At 10:15 pm on this date 159 years ago, the audience at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC erupted in laughter. John Wilkes Booth, a 26-year-old actor, seized on the noise to enter the Presidential box undetected. There he shot Abraham Lincoln, seated alongside his wife and two guests, in front of 1,500 witnesses. The new Apple TV series, Manhunt, dramatizes the events of Good Friday, April 14, 1865, and the efforts to capture Booth. It also got me wondering which sites associated with Lincoln’s assassination are still standing.
So I did some research. And of course I jumped in the car to spend a couple of days following in the footsteps of Lincoln, Booth, and their contemporaries. I found several key, historic buildings open to the public and learned some fascinating details along the way. (Be sure to see the photo gallery below.)
Far-Flung Artifacts
For example, artifacts from the assassination are scattered among several institutions. The topcoat and hat Lincoln wore to Ford’s Theater are housed in the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History. But the Library of Congress has the contents of his pockets.
Meanwhile, Booth’s .44 caliber, single-shot derringer is on display at Ford’s Theater. (The gun is surprisingly small.) But the bullet that killed the President resides at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Beyond Washington, DC
You’ll find Lincoln’s bloodstained rocking chair in Dearborn, Michigan— at the Henry Ford Museum (no relation to Ford’s Theater). And the Chicago Historical Society maintains the President’s deathbed. Lincoln was too tall for the frame, so they laid him diagonally across it.
I decided to limit my summary of sites associated with Lincoln’s assassination to the greater Washington area and focus on Civil War era buildings. But first, it helps to have some brief historical context…
Lee Surrenders
Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia on April 9, 1865. Lee’s capitulation signaled the end of the Confederacy and the Civil War, although the surrender of remaining combatants continued until November 1865.
Booth, a well-known actor and southern sympathizer, was distraught over the Confederacy’s looming collapse. So when he learned— just 5 days after Lee’s surrender— that Lincoln planned to attend a performance of Our American Cousin that night at Ford’s Theater, he decided to seek retribution.
A Larger Conspiracy
Booth was already affiliated with the Confederate underground from an earlier, abandoned plot to kidnap Lincoln. And he was still in regular contact with his co-conspirators through meetings at a Washington, DC boarding house run by Mary Surratt.
So on the day of the assassination, Booth met with his colleagues at the Surratt home to plan a retaliatory strike. The actor and several other Confederates agreed to split up and simultaneously kill President Lincoln, Vice-President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward that evening. By doing so, they hoped to bring the federal government to its knees and potentially save the South.
Mary facilitated the delivery of weapons and supplies for the three-pronged assault. But only Booth achieved his goal. Johnson’s attacker had a change of heart and abandoned the plan. Seward was badly injured but survived.
Surratt’s Boarding House
At the time of the assassination, Surratt’s boarding house was at 541 H Street in Washington, DC. The street was later renumbered, and the building is now 604 H Street NW. Although it remains largely unchanged on the outside, the site presently houses a Chinese restaurant and karaoke bar. There’s nothing but a historical marker to alert passersby to the building’s infamy and the schemers who passed through the doorway.
Ford’s Theater
Ford’s Theater also looks nearly the same today as it did on the night of the assassination. The bricks outside are original. But the interior had to be painstakingly reconstructed from the numerous photos and eyewitness accounts collected at the time of Lincoln’s murder. (People felt it was disrespectful to reopen the theater after the investigation was complete. So it was converted to office space and later a warehouse.)
Nearly 100 years after the assassination, Ford’s Theater finally reopened as a memorial to the President. Live performances still take place there, overlooked by the Presidential box that appears now as it did in 1865. Mary Lincoln’s chair is the only original piece of furniture, though. Even the framed portrait of George Washington currently placed at the front of the box is a replica. (A curator decided to secure the previously displayed original safely away from the bustle of an active stage.)
The Presidential Box
Try to visit Ford’s Theater on a quiet day in the off-season. You may be treated to a rare, close-up view of the Presidential box through plexiglass from the small anteroom behind it. Chillingly, it’s the same view Booth had, minus the plexiglass. Otherwise, you’ll have to see it from the audience. Compare “then” and “now” photos below— they’re essentially indistinguishable.
Tickets ($3.50) are required to tour the theater, its museum, and the house where Lincoln died across the street. Click here to plan your visit. The ranger-led educational talk in the theater is well worth your time. And don’t miss the Petersen House!
The Petersen House
Better known as the place where Lincoln died, the Petersen House at 516 Tenth Street NW is open to the public. Physicians at the scene of the shooting felt a return to the White House risked further harm to the President. Instead, attendants carried him to William Petersen’s boarding house directly across the street.
Lincoln died in a back bedroom there at 7:22 the next morning. The room seems far too small for such a significant moment. I couldn’t help but think how crowded and chaotic it must have been at the time.
While the Lincoln family and members of the Cabinet kept vigil, an equally small space adjacent to the bedroom served as the temporary seat of government. Officials initially coordinated the manhunt for Lincoln’s assassin here, too.
Booth on the Run
Booth eluded capture for 12 days despite a broken leg. He fractured his left fibula when he jumped from the Presidential box onto the stage as he fled Ford’s Theater.
Six hours later, Booth sought help from Dr. Samuel Mudd at the physician’s farm 30 miles away. The two men were acquainted from the earlier, aborted plan to kidnap Lincoln.
Mudd splinted Booth’s leg and gave him crutches. Booth and his traveling companion, David Herold (part of the plot to kill Secretary of State Seward) spent the night at Mudd’s farm.
From there, the Confederate underground aided the assassin’s flight until Union soldiers finally caught up with him. The troops shot Booth dead at a farm in Port Royal, Virginia, on April 26. Herold surrendered.
Samuel Mudd’s Farm
The Mudd home, though well off the beaten path, still stands in its original state. In my opinion, it’s worth the 45-minute drive from Ford’s Theater. The farm is open to visitors only on a limited basis, though. Check the website for the current schedule.
A 75-minute guided tour of the site is chock full of history. You’ll see the very sofa on which Booth first lied down and the room where he slept. Run your hands along the very same bannister he used to support himself on the climb upstairs. Note some of the original medical instruments Dr. Mudd used to treat his infamous patient. And see the dirt path Booth and Herold followed when they fled the farm toward Virginia.
A separate, 2-hour walking tour that retraces Booth and Herold’s escape route from the farm is offered on rare occasions. Again, check the schedule for your next opportunity.
Consequences
A military tribunal sentenced four of Booth’s co-conspirators to death, including Herold. Mary Surratt hanged alongside him on July 7, 1865— the first woman executed by the U.S. government. The trial and executions were held at the Washington Arsenal Penitentiary. It’s now part of Fort McNair in Washington, DC, and off-limits to the public.
Four more co-conspirators were tried and found guilty. Three of them, including Mudd, were sentenced to life in prison. The fourth received a 6-year sentence.
Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson, pardoned Mudd in 1869, after the doctor served 4 years in the prison at what is now Dry Tortugas National Park off the coast of Florida. Mudd lived the rest of his life at the family farm.
Lincoln’s Resting Place
Lincoln was the first U.S. president to be assassinated. He was also the first one to lie in state in the Capitol rotunda. The catalfaque on which his coffin rested is still housed there.
After Lincoln’s funeral in the East Room of the White House, his body was taken by train for burial in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.
Manhunt
The Apple TV series, Manhunt, takes creative license in its dramatization of events. But the book on which it is loosely based— James Swanson’s award-winning Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer — is highly regarded as an engaging and accurate account. Swanson, a Lincoln aficionado, wrote in a 2015 edition of Smithsonian Magazine about his lifelong fascination with our 16th President. The article is also worth a read.
Manhunt’s popularity is driving renewed interest in sites associated with Lincoln’s assassination. Watch it, and I suspect you, too, will be inspired to visit these sites associated with Lincoln’s assassination.
In the meantime, as the clock strikes 10:15 tonight, give a nod to Lincoln and his legacy.
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Interested in more Civil War history and information about Lincoln? Check out these insider tips for a visit to Gettysburg. And since you’re already in the area, why not visit Annapolis and check out its famous lighthouse?
