it cost me down at Golden Age Collectibles. I expect it's a book I'll return to for a second read at some future date, and it's earned it's place in my reference library. I'm considering picking up his book on the Garfield assassination ("The Fatal Bullet") as that's a topic I know nothing about.