Everyone has heard the story of how Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Since elementary we have been taught about how John Wilkes Booth shot the president at the Ford Theater on April 15th, 1865. Our teachers taught us all about how sad the nation was and how tragic it was to lose the presidency, who freed the slaves, so soon after winning the civil war, but they never taught us why. I, like most people, assumed that Booth must have been a madman. Who would want to kill Honest Abe, the man who freed the slaves and reunited the nation? After learning more about the civil war and the political climate at that time, it is obvious that many people would have had an interest in assassinating the 16th president. Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln by Edward Steers Jr explores the possibility of the assassination being a carefully orchestrated plan rather than the plot of a vengeful madman. Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever by Bill O’Reilly focuses on the aftermath of the assassination and tells the story of Booth’s manhunt and the trials that followed. Using these two books we can get a more accurate picture of how and why President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and find the details that modern history often leaves behind.
On April 15th, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was attending a play at the Ford Theater. The president was seeing a show called “Our American Cousin,” and he was sitting on his private balcony with a police officer guarding him, he was accompanied by his wife and another couple (Steers). At about 10:15 pm the famous actor, John Wilkes Booth entered Lincoln’s presidential box, and soon after this he barricaded the door and shot the president. He waited for a moment in the play where there was laughter expected from the audience to cover the sound of the gunshot (Steers). The bullet entered Lincoln’s skull just above his ear and pierced through his brain. Booth then jumped off the balcony and escaped the theater, most of the theatergoers did not realize this was not a part of the show until later (O’Reilly).
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Booth killed and injured a few others on his way out. Two doctors then rushed to Lincoln’s aid; they could not remove the bullet, but they did dislodge a blood clot allowing him to live a little longer (Steers). The starring actress in the play came to cradle Lincoln after this. Lincoln was then taken to the nearby Peterson house, where more physicians came, and they all decided that the wound could not be survived. Lincoln was kept alive for as long as possible, and many people came to his side before he passed. The secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, ran the country from Lincoln’s bedside the night before he died, Stanton started the manhunt for Booth that night directing. Before Lincoln died many came to pay respects and say goodbye (Steers). At 7 am, Mary Lincoln was let back into the room and stayed with Lincoln until he passed at 7:22 am and those in the room said a prayer for the fallen president (Steers).
Vice president Andrew Johnson was sworn in two hours later. In the wake of the disaster, all suspicious was pointed at John Wilkes Booth. He was a known confederate and witnesses claimed they heard him yell “Freedom!” after shooting the president (O’Reilly). The country focused its efforts on transitioning to Johnson’s presidency and finding Booth, but this left many questions remaining. Had Booth acted alone? Were there more Union officials in danger? How could the country recover from the loss of its hero so early after the surrender of the South? Most importantly everyone wondered if the Confederacy would be able to make a return during the chaos.
Lincoln’s assassination was not the only one planned for April 14th, 1865. Two other men, Lewis Powell, and George Atzerodt had been instructed to assassinate high-level government officials that night (O’Reilly). Lewis Powell entered, secretary of state, William Seward’s home only minutes before Lincoln was shot. Powell knocked Seward’s son unconscious and tried to stab the secretary of state multiple times. He was unsuccessful in killing Seward due to a neck brace he wore for his broken jaw, as he fled the home, he stabbed guards and began screaming “I’m Mad! I’m Mad!” George Atzerodt did not even attempt to kill his target, Andrew Johnson, he instead ended up drinking and forgoing the plan. Despite Atzerodt’s failure left a note for Johnson, at the Kirkwood House, indicating that Booth may have anticipated this failure and intended to gather more information and kill Johnson himself (Steers). While neither of these plots resulted in death, they help us to unfold the story of what was supposed to happen on April 14th.
The country mourned Abraham Lincoln’s death, along with the rest of the world. Lincoln had been an icon of freedom and democracy not only in the United States but in other countries. Lincoln’s funeral was on April 18th, three days after his death in the White House. People came from all around the country to mourn his death. The body was then taken on a funeral procession by train from New York to Illinois, where the country was able to pay its respects to the beloved president. People from all sides of the war mourned the president's passing. While the world was mourning officials in the White House were hard at work trying to find the man behind this and put together the plot that caused John Wilkes Booth to assassinate the president (O’Reilly).
John Wilkes Booth proved to be a hard fugitive to capture in the weeks after the crime. He fled immediately for Maryland after leaving the theater and meeting up with his ally David Herold, he was questioned by the Union soldiers at the bridge into Maryland, but he lied and was allowed to pass (Steers). In Maryland Booth found supplies he had stashed and got treatment for his leg, which he had broken fleeing the theater. Booth and his accomplice were then taken to a confederate sympathizer who hid him until he could make his way to Virginia. The duo was then hidden at a tobacco farm until Union soldiers eventually found him. The manhunt for Booth and his men was the biggest known in United States history (O’Reilly). A significant amount of money was offered as a reward for anyone that helped in the capture of Booth or Herold.
Booth was discovered at the tobacco farm on April 26th, this was 12 days after he shot the president. Booth tried to escape but he was shot despite orders that he was to be taken alive (Steers). Herold was also taken into police custody. Lewis Powell tried to follow the same path that Booth had taken to remain hidden, but he was unable to find his way and he along with Mary Surratt was arrested (O’Reilly). George Atzerodt was found in Maryland and also arrested. All the remaining people that had been involved in the president’s death plot were captured shortly after but with Booth dead, it was hard to put together what exactly had happened. The public still did not know what to believe and it seemed like nobody had the answers. Was this a conspiracy to overthrow the union? Had Booth just been a madman clever enough to convince a few people to help him along the way? Were people involved still out there?
The trials of those involved in Lincoln’s murder would soon start to answer those questions. Many people were arrested during the trials anyone with any connection to the assassination was taken into police custody. These people were tried in a military tribunal rather than a typical court (Steers). Johnson was heavily criticized for this decision but justified it because of how this could be seen as a military action by the confederates. The trial lasted only seven days and resulted in the death of four people and a life sentence for three others. Mary Surratt, the woman who was supposed to help Lewis Powell was among those executed (O’Reilly). Her death was unjust as five of the seven jurors had written letters to recommend, she is given a lighter sentence. These letters were ignored by President Johnson and Mary Surratt became the first woman to ever be executed in the United States. On July 7th Booth’s 4 main accomplices were publicly hung. The remaining conspirators were sentenced to life in prison.
It is clear that the assassination of President Lincoln was not the act of a single madman. It was a carefully planned plot to kill the man who has led the Union to victory over the South. Although we do not know whether the plan was an attempt to revive the confederacy or if it was a revenge plot, we do know it was motivated by the Confederate loss in the civil war. Why would the details and true intentions of Lincoln’s assassination be left out of the history books? One theory is that the United States is ashamed of its much more racist past. Lincoln was made into a figurehead to represent the good in America and if the world was to be taught, he was killed by confederates in his own country by southern racists it wouldn’t look good. Another theory is that Booth was a well-known actor and having him be a mastermind in the public eye who plotted to kill the president would have been detrimental, so they instead painted him as a madman.
In both Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever both authors' main points are that there is a lot more about the Lincoln assassination than we are taught in everyday history class. In reading these books we can get a detailed account of how the assassination played out and the aftermath. Both books give a different perspective and background information on the assassination. While the books do have some disagreements in the way they present the information and draw conclusions, they are very much similar. Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America are both written from not only a historical perspective but from an entertainment perspective. They aim to engage readers with their accounts of the events and are described as thrillers. Books like this can sometimes be inaccurate in the way they present information, but I found both books to combine the aspects of entertainment with education very well. While at times it seems things may be exaggerated by both authors it doesn’t take away from the educational aspects of the books. While neither gives a clear dry-cut reason as to why these details were left out of traditional education the reader can make their own inferences based on the evidence given and the political climate in America today. When put through the lens of America’s modern-day issues with racism and inequality it is easy to see how it may be easier not to include these details despite their historical significance.
Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln focuses primarily on how Booth was just a cog in a bigger confederate plan. It also details other events such as how Mary Surrat’s son escaped to the Vatican to avoid trial and other plans the confederates used to try to take the North down. The book also helps clear up some of the questions about John Wilkes Booth’s political affiliations and how a famous actor got tangled up in this conspiracy. Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln primarily uses the idea of a much larger confederate conspiracy to explain the assassination of Lincoln. Steers uses firsthand accounts of the confederate’s reaction to Lincoln’s death as well as connecting the murder with other things happening in the confederacy at the time to prove his point. He ties a lot of seemingly unrelated information together to give the readers a full perspective on the Lincoln assassination and the state of the Confederacy at this time.
Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America focuses primarily on Booth being the mastermind behind the plot to assassinate the president. While it does recognize the part that the confederacy played in the murder it frames it in such a way that Booth is placed with much of the blame. The book also details the events of the civil war before Lincoln’s killing much more. O’Reilly uses this as a way to show the tragedy of Lincoln’s death and make it even more powerful, really putting us in the shoes of American citizens at that time. The manhunt for Booth and the detective work it took to find out what really happened are heavily talked about. The book also argues for the possibility that high-ranking United States officials may have been in on the plot. The reactions of the American people also play a much large role in this book as well to tie together the impact of the event on American history. The background provided by O’Reilly gives context into why Booth may have committed such a horrible act and shows us the fallout of this event.
Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America is a wealth of information on the Lincoln assassination and the varying viewpoints on what happened. Both books help to establish a better overall picture of what happened and how there is so much more than meets the eye to this critical event in history. Most importantly the books help the reader to realize that there is always more than meets the eye and the simplest explanation may not always be the correct one. It is important to get more information on all historical events and to prioritize truth, not only to remember our past but to guide the future.
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