contemplative
Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated. (An unsuccessful attempt had been made on the life of Andrew Jackson in 1835.) The assassination of Lincoln was planned and carried out by the prominent stage actor John Wilkes Booth, as part of a larger conspiracy in a bid to revive the Confederate cause. Booth's co-conspirators were Lewis Powell and David Herold, who were assigned to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward, and George Atzerodt who was supposed to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson. By simultaneously eliminating the top three people in the administration, Booth and his co-conspirators hoped to sever the continuity of the United States government. Lincoln was shot while attending the play at Ford's Theatre with his wife Mary Todd Lincoln. He died early the next morning. The rest of the conspirators' plot failed. Powell only managed to wound Seward, while Johnson's would-be assassin, Atzerodt, lost his nerve and got drunk instead.
Lincoln's day had started well. Hugh McCulloch, the new Secretary of the Treasury, said on seeing the President that morning, "I never saw Mr. Lincoln so cheerful and happy". At around noon, while visiting Ford's Theatre to pick up his mail, Booth learned that the President and General Ulysses Grant would be attending the theatre to see Our American Cousin that night. Booth decided that this was the perfect opportunity for him to take action. That afternoon, Booth went to Mary Surratt's boarding house in Washington, D.C. and asked her to deliver a package to her tavern in Surrattsville, Maryland. He also asked her to tell her tenant who resided there to have the guns and ammunition that Booth had previously stored at the tavern ready to be picked up later that evening. She complied with Booth's requests.
At seven o'clock that evening, Booth met for a final time with all his fellow conspirators. Booth assigned Lewis Powell to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward at his home, George Atzerodt to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson at his residence, the Kirkwood Hotel, and David E. Herold to guide Powell to the Seward house and then out of Washington to rendezvous with Booth in Maryland. Booth planned to shoot Lincoln with his single-shot Derringer and then stab Grant with a knife at Ford's Theatre. They were all to strike simultaneously shortly after ten o'clock that night. Atzerodt protested, saying he had only signed up for a kidnapping, not a killing. Booth told him he was in too far to back out.
Contrary to what Booth expected, General and Mrs. Grant had declined the invitation to see the play with the Lincolns. Mrs. Grant was not fond of Mrs. Lincoln and convinced her husband to decline the President's invitation. Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée Clara Harris (daughter of New York Senator Ira Harris) joined the Lincolns instead.
The Lincoln party arrived late and settled into the Presidential Box. The play was stopped briefly and the orchestra played "Hail to the Chief" as the audience gave the president a rousing standing ovation. Ford's Theatre was full with 1,700 in attendance. Mrs. Lincoln whispered to her husband, who was holding her hand, "What will Miss Harris think of my hanging on to you so?" The president replied, "She won't think anything about it". Those were the last words ever spoken by Abraham Lincoln.