The President's Last Play

The year is 1865. The comedy “Our American Cousin” is playing at the local theatre. The place is going to be packed. The President of the United States will be there.

Meanwhile, a popular local actor named John Wilkes Booth meets with his co-conspirators to firm up their plans. Booth will take care of President Lincoln. It won’t be unusual for Booth to be seen in the theatre, he is a well-known actor. In fact, he knows that at approximately 10:15 p.m. the play will have the audience laughing. No one will hear the shot. He will have his horse waiting in the back of the theatre for his escape ride.

His co-conspirators will take care of the others—Vice President Andrew Johnson is to be killed around the same time that night at his home. Secretary of State William Seward is also to be killed.

At approximately 8:30 p.m. the Presidential party arrives at Ford’s Theatre. Everyone stands while the President and his wife take their seats in the State Box.


(President Lincoln sat in the red chair to the far right. His wife sat in the brown spindle chair next to it.)

At about 9:30 p.m. Booth arrives at the theatre. He is armed with a knife and a single shot derringer. He only has one shot. He must get it right. He needs to calm his nerves.He asks a boy who works for the theatre to hold his horse and stops by the saloon next door for a drink.

Around 10:07 p.m. Booth enters the theatre through the back door. He makes his way towards the State Box where the Lincolns were sitting with Clara Harris and Major Henry Rathbone. Because Booth is a “famous” actor of the time, he has no problem getting into the State Box to meet Lincoln.



Once inside, Booth barricades the door so no one else can enter. He shoots Lincoln in the back of the head at point blank range.


(This view is from the door Booth entered into the State Box. Lincoln was sitting in the red chair, his wife in the wooden chair next to him. Rathbone was still watching the play when Booth shot Lincoln. No one saw it coming.)

Booth had not planned on a struggle with unarmed Major Rathbone. Pulling out his hunting knife, Booth cuts Rathbone’s arm open from the shoulder downward and jumps over the balcony to the stage below. Upon landing, Booth snaps the fibula bone in his left leg—just above the ankle. Waving the bloody knife in the air, he yells “Sic Semper Tyrannis” (Latin for “as always to Tyrants”) and leaves the stage. Exiting through the back door, he hops on his horse and rides for 6 hours to the home of Dr. Mudd.


(View of the State Box. Booth jumped over the balcony, knocking down the framed portrait of George Washington, and landed on the stage below.)

Dr. Mudd rips open Booth’s black leather riding boot and splints the leg. The boot is on display at the Ford’s Theater museum, along with Booth’s riding spurs, derringer, and a diary entry explaining that he did this for his country. Although the Civil War was over, he had hoped killing Lincoln, Johnson, and Seward would lead to a come back for the South.

Back in Washington, Rathbone wrestles with the barricade to free the door to the State Box open. He is bleeding badly. Several doctors are attending the play that night. Once the door is open, the doctors are able to attend to Rathbone and Lincoln. The hospital is too far away, so Lincoln is taken to the boarding house across the street. The doctors do all they can for him, but he never regains consciousness. Lincoln dies at 7:22 a.m. 1865.



It took 12 days for Booth to be found. He was hiding out in a barn and refused to come out, so the barn was set on fire. When Booth still did not come out, he was shot to death.

As it turns out, no attempt was made to kill Johnson. Seward was stabbed but not killed. Because Seward lived, he later purchased Alaska. Think what could have happened if he had not lived. Think what could have happened if Lincoln had lived.

Trivia about Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy:

1. Both were assassinated by gunshot in the presence of their wives
2. President Kennedy had an assistant with the last name of Lincoln; President Lincoln had an assistant with the last name of Kennedy
3. Lincoln was shot in the Ford theatre; Kennedy was shot in a Ford

Did you know that President Johnson pardoned several of Booth’s co-conspirators in 1869? Was there a much grander conspiracy behind Lincoln’s assassination? For a look at several theories click here.


IN THIS TEMPLE AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN IS ENSHRINED FOREVER.