John Wilkes Booth: The Assassin

John Wilkes Booth was born in 1836, as one of the ten children that his parents had. Living on a farm close to Bel Air in Maryland, both of his parents were British Romon Catholics, who moved to the U.S. in 1821. John Wilkes Booth’s brother was one of the greatest Shakespeare actors in America during the 19th century. His other brother was also another great actor. John was born into acting, and had a very good childhood with the best education anyone could wish for. He attended several private schools including a boarding school that was run by a bunch of Quakers; he also attended St. Timothy’s Military Academy where he met two other men that would be involved in the attempt to kidnap President Lincoln. John Wilkes Booth was 5 feet, 8 inches, had very black hair, and was lean and athletic. Booth’s career in acting took off when he made a debut as the character Earl in Shakespeare’s Richard III at the age of 17. Later on his parents met John T. Ford, the owner of the Ford Theatre, which granted the Booth family access to the Ford Theatre all day and night.

Once Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, Booth wrote a long speech that made it clear that he was for slavery and supported the South. Once the Civil War broke out, 11 Southern states were seceded from the Union. John Wilkes Booth grew up in Maryland which was a border state but was leaning more towards the North’s views despite have a high slavery rate. Booth made a promise to his mother that he would never join the army, but that didn’t stop him from making it clear that he was strong on the Southern views, and also made it clear that he had a strong hatred for President Lincoln, to the point where he actually got arrested for saying anti-government remarks. Later on in the war, at things started to favor the North, Booth began to devote more and more time in his plot to kidnap Abraham Lincoln. On November 25, 1865 Booth attended Lincoln’s second inauguration and it’s reported that Booth had no though to trying to attempt Lincoln , although later he said that it would have been a great chance if he wanted to. Finally on March 17, Booth heard that Lincoln would be attending a performance at a hospital near the Soldier’s Home. Booth got together a few of his childhood friends and was planning to kidnap Lincoln on the way to the hospital. Once Booth got the hospital he found out that Lincoln was not going to show up because his plans had been changed to watch another play that was located in the same hotel Booth lived in. On April 14, Booth heard rumors that Lincoln would be attending a play at the For Theatre. Once Booth heard that, he immediately started making plans on how he was going to kill the president, along with how he was going to escape.

Soon that night the play had begun. Since John Wilkes Booth had connections with the owner, Booth had access to the whole theatre. Later one that night as the play progressed John Wilkes Booth ran into the president box and shot Lincoln in the back of the head with a .44 caliber Derringer. One of the man that was also in the box with Lincoln grabbed Booth, but Booth pulled out a dagger, and slashed him. Booth then Jumped out of the president box and fell onto the stage. Many people believe that Booth had broken his leg on the fall after getting his leg caught in the American Flag. Booth fled to David Harold’s home where they treated his leg, later on fleeting across the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers and hid in a farm. The next day, Soldiers caught up to Booth and had him trapped in a tobacco barn. David Harold surrendered, but booth didn’t corporate forcing the Union Soldiers to shoot Booth in the neck. Booth died on the porch of the farmhouse. His last words ever said were, “Useless! Useless!