Accounts of the events surrounding the assassination and death of President Abraham Lincoln, summarized and presented to the public in, Abott A. Abott, Assassination and Death of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, at Washington, on the 14th of April, 1865. (New York: American News Company, 1865.)
On the morning of Saturday, April 15th, 1865, the country was thrown into the utmost consternation by the reception of the following dispatch from Secretary Stanton, announcing the ASSASSINATION of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States. Simultaneously with its reception in New York, it was sent over the country by electric telegraph:
Major-General Dix, New York: -
This evening, at about 9:30 P.M., at Ford’s theatre, the President, while sitting in his private box with Mrs. Lincoln, Mrs. Harris, and Major Rathbun, was shot by an assassin, who suddenly entered the box and approach behind the President.
The assassin then leaped upon the stage, brandishing a large dagger or knife, and made his escape in the rear of the theatre.
The pistol-ball entered the back of the President’s head, and penetrated nearly through the head. The wound is mortal.
The President has been insensible ever since it was inflicted, and is now dying.
About the same hour an assassin, whether the same or not, entered Mr. Seward’s apartments, and, under pretence of having a prescription, was shown to the Secretary’s sick-chamber. the assassin immediately rushed to the bed and inflicted two or three stabs on the throat and two on the face.
It is hoped the wounds may not be mortal. My apprehension is that they will prove fatal.
The nurse alarmed Mr. Frederic Seward, who was in an adjoining room, and he hastened to the door of his father’s room, when he met the assassin, who inflicted upon him one or more dangerous wounds. The recovery of Frederick Seward is doubtful.
It is not probable that the President will live through the night.
General Grant and wife were advertised to be at the theatre this evening, but he started to Burlington at six o’clock this afternoon.
At the Cabinet meeting, at which General Grant was present, the subject of the state of the country and the prospect of a speedy peace were discussed. The President was very cheerful and hopeful, and spoke very kindly of General Lee and others of the confederacy, and of the establishment of government in Virginia.
All the members of the Cabinet except Mr. Seward are now in attendance upon the President.
I have seen Mr. Seward, but he and Frederick were both unconscious.
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War
Washington was thrown into an intense excitement a few minutes before eleven o’clock this evening, by the announcement that the President and Secretary Seward had been assassinated and were dead.
The wildest excitement prevailed in all parts of the city. Men, women, and children, old and young, rushed to and fro, and the rumors were magnified until we had nearly every member of the Cabinet killed. Some time elapsed before authentic data could be ascertained in regard to the affair.(…)
The President and Mrs. Lincoln were at Ford’s theatre, listening to the performance of the AMERICAN COUSIN, occupying a box in the second tier. At the close of the third act a person entered the box occupied by the President, and shot Mr. Lincoln in the head. The shot entered his head, and came out above the temple.
The assassin then jumped from the box upon the stage, and ran across to the other side, exhibiting a dagger in his hand, flourishing it in a tragical manner, shouting the same words repeated by the desperado at Mr. Seward’s house, adding to it, “The South is avenged,” and then escaped from the back entrance of the state, but in his passage dropped his pistol and his hat.
Mr. Lincoln fell forward from his seat, and Mrs. Lincoln fainted.
The moment the astonished audience could realize what had happened, the President was taken and carried to Mr. Peterson’s house, n Tenth street, opposite to the theatre. Medical aid was immediately sent for, and it was at first supposed to be fatal, and it was announced that he could not live; but at half past twelve he is still alive, though in a precarious state.(…)
This operation shows that the whole thing was a preconcerted plan. The person who fired the pistol was a man about thirty years of age, almost five feet nine, spare built, fair skin, dark hair, apparently bushy, with a large mustache. Laura Keene and the leader of the orchestra declare that they recognized him as J. Wilkes booth, the actor, and a rabid secessionist. Who ever he was, it is plainly evident that he thoroughly understood the theatre and all the approaches and modes of escape to the stage. A person not familiar with the theatre could not have possibly made his escape so well and quickly.
The alarm was sounded in every quarter. Mr. Stanton was notified, and immediately left his home. …
The streets in the vicinity of Ford’s theatre are densely crowded by an anxious and excited throng. A guard has been plated across tenth street and F and E streets, and only official persons and particular friends of the President are allowed to pass.
The popular heart is deeply stirred, and the deepest indignation against leading rebels is freely expressed.
The scene at the house where the President lies in extremis is very affecting. Even Secretary Stanton is affected to tears.(…)
The President is perfectly senseless, and there is not the slightest hope of his surviving. Physicians believe that he will die before morning. All of this Cabinet, except Secretary Seward, are with him. Speaker Colfax, Senator Farwell, of Maine, and other gentlemen, at also at the house awaiting the termination.
The scene at the President’s bedside is described by one who witnessed it as most affecting. It was surrounded by his Cabinet ministers, all of whom were bather in tears, not even excepting Mr. Stanton, who, when informed by Surgeon-General Barnes that the President would not live until morning, exclaimed, “Oh, no, general; no—no;” and with an impulse, natural as it was unaffected, immediately sat down on a chair near his bedside and cried like a child.
Senator Sumner was seated on the right of the President’s couch, near the head, hold the right hand of the President in his own. He was sobbing like a woman, with his head bowed down almost on the pillow of the bed on which the President was lying.
President Lincoln and wife, with other friends, this evening visited Ford’s theatre, for the purpose of witnessing the performance of the American Cousin.(…)
The screams of Mrs. Lincoln first disclosed the fact to the audience that the President had been shot, when all present rose to their feet, rushing towards the stage, many exclaiming, “Hang him! Hang him!”(…)
On a hasty examination it was found that the President had been shot through the head, above and back of the temporal bone, and that some of the bran was oozing out.
He was removed to a private house opposite to the theatre, and the Surgeon-General of the army and other surgeons sent for to attend to his condition.
On an examination of the private box, blood was discovered on the back of the cushioned rocking chair on which the President had sitting, also on the partition and on the floor. A common single-barreled pocket-pistol was found on the carpet.
The President was in a state of syncope, totally insensible and breathing slowly. The blood oozed from the wound at the back of his head.
The surgeons exhausted every possible effort of medical skill; but all hope was gone. The parting of his family with the dying President is too sad for description.(…)
Vice-President Johnson is in the city, and his headquarters are guarded by troops.
When the fatal shot was fired, Mrs. Lincoln, who was alongside her husband, exclaimed, “Oh! why didn’t they shoot me—why didn’t they shoot me?”(…)
Major-General Dix, New York—
The President still breathes, but is quite insensible, as he has been ever since he was shot. He evidently did not see the person who shot him, but was looking on the stage as he was approached from behind.
Mr. Seward has rallied, and it is hoped he may live.
Frederick Seward’s condition is very critical.
The attendant who was present was shot through the lungs, and is not expected to live.
The wounds of Major Seward are not serious.
Investigation strongly indicates J. Wilkes Booth as the assassin of the President. Whether it was the same or a different person that attempted to murder Mr. Seward remains in doubt.
The Chief Justice is engaged in taking evidence.
Every exertion has been made to prevent the escape of the murderer. His horse has been found on the road near Washington.
EDWIN M. STANTION, Secretary of War
THE PRESIDENT DIED THIS MORNING AT TWENTY-TWO MINUTES PAST SEVEN. MR. SEWARD IS ALSO DEAD.
As soon as the news was published in the New York papers it spread like wildfire, and before breakfast-time the entire city and its environs were fully acquainted with it. Newspapers were impossible to obtain after eight o’clock at any price. The deepest grief was portrayed on every countenance. Men who yesterday openly expressed themselves opposed to Mr. Lincoln’s political course, to-day were as sincerely depressed by the deplorable intelligence as were his most ardent supporters. The popular feeling is one of most unmitigated sorrow. Mr. Lincoln, by a firm and consistent course, had won multitudes of friends even among those who differed from him on questions of public import. His death at such a time is a calamity which cannot be overrated in importance. The city is hung in mourning. All business is suspended.
The great rebellion just drawing to a close may from this unhappy event derive renewed encouragement, and the land may again witness the scenes of blood and destruction which have become but too familiar to it during the last four years. And to cut off at such a moment! He was at a theatre, interested and amused by the performance, with his family about him, and apparently in the most complete security. Death at such a moment is indeed an awful thing.(…)
But let the sad event which these pages commemorate, serve also to remind the people that it was committed not by a community but by an individual, nor does that individual appear to have been the instrument of any party. But whether he was or not, the fact is plain that but a few persons could have been privy to his fell intention. We are convinced that Mr. Lincoln’s most bitter opponents would have shrunk with horror from the [ ] of such a crime. Assassination is a strange word to American ears.
In executing vengeance upon the author of this great crime let us therefore not commit the mistake, nay the crime, a crime equally as great as the original one which may provoke it, the crime of seeking vengeance upon either the live of the liberty or even the fair repute of the innocent. There are millions of persons in our unhappy country to-day, who were not favorable to Mr. Lincoln’s political course. Whatever we may think of their opinion, let us beware of confusing political inimicality with personal hatred.
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