The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln - Timeline

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln: A Virtual Tour via Google Earth (free download required).

April 9^th, 1865-Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, bringing an end to the war in Virginia.

April 11^th, 1865-Abraham Lincoln gives his final public speech, on the subject of the reconstruction of Louisiana. He mentions the possibility of voting rights for freed blacks, suggesting that this might be the proper course.  In the crowd is John Wilkes Booth, who is heard to say to his fellow conspirators that "This means n____ citizenship.   Now, by God, I'll put him through."  Booth, who has been involved in various plans to kidnap the president before, immediately decides that he will assassinate President Lincoln.

Morning and Early Afternoon, April 14^th (Good Friday)- Lincoln attends a three hour cabinet meeting, discussing the plans for Reconstruction with his advisors.  Around the same time, Booth is meeting with his conspirators Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt.  Booth announces the final plan: Abraham Lincoln is to be at Ford's Theatre, attending the play Our American Cousin.  Booth will head to the theatre and shoot Lincoln, while the other conspirators will move against various other government heads.  Powell is to kill Secretary of State William Seward, recuperating at home from a carriage accident, and Atzerodt is to shoot Vice President Andrew Johnson.  Herold, meanwhile, will assist both Powell and Booth.

Evening, April 14^th-Abraham and Mary Lincoln settle into the state box to watch the play with Major Henry Rathbone and his wife, Clara.  At around 10:15 PM, Booth, who has been drinking in the saloon, creeps up to Lincoln's box, places a single-shot Derringer pistol against the back of the President's head, and fires.  Shoving aside Major Rathbone, Booth then leaps to the stage from the box, yelling "Sic Semper Tyrannis!", which means "Thus ever to tyrants!" in Latin, and sprints backstage to an exit, where his horse is waiting.  For the conspirators, it is the only part of the plot to go according to plan.  Atzerodt does not assassinate Vice President Johnson, and backs out at the last minute.  Powell manages to enter Seward's bedroom, where he is recuperating (fracturing the skull of his son Frederick Seward with a pistol butt along the way), and slashes the Secretary of State several times with a knife before being driven off by Seward's housekeepers.

Late Night, April 14^th-15^th-Lincoln, insensible and mortally wounded, is carried from his state box across the street to the Petersen House, and placed in bed, where the Lincoln family doctor, Dr. Robert Stone, pronounces the case hopeless.  With Seward still hurt and Lincoln dying, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton takes charge of the reins of government, ordering guards placed around the houses of all cabinet members, and begins directing a search for Booth.

Morning, April 15^th-Abraham Lincoln dies at 7:22 in the morning, surrounded by various cabinet advisors.  Secretary of War Stanton says upon his passing that "He belongs to the ages now."

Notices of Lincoln's assassination spread throughout the country this morning, with some of them panicky and reporting more deaths than actually occurred.  The War Department begins printing posters promising a reward for information on Booth.  The manhunt for the Lincoln killers has begun.

April 16^th-26^th, 1865-The manhunt for the Lincoln killers takes place.  One by one, the major players are arrested, culminating on the 26^th, when Booth and his companion, Davey Herold, are cornered at the Garrett Farm in Virginia.  Herold is taken into custody by Federal cavalry, but Booth is shot and killed by Sergeant Boston Corbett while trying to resist.

May 9^th-June 30^th-A military tribunal conducts the trials of the Lincoln conspirators.  Powell, Atzerodt, and Herold are sentenced to die, alongside Mary Surratt, a woman who is charged with assisting the conspirators in planning the assassination.  Three others, including Dr. Samuel Mudd, a doctor who treated Booth on his escape, are sentenced to life in prison.  On July 7^th, 1865, the six sentenced to death are hung in the courtyard of the Old Arsenal Building in Washington, DC, bringing an end to the trials.