Sad fate for many connected to Lincoln assassination

Five days after the end of the Civil War, the joy of peace was shattered when John Wilkes Booth and his gang of followers put into motion a plan to “decapitate” the U.S. federal government. In addition to Booth killing President Abraham Lincoln, the plan was for Lewis Powell to kill Secretary of State William Seward and George Atzerodt to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson.

Booth proceeded with pinpoint precision, entering the presidential box during a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater. At a time of optimum laughter, Booth walked up to the President, put the pistol right up to Lincoln’s head and fired. After a fight with Major Henry Rathbone, who had been sitting with his fiancee, Clara Harris in the box next to President and Mrs. Lincoln, Booth jumped to the stage. Although he injured his leg upon landing, he quickly headed out.

Doctors immediately knew Lincoln’s wound was fatal. The President was carried across the street to Petersen House, where he died at 7:22 on April 15, 1865 — in the same bed, ironically, that Booth had slept in a month earlier.

Powell attempted to kill Seward in his home, stabbing him repeatedly and attacking six others in Seward’s house before fleeing. Atzerodt went to Johnson’s hotel but got drunk and lost his nerve.

Secretary of War Edwin Stanton led a manhunt that resulted in Booth being killed in rural Virginia and seven others standing trial in front of a military tribunal, all of whom were found guilty of conspiracy. Four were sentenced to hang: Powell, Atzerodt, David Herold, who was Booth’s right hand man and Mary Surratt, who owned the boardinghouse where the conspiracy was hatched.

Dr. Samuel Mudd, who splinted Booth’s injured leg, was spared the death sentence by one vote along with two others who had much lesser roles. Just 48 hours after the trial, the death sentences were carried out.

After a three-week funeral procession, Lincoln was finally laid to rest in Springfield, Illinois. After his death, many of the people involved had strange endings of their own.

Boston Corbett, who killed Booth, ended up having a mental breakdown in the Kansas Statehouse and was sent to an asylum. Soon after he jumped on a horse and escaped, was never heard from again.

Major Rathbone’s mental state also suffered. He killed his wife, Clara Harris in 1883 and was heard shouting about the walls talking to him. Later, their son demolished the wall. Behind it was the dress Harris had been wearing the night of the assassination — still with blood on it!

Mr. Petersen, owner of the boardinghouse, died on a park bench from an opioid overdose close to a police station. Two men who prevented Mary Surratt’s daughter from obtaining a pardon for her mom both committed suicide within 18 months. And Lincoln’s own son witnessed President James Garfield’s assassination and was at the same fair in Buffalo, New York when President William McKinley was assassinated.

Tom Babbage of Casa Grande, Arizona is an avid collector of presidential history. He grew up in Marion and was a student in the Linn-Mar Community School District.