In the morning of April 14, 1865, Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Ulysses Grant a few days earlier. President Lincoln was also waiting for Joseph E. Johnston to also surrender. The morning papers announced that his wife and he were going to attend a comedy show called, "Our American Cousin". After the meeting concluded with Grant and the Cabinet, Grant told Lincoln that they could not attend the show with them that evening. Lincoln’s wife, Mary, complained of a headache and thought about not going to the show. Lincoln said he was tired also, but was ready to enjoy an entertaining evening. There were people, such as Secretary Edwin Stanton, who was worried about Lincoln getting shot and his body guard William Crook, who practically begged him not to attend the show. However, President Lincoln decided to go anyway and disregarded the fears of assassination. Since there was going to be a guard outside of their theater box, at Ford's Theater, he wasn’t concerned (The Death of President Lincoln, 1865). The choice of President Lincoln to attend the show at the theater ended his presidency and his life.
Although the box door was closed, it was not locked. John Parker, the posted guard who was also known for his drinking, went across the street to get a drink (The Death of President Lincoln, 1865). The President and Mrs. Lincoln were enjoying the show, in attendance was a twenty-eight year-old officer named Major Henry R. Rathbone, and Rathbone's fiancée, Clara Harris. After the play started, a figure appeared holding a drawn derringer pistol and stepped into the presidential box. At that time, he aimed and fired his gun, at the back of Lincoln’s head, which made the president slump forward (Library of Congress).
The assassin’s name was John Wilkes Booth. After shooting the president, he dropped the gun and waved a knife at the officer. The officer, Major Rathbone, went towards Booth, but Booth cut Rathbone in the arm. When Booth jumped from the balcony, he caught his leg on a flag wrapped over the rail causing him to break a bone in his leg when he landed on the ground. Although he was hurt, he ran out the rear door, jumped on a horse and escaped (Library of Congress).
There was a doctor also at the show who went upstairs to the see the president. The president was injured by a bullet that entered through his left ear and stopped behind his right eye. Unfortunately, he was paralyzed and barely breathing (Library of Congress).
Gideon Welles, who was Secretary of the Navy, woke up to the news that Lincoln had been shot. When he arrived at Ford’s Theater, he learned that Lincoln had been carried across the street. The physician told Welles that Lincoln only had three hours to live (The Death of President Lincoln, 1865).
Welles describes the room that Lincoln occupied as the following:
“The room was small and overcrowded. The surgeons and members of the cabinet were as many as should have been in the room, but there were many more, and the hall and other rooms in the front or main house were full. One of these rooms was occupied by Mrs. Lincoln and her attendants, with Miss Harris. Mrs. Dixon and Mrs. Kinney came to her about twelve o'clock. About once an hour Mrs. Lincoln would repair to the bedside of her dying husband and with lamentation and tears remain until overcome by emotion” (The Death of President Lincoln, 1865).
Welles continues his story:
“A little before seven I went into the room where the dying President was rapidly drawing near the closing moments. His wife soon after made her last visit to him. The death struggle had begun. Robert, his son, stood with several others at the head of the bed. He, bore himself well but on two occasions gave way to overpowering grief and sobbed aloud, turning his head and leaning on the shoulder of Senator Sumner. The respiration of the President became suspended at intervals and at last entirely ceased at twenty-two minutes past seven" (The Death of President Lincoln, 1865).
Library of Congress. American Civil War. n.d. 26 February 2010
"The Death of President Lincoln, 1865." 1999, revised 2009. EyeWitness to History. 27 February 2010
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