Other editions of book The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth: With a Full Sketch of the Conspiracy of Which He Was the Leader, and the Pursuit, Trial and Execution of His Accomplices

This fascinating account was written as the events of Lincoln's assassination unfolded, and contains insight into the chaos that surrounded it. Included are interesting details of Booth and his motives, the manhunt, as well as the speedy trial and execution of the conspirators, including the first ever woman executed by the federal government, Mary Surratt.

A detailed account of the man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. This, in its day, was a "media sensation." The assassination of Abraham Lincoln launched John Wilkes Booth into infamy--not the kind of "fame" he was hoping for. Townsend was a writer for the New York Herald and used the pen name "Gath".It was a time when Lincoln was being martyred, a Christlike figure, while his assassin was being demonized, a Judas figure. With the country still in mourning in 1866, Gath had no trouble rousing people to heights of fury over the crime. He does it in this book.Even today it is difficult to look at John Wilkes Booth as anyone other than the assassin. We forget that he was a well-known and very popular actor, young and handsome, and making money.

The Life, Crime, And Capture of John Wilkes Booth, with a Full Sketch of the Conspiracy of which he was the Leader, and the Pursuit, Trial and Execution of His Accomplices.- Quality Digital Text- Linked Table of Contents- Supplemental Illustrations and PhotosThe author, George Townsend, a Washington correspondent at the time of Lincoln's assassination, tells the inside story based upon his own writings, directly from his own experience.His introduction to this book states:"Assassination has made its last effort to become indigenous here. The public sentiment of Loyalist and Rebel has denounced it: the world has remarked it with uplifted hands and words of execration. Therefore, as long as history shall hold good, the murder of the President will be a theme for poesy, romance and tragedy. We who live in this consecrated time keep the sacred souvenirs of Mr. Lincoln's death in our possession; and the best of these are the news letters descriptive of his apotheosis, and the fate of the conspirators who slew him."I represented the World newspaper at Washington during the whole of those exciting weeks, and wrote their occurrences fresh from the mouths of the actors." Contents:- The Murder.- The Obsequies In Washington.- The Murderer.- The Assassin's Death.- A Solution Of The Conspiracy.- The Detectives' Stories.- The Martyr.- The Trial.- The Executions.- A Poem: Abraham Lincoln

The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth is an American history classic by George Alfred Townsend. Some very deliberate and extraordinary movements were made by a handsome and extremely well-dressed young man in the city of Washington last Friday. At about half-past eleven o'clock A. M., this person, whose name is J. Wilkes Booth, by profession an actor, and recently engaged in oil speculations, sauntered into Ford's Theater, on Tenth, between E and F streets, and exchanged greetings with the man at the box-office. John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was an American actor and assassin, who murdered President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865. Booth was a member of the prominent 19th-century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and, by the 1860s, was a well-known actor.[1] He was also a Confederate sympathizer, vehement in his denunciation of Lincoln, and strongly opposed to the abolition of slavery in the United States. Booth and a group of co-conspirators originally plotted to kidnap Lincoln but later planned to kill him, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William H. Seward in a bid to help the Confederacy's cause. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had surrendered four days earlier, but Booth believed that the American Civil War was not yet over because Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston's army was still fighting the Union Army. Of the conspirators, only Booth was completely successful in carrying out his part of the plot. He shot Lincoln once in the back of the head, and the President died the next morning. Seward was severely wounded but recovered, and Vice President Johnson was never attacked at all. Following the assassination, Booth fled on horseback to southern Maryland, eventually making his way to a farm in rural northern Virginia 12 days later, where he was tracked down. Booth's companion gave himself up, but Booth refused and was shot by Boston Corbett, a Union soldier, after the barn in which he was hiding was set ablaze. Eight other conspirators or suspects were tried and convicted, and four were hanged shortly thereafter. On April 12, 1865, Booth heard the news that Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox Court House. He told Louis J. Weichmann, a friend of John Surratt and a boarder at Mary Surratt's house, that he was done with the stage and that the only play he wanted to present henceforth was Venice Preserv'd. Weichmann did not understand the reference; Venice Preserv'd is about an assassination plot. Booth's scheme to kidnap Lincoln was no longer feasible with the Union Army's capture of Richmond and Lee's surrender, and he changed his goal to assassination. The previous day, Booth was in the crowd outside the White House when Lincoln gave an impromptu speech from his window. Lincoln stated that he was in favor of granting suffrage to the former slaves, and Booth declared that it would be the last speech that Lincoln would ever make. On the morning of Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Booth went to Ford's Theatre to get his mail. While there, he was told by John Ford's brother that President and Mrs. Lincoln would be attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre that evening, accompanied by Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant.[102] He immediately set about making plans for the assassination, which included making arrangements with livery stable owner James W. Pumphrey for a getaway horse and an escape route. Booth informed Powell, Herold, and Atzerodt of his intention to kill Lincoln. He assigned Powell to assassinate Secretary of State William H. Seward and Atzerodt to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson. Herold would assist in their escape into Virginia.

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EXPLANATORY.One year ago the writer of the letters which follow, visited the Battle Field of Waterloo. In looking over many relics of the combat preserved in the Museum there, he was particularly interested in the files of journals contemporary with the action. These contained the Duke of Wellington's first dispatch announcing the victory, the reports of the subordinate commanders, and the current gossip as to the episodes and hazards of the day.The time will come when remarkable incidents of these our times will be a staple of as great curiosity as the issue of Waterloo. It is an incident without a precedent on this side of the globe, and never to be repeated.Assassination has made its last effort to become indigenous here. The public sentiment of Loyalist and Rebel has denounced it: the world has remarked it with uplifted hands and words of execration. Therefore, as long as history shall hold good, the murder of the President will be a theme for poesy, romance and tragedy. We who live in this consecrated time keep the sacred souvenirs of Mr. Lincoln's death in our possession ; and the best of these are the news letters descriptive of his apotheosis, and the fate of the conspirators who slew him.I represented the World newspaper at Washington during the whole of those exciting weeks, and wrote their occurrences fresh from the mouths of the actors. It has seemed fitting to Messrs. Dick Fitzgerald to the World letters, as a keepsake for the many who received them kindly The Sketches appended were conscientiously written, and whatever embellishments they may seem to have grew out of the stirring events,—not out of my fancy.Subsequent investigation has confirmed the veracity even of their speculations. I have arranged them, but have not altered them ; if they represent nothing else, they do carry with them the fever and spirit of the time. But they do not assume to be literal history: We live too close to the events related to decide positively upon them. As a brochure of the day,nothing more, — I give these Sketches of a Correspondent to the public.

This fascinating account was written as the events of Lincoln's assassination unfolded, and contains insight into the chaos that surrounded it. Interesting details of Booth and his motives, the manhunt, as well as the speedy trial and execution of the conspirators. Now for the first time, this collection of letters that first appeared in the World is available on CD.

“Right or wrong. God judge me, not man. For be my motive good or bad, of one thing I am sure, the lasting condemnation of the North.” – John Wilkes Booth Before the night of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth was one of the most famous actors of his time, and President Abraham Lincoln had even watched him perform, but his most significant performance at a theater did not take place on the stage. That night, Booth became one of history’s most infamous assassins when he shot President Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Booth was a member of the prominent 19th century Booth theatrical family from Maryland, and he was a well-known actor throughout much of the country by the 1860s. But Booth was also a Confederate sympathizer who dabbled in espionage, and he was increasingly outraged at the Lincoln Administration. Although Robert E. Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox a few days earlier, an action often cited as the end of the Civil War, Booth believed the war was not yet over because Confederate soldiers under General Joseph E. Johnston were still fighting, and the flamboyant actor hoped his conspiracy could strike the kind of blow that might turn the Confederacy’s fate around. Early plans to kidnap and ransom President Lincoln ultimately gave way to a wide ranging conspiracy by Booth and a small group to kill Lincoln and other top officials in a bid to decapitate the federal government and help the South. Perhaps not surprisingly, the actor’s flair for the dramatic came at a cost to the plot. It took almost no time for the shocked public and the federal government to begin unraveling Booth’s conspiracy, which had mostly faltered from the beginning. Following the shooting, America’s most famous manhunt commenced, a 12 day pursuit that became the stuff of legends and controversy itself. Eight others were eventually tried for their alleged involvement in the plot and convicted, and four were hanged shortly thereafter as a result of some of the nation’s most famous trials. Booth’s crime has ensured his notoriety, but it has also overshadowed his life and career, not to mention his Civil War activities and the evolution of his plot.

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