We arrived at Ford’s Theater at 9:00 this morning only to find this - a humongous line to get into the theater for the 9:20 Ranger presentation. OH, shucks. What are kids doing up this early in the morning? But, we got our tickets and went to the back of the line, right after the Yuma, AZ kids who were in DC for the week. Actually, it was a theater and held a lot of people so we still got good seats. The Ranger then launched into his presentation about Lincoln’s assassination.
It’s amazing how many times ‘just by chance’ plays an important part in history. As the Ranger was talking about Lincoln’s assassination, he was really reciting a list of ‘just by chance’ events that led up to the assassination. (By the way, I have no idea why the stage in the background is tilted - it must have been for the next presentation.)
Just by chance Lincoln wrote to Ford telling him that he would like to attend the theater that night with General Grant and Ford not only announced that Lincoln would be there that evening but also prepared the theater with bunting and other flags to decorate the Presidential box.
Just by chance Booth stopped by the theater that morning to pick up his mail and noticed the extensive preparations for Lincoln’s attendance at the theater that evening and knew he had his opportunity.
Just by chance, Booth knew the theater well and all the passageways and doors to get where he wanted to be at the right moment.
Just by chance, Grant did not accompany Lincoln to the theater as planned and his military escort was not outside the booth ready to protect him.
Just by chance, Booth knew the play ‘My American Cousin’ well and knew just when the audience would be completely wrapped up in the play, when the heaviest laugh line would come and thus the best moment to assassinate Lincoln.
Just by chance Booth happened to be one of Lincoln’s favorite actors so, when he walked up to Lincoln’s booth in the theater, no one gave it a second thought.
Just by chance, Booth knew the play ‘My American Cousin’ well and knew just when the audience would be completely wrapped up in the play, when the heaviest laugh line would come and thus the best moment to assassinate Lincoln.
But all that merely begs the question: would Booth have found another opportunity to assassinate Lincoln? Probably. He was determined.
I don’t want to repeat the whole story but there were some facets that I hadn’t heard before. Firstly, Mrs Lincoln attended none of the funerals, she was in too much grief. Her sons did attend. Poor woman, her husband was assassinated sitting beside her, 3 of her 4 sons died during her lifetime and she was estranged from her one remaining son.
As Booth was escaping to Virginia, he expected a hero’s welcome but most were reluctant to help him. He eventually had to hide in a barn where he was found by his pursuers and shot.
When Booth shot Lincoln, Maj. Henry Reed Rathbone, who was Lincoln’s guest in his box, tried to wrap his arms around Booth to hold him but Booth slashed at him with his knife, wounding him. He always thought he should have done more to save Lincoln. Finally, it got the better of him, he killed his wife, turned a knife on himself, was declared insane and died in an asylum in Hanover, Germany.
A tragedy all around. After the Ranger talk we looked across the street at the humongous line of teens
and decided it was a perfect time to get a second cup of coffee at Au Bon Pain. Oh, and maybe one of their pastries. We sat out side and realized that we were across the street from the J Edgar Hoover FBI building. O-o-oh the security was tight. We saw this well-trained sniffing dog doing his job and doing it thoroughly. He did not leave that vehicle until he was done.
Ah, coffee done and the line was very thin so we walked over to the Petersen House where Lincoln was taken after he was shot. This is the first floor bedroom that they put him in.
It was obvious that he was not going to survive so the doctors were just trying to keep him comfortable though he never regained consciousness. Notice that Mary Lincoln is not in the picture - she was actually in the next room.
He was too tall for the bed so they had to stretch him diagonally across the bed. They had quite a collection of Lincoln memorabilia from Mrs. Lincoln’s stained dress to Lincoln’s black top hat to the derringer that Booth used to the top coat Lincoln had worn to the theater that night. It was the custom in the mid 1800’s when someone died to cut a small bit of the cloth off of the dead person’s clothing to give to someone else as a souvenir and thus most of the left sleeve was gone.
When his funeral train wound its way from Washington DC to Illinois where he was to be buried, it passed through many towns where local funerals were held for him. Note the population of Columbus, OH and the number of people who attended the funeral - in this case 5 times more attended the funeral than lived in the town.
Here’s a set of keys that Booth had with him. No one had ever found out what any of the keys was for.
On the way out was a display trying to show the number of books written about Lincoln. There are over 15,000 but this display could only hold 1/3 of these. It was a 3-story display at that.
We then hopped on the Metro and headed on over to Arlington National Cemetery to pay our respects to all those who have given their lives so that I could live mine here in the US.
‘Now he belongs to the Ages.’
Edwin Stanton, Sec’y of War under Lincoln
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