Biography

John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865) – Find a Grave Memorial

John wilkesbooth

Presidential assassin. An acclaimed Shakespearean stage actor, he assassinated the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, on April 14, 1865. Born in Bel Air, Maryland, he was the tenth child of Junius Brutus Booth, an English-born stage actor who he had gained fame for his dramatic acting. Shakespearean roles first in England, then in the United States. John Wilkes Booth continued in his father’s profession, making his stage debut at age 17. He soon became nationally famous for his acting skills and became part of a touring Shakespeare troupe based in Richmond, Virginia. by the time of the civil war he had become one of the most famous theatrical figures in the united states. A supporter and sympathizer of southern rights, he strongly opposed the abolitionist movement and became a Confederate agent after the war began, using his position as a national touring performer to smuggle quinine into the hands of the South. He was outspoken with his devotion to the South and his virulent disdain for President Lincoln and the North. In 1864 he formulated a plan to kidnap the President, but it did not go beyond the discussion and planning stages when Abraham Lincoln was re-elected in November 1864. After that point, the plot changed from kidnapping to assassination. During this period he would recruit the figures who would be forever linked to the Lincoln assassination: Samuel Arnold, Michael O’Laughlen, Lewis Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt, and John Surratt. They often met at the boarding house of John Surratt’s mother, Mary Surratt. The plan coalesced after President Lincoln’s second inauguration, fueled by Booth’s growing hatred of the president, especially in the face of comments Lincoln made about granting suffrage to freed slaves. On April 14, 1865, while President Lincoln was attending a performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC, Booth pointed a single-shot derringer pistol at the back of the head of Lincoln and fired, mortally wounding him. he then leaped from the presidential box onto the stage, infamously shouting “sic semper tyrannis!” (“Thus always to tyrants!”). He escaped on a previously placed horse and became the subject of the largest manhunt in American history up to that point, especially after President Lincoln died the next morning. Chased through Maryland and Virginia, he kept a journal, using it to justify his actions. On April 26, 1865, he and fellow conspirator David Herold were captured and trapped in a barn on the Garrett family farm in Port Royal, Virginia, by a detachment of the 16th Cavalry New York Volunteers. . After the barn caught fire, he was shot and fatally wounded by Sergeant Boston Corbett, dying a few hours later. His body was later taken to Washington, D.C., where ten people who knew him intimately identified him as John Wilkes Booth. Originally interred at the Washington Arsenal, in 1869 the remains were turned over to the family, and they were interred on the family plot in Baltimore, Maryland’s Green Mount Cemetery, where they lie in an unmarked grave. Later theories were put forward that Booth did not die in Garrett’s barn and lived anonymously. modern legal efforts to exhume the remains for DNA and identification testing were ultimately rejected. John Wilkes Booth’s older brother, Edwin Booth, became famous in his own right in the 19th century as an acclaimed tragedian, and had clashed so frequently with his brother over issues related to the Civil War that John Wilkes was expelled from his brother’s house.

presidential assassin. An acclaimed Shakespearean stage actor, he assassinated the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, on April 14, 1865. Born in Bel Air, Maryland, he was the tenth child of Junius Brutus Booth, an English-born stage actor who he had gained fame for his dramatic acting. Shakespearean roles first in England, then in the United States. John Wilkes Booth continued in his father’s profession, making his stage debut at age 17. He soon became nationally famous for his acting skills and became part of a touring Shakespeare troupe based in Richmond, Virginia. by the time of the civil war he had become one of the most famous theatrical figures in the united states. A supporter and sympathizer of southern rights, he strongly opposed the abolitionist movement and became a Confederate agent after the war began, using his position as a national touring performer to smuggle quinine into the hands of the South. He was outspoken with his devotion to the South and his virulent disdain for President Lincoln and the North. In 1864 he formulated a plan to kidnap the President, but it did not go beyond the discussion and planning stages when Abraham Lincoln was re-elected in November 1864. After that point, the plot changed from kidnapping to assassination. During this period he would recruit the figures who would be forever linked to the Lincoln assassination: Samuel Arnold, Michael O’Laughlen, Lewis Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt, and John Surratt. They often met at the boarding house of John Surratt’s mother, Mary Surratt. The plan coalesced after President Lincoln’s second inauguration, fueled by Booth’s growing hatred of the president, especially in the face of comments Lincoln made about granting suffrage to freed slaves. On April 14, 1865, while President Lincoln was attending a performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC, Booth pointed a single-shot derringer pistol at the back of the head of Lincoln and fired, mortally wounding him. he then leaped from the presidential box onto the stage, infamously shouting “sic semper tyrannis!” (“Thus always to tyrants!”). He escaped on a previously placed horse and became the subject of the largest manhunt in American history up to that point, especially after President Lincoln died the next morning. Chased through Maryland and Virginia, he kept a journal, using it to justify his actions. On April 26, 1865, he and fellow conspirator David Herold were captured and trapped in a barn on the Garrett family farm in Port Royal, Virginia, by a detachment of the 16th Cavalry New York Volunteers. . After the barn caught fire, he was shot and fatally wounded by Sergeant Boston Corbett, dying a few hours later. His body was later taken to Washington, D.C., where ten people who knew him intimately identified him as John Wilkes Booth. Originally interred at the Washington Arsenal, in 1869 the remains were turned over to the family, and they were interred on the family plot in Baltimore, Maryland’s Green Mount Cemetery, where they lie in an unmarked grave. Later theories were put forward that Booth did not die in Garrett’s barn and lived anonymously. modern legal efforts to exhume the remains for DNA and identification testing were ultimately rejected. John Wilkes Booth’s older brother, Edwin Booth, became famous in his own right in the 19th century as an acclaimed tragedian, and had clashed so frequently with his brother over issues related to the Civil War that John Wilkes was expelled from his brother’s house.

Related Articles

Back to top button