The President is Dead

“What happened in Washington, DC, in the spring of 1865, and in the swamps and rivers, and the forests and fields, of Maryland and Virginia during the next twelve days, is far too incredible to have ever been made up” (Note to the Reader). 


The Book  

Eight hours. That is all the time John Wilkes Booth had to plan the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward. He succeeded in one assassination and was able to elude the full force of the United States military and citizens for twelve days.

In Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer, author James L. Swanson relays the days between the assassination and Booth’s capture. Although it is nonfiction, the book reads like a historical novel. Swanson tells of the terror that gripped Washington, DC for twelve days and the uncertainty of a divided nation. The first two chapters’ detail Booth’s planning and the assassination. The following seven chapters follow the assassin as he races south. Swanson explores the nation’s obsession with the capture of Booth, the War Department’s attempts to round up hundreds of co-conspirators, and the failure to take Booth alive. 

The Place   

When I was four years old, my grandparents took me to visit Washington, DC for the first time. At that young age, I was very interested in all things about Abraham Lincoln. Naturally, my grandparents took me to visit Ford’s Theatre. The theatre is decorated exactly as it was on the night of Lincoln’s assassination, April 14, 1865. The auditorium doubles as a working theatre, putting on various plays throughout the year. In the basement is a museum dedicated to Lincoln, the Civil War, and the assassination. Artifacts include the Deringer pistol Booth used to shoot Lincoln and items from Booth’s flight south.

Just across the street is the Peterson House, where Lincoln died. Visitors can view the back room where Lincoln was laid on a bed too small for his tall frame. You can imagine the numerous doctors hovering over the president, doing their best to make him comfortable. The front parlor is where Mary Lincoln cried for her husband; the next room over was used by Secretary of War Stanton to begin the search for Booth.

Because Ford’s Theatre is a working theatre, there are times when visitors are not allowed in the auditorium. Tickets are also required to visit the theatre. Same-day tickets are free, but harder to get if it is a busy tourist season. You can purchase advance individual tickets online.