Infamous America - BOOTH Ep. 1 | "Assassin"

Episode Date: March 31, 2020

John Wilkes Booth assassinates the first president in American history on Good Friday, April 14, 1865. At the same time, Lewis Powell savagely attacks the Secretary of State. Washington City turns into chaos as people pour into the streets and exchange nightmarish rumors. And the largest manhunt in U.S. history begins. For more details, please visit www.blackbarrelmedia.com. Our social media pages are: @blackbarrelmedia on Facebook and Instagram, and @bbarrelmedia on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Abraham Lincoln was worn out. He'd guided the nation through four years of civil war. He'd been re-elected to lead the country through an uncertain future. The war was coming to an end. But what would happen when it was done? No one knew. On this night, a jubilant crowd gathered on the White House lawn. It called for the president to speak, but he was exhausted, and he had a headache.

He didn't want to give a public address, no matter how brief, but he couldn't ignore the people. He stepped out onto a balcony. A band stood below, waiting to play. The band asked him what he wanted to hear, and he said, I've always thought Dixie one of the best tunes I've ever heard. Our adversaries over the way attempted to appropriate it, but I insisted yesterday that we fairly captured it.

I now request the band to favor me with its performance. That was April 10, 1865. Four days before he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. From Black Barrel Media, this is infamous America. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer. This is a seven-part series about one of the largest manhunts in American history. The search for John Wilkes Booth after he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. And now, here's Chapter 1.

Assassin. The celebration began on April 9th, but it took on a truly spectacular quality on April. 13th. On April 9th, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grand. Lee's surrender didn't end the war, but it made the end inevitable. Lee's troops were the heart of the Confederate Army, and without them, the Army and the Confederacy would not survive. As the news spread from the site of the surrender, a dusty little village in the Virginia countryside called Appomattox Courthouse, Union supporters rejoiced. As word of the surrender flew through Washington City, the celebration began. The next night,

a weary President Lincoln gave an impromptu speech to people who hurried to the White House to be in his presence. He asked the band to play Dixie, the anthem of the South. Ironically, it was a song written by a Northerner. And then the real celebration happened three nights later. On April 13, 1865, an event happened the likes of which none of us in modern times have ever seen. It was the largest candlelight vigil mixed with the largest Fourth of July celebration in American history. It was an event we just have to try to imagine, and it was dubbed the Grand Illumination. When darkness fell on the night of the 13th, Washington was a event.

City lit up like it hadn't before and hasn't since. Virtually every window of every home and every building was lit with candles. One report said as many as 60 candles were crammed onto one window sill. Giant bonfires blazed on every street corner. Calcium lights shone from the tops of public buildings. From city parks, mortars fired shells into the air that burst into bright colors above the city. Tens of thousands of rockets blasted into the sky. and exploded with dazzling brightness.

One witness said in amazement, it looks like a city of fire. Washington City was the most heavily fortified city on earth. On the night of the 13th, the cannons that surrounded the city thundered in jubilation, not anger. Fire engines roared up and down the streets with their steam whistles screaming and their bells clanging.

Thousands of people flooded the streets. Bands marched down the avenues, blaring a cacophony of the street. music. An awestruck soldier described it very simply as the most grand exhibition that ever was witnessed in America. Four years of the most brutal warfare on the North American continent was coming to an end. When the war was done, somewhere around 600,000 soldiers were dead. Millions were wounded. The state of Mississippi devoted one-third of its total budget to the production of artificial limbs for its surviving soldiers. Cities in the south were smoldering.

and the countryside was ravaged. And in Washington City, a Confederate sympathizer could not tolerate the celebration. He had never been able to bring himself to actually take up a weapon and fight for the cause, a fact for which he was ashamed.

But he had assembled a group of rag-tag supporters to help him strike a blow for the South that he thought would balance the scales. On the night of April 13th, as Washington City celebrated around him, John Wilkes Booth gathered his collection of misfits to plan the murder of President Abraham Lincoln. John Wilkes Booth was the youngest son of one of the most celebrated actors in America, Junius Brutus Booth. Junius's eldest son was Junius Jr., who was also an actor, but he was overshadowed by his famous father and his two younger brothers, Edwin and John.

Edwin truly inherited the acting gift from his father. John was acknowledged by everyone to be incredibly handsome, but he was generally considered to be an average actor. By April 1865, John Wilkes Booth had performed up and down the eastern seaboard and was currently staying in Washington City. He'd performed at both major theaters in town, Grover's National Theater and Ford's Theater, and he was intimately familiar with both. On April 13th, he fumed about the celebration in Washington and planned the destruction of the Union government. In the last couple years, he had become more heavily involved in the Confederate cause as a spy and a smuggler. As the South's situation became more desperate, Booth became more despondent. He had organized a plot to kidnap the president, but that had failed when Lincoln changed his travel plans at the last minute.

Booth and his followers were ready to ambush Lincoln on a road outside Washington, but then Lincoln decided to stay at the White House. Now, on April 13th, Booth learned a piece of intelligence that must have felt like a gift. The president might deliver himself right into Booth's hands. Both major theaters had invited the president to attend plays the following evening, April 14th. A troop at Grover's Theater was performing Aladdin, a play of the president. President's son Tad would surely want to see. Lincoln had attended many plays at Grovers during his four years in Washington.

It was only three blocks from the White House. And Tad had become friends with the owner's son. Grovers had become a second home for Tad. He watched rehearsals in the afternoons and helped the crew build sets and twice appeared on stage as an extra. Five blocks away, Ford's Theater invited the president to see a performance of a comedy called Our American Cousin. It starred Laura Keane, a world-famous actress. At the moment, Booth had no way of knowing which show the president would see, if he went to one at all.

But Booth began to take steps regardless. At Grover's Theater, he arranged for a ticket to the box next to the presidents. That night, he met his small group of conspirators and pressed the idea of assassination. But he'd probably rambled. about this idea before. It was likely hard to take him seriously. And even if he was serious, he didn't have a real plan yet. The next morning, he made a discovery that brought the plan into focus. He had less than a day to pull it all together. It would be a frantic day, but one the nation and the world would never forget. The next morning, April 14th, Booth went to Ford's theater to pick up his mail. When he stayed in Washington, he used a theory. He used the

as his mailing address. At the playhouse, he learned the president was coming to Ford's that night to see Our American Cousin. Booth wandered around the theater. He designed the assassination in his head. As a famous actor and a regular at the venue, he had free reign to walk the halls. He also knew the production of Our American Cousin almost to the minute. He knew which line would generate the biggest laugh from the audience. That laughter would give him cover to do what he needed to do. It would happen around 10.15 p.m. That was when he would strike. But there was so much to do before then. Booth picked up a rented horse at a stable. Then he went to Grover's theater near the White House. He went upstairs to a tavern to have a drink. When he finished,

he went to the home of Mary Sarat. Mary's home was a boarding house that acted as a meeting place for Booth's conspirators. Booth had met Mary's son, John, the previous year. and recruited him into the conspiracy. At the time, they were working on a plot to kidnap the president. In preparation for the attack, Booth sent a couple rifles to a tavern in the countryside outside Washington. The tavern was built by Mary Surrott's late husband, who died of alcoholism a few years ago.

Now she rented the business to a man named John Lloyd. Lloyd was hiding the rifles that Booth had dropped off before the attempted kidnapping. But the kidnapping never happened. President Lincoln changed his travel plans, and the kidnapping was aborted. Now, Booth realized he had a second chance. He met with Mary and gave her another package to deliver to John Lloyd out of the tavern. Lloyd was supposed to keep the new package and the rifles ready for visitors who would arrive later that night. Mary did as she was asked.

She and a man who stayed at her boarding house drove the package out to the tavern. Mary's home in Washington and her tavern in the countryside had become safe houses for Confederate agents when her son John became an agent himself. Tonight, Booth planned to use them both to his advantage. At 7 p.m., he assembled his team of conspirators to explain his plan. They met at the Hernden house, and Booth told them his idea. They were now going to decapitate the government with a stunning triple murder. Booth felt certain the event would be so catastrophic for the union that it would turn the tide of the war, despite General Lee's surrender.

He looked at his three men, the men who would help him make history. There was David Harold, a slight, nervous young man who talked too much. Next to him was Louis Powell, who also went by Lewis Payne. Powell was the opposite of Harold. He was tall, stoic, and powerfully built, and he was a very important. former Confederate soldier. Last was George Atseron. He was a German immigrant with a dark face and a matted beard.

His accent was so thick he could barely make himself understood in English. Booth's team was not a group of master criminals, but they would have to do. Booth started to speak and explained how three of them would do the killing. At 8.30 p.m., President Lincoln, his wife Mary Todd Lincoln, and their guests, Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée, Clara Harris, walked up the staircase in the main foyer of Ford's Theater. They were late. The play had already started.

The audience was seated and the actors were performing on stage, but everything stopped when the president's party entered its private box. Spectators and performers alike cheered the president as he took his seat. The orchestra played hail to the chief. When the group was seated, the play continued. Everyone was in high spirits. The actors ad-libbed funny lines that they thought would make the president laugh, and they were right. Lincoln seemed to enjoy himself immensely.

Outside, in a dark alley, John Wilkes Booth picked up his horse from a stable behind the theater. He had swallowed a few more brandies at the Star Saloon, and now it was time to make his move. He led his horse to the back door of the theater. He called into the theater for a stage hand. to come outside and hold his horse, but the stagehand was busy with the play. The stagehand recruited a young assistant to sit outside and hold the reins of the horse. Booth entered the theater. He walked around the foyer and went upstairs. He entered the dress circle level and crept around the back row until he made it to the hallway

that led to the president's private box. As he moved toward the box, he noticed a man sitting on a chair outside the door. Booth probably couldn't believe his. his luck. There were no soldiers, no armed guards, no security of any kind, just one man sitting in a chair. He was the president's personal assistant, Charles Forbes. Booth approached the man and handed him something that might have been a business card. The man looked at the card and then ushered Booth into the box. Booth stepped into the vestibule. It was a narrow passageway between the outer hallway and the president's box. It was a narrow passageway. It was a an antechamber where a guard could wait, but again, there was no guard. Booth closed the door behind

him. He wedged it shut with a wooden rod that he'd hidden in the chamber earlier in the day when he'd stopped to pick up his mail. He may have looked through a small hole in the wall that would have given him a view of Lincoln. Initial speculation was that Booth cut the hole himself so he could see Lincoln's position before he entered the box. But a hundred years later, a deceptive The descendant of the theater owner said the owner cut the hole in the wall so that a guard could keep an eye on his protectee. If Booth looked through the hole, he might have had a good view of Lincoln. Theaters at the time were not as dark as they are today, for the simple reason they were lit by candlelight and lamplight. Once the play started, there was no good way to dim all the light, so the theater just stayed lit.

Everyone who had a good vantage point could have clearly seen the president's party in the box. And if someone glanced up, they could have clearly seen a man who was not part of the group slip into the back of the box and wait unnoticed. Booth quietly opened the door to the president's box. He hovered in the back of the space for what seemed like an extraordinary amount of time. The four people in the box must have been thoroughly engaged with the play. They had no idea their space had been in place. Buth was forced to wait. He knew that a line from actor Harry Hawk would draw the biggest

laugh of the night. The howls of laughter would mask the sound of his single-shot Derringer pistol. He waited, and then the line arrived. Harry Hawk delivered his line, and the audience erupted in laughter. The president laughed along with everyone else. Booth stepped up behind the president and fired a single shot from his gun. The bullet struck the president behind the left ear and flattened as it crushed his skull. It tore through his brain and stopped behind his right eye. A cloud of gun smoke billowed from the weapon. It shrouded the box in a dark fog.

No one knew what had just happened. The president slumped forward. Mary Lincoln and Clara Harris sat frozen. Booth threw down his pistol and pulled out a real grand camp knife. He rushed at Major Rathbone. He tried to stab the major in the chest, but Rathbone blocked the move with his arm. Booth slashed at Rathbone and then hurried to the front of the box. He leapt out of the box and landed on the stage 12 feet below.

The landing was awkward, either because of his scuffle with Rathbone or because one of his spurs got caught in a flag that was draped below the president's box. He hit the stage with a crunch and broke his left ankle, though he didn't yet know the extent of his injury. Tradition says that he paused in this moment, on stage, with a rapt audience at full attention, and shouted, Six Semper Tyrannus. It was the state motto of Virginia, and it was Latin for, thus always to tyrants. Most witnesses say they heard him yell the now famous phrase.

But in the chaos of the moment, there was no consensus what he said or when he said it. Major Rathbone swore that Booth shouted the word freedom after he fired. the shot. Others heard Booth shout, Six Simper. Some said he didn't shout anything in Latin at all. Some people heard, the South is avenged. Others heard, the South shall be free, or revenge for the South, or, I have done it. Whatever Booth said and whenever he said it, he didn't wait for a response. He hurried off stage and pushed his way through the theater toward the back door. He slammed into the orchestra conductor and shoved the man aside. He burst out of the back door and spotted the young man who held the reins of his horse. He knocked the young man out of the way and pulled

himself into the saddle with an ankle that probably felt like it was on fire. He spurred the horse, galloped down an alley, and came out on F Street. He charged toward the Navy Yard Bridge three miles away. If he could make it before anyone knew the full impact of what he'd done, he could escape the city before it was locked down. He was in a race to make it to Mary Sorat's tavern in the countryside, where John Lloyd waited with his supplies. He had instructed Lloyd to be ready for visitors, plural, but he had no idea what was happening with his conspirators.

If they had been successful, three of the most important men in the government were dead right now, and the assassins were racing toward the Navy Yard Bridge as well. Less than a mile from Ford's theater, Lewis Powell and David Harold sat on their horses outside a gate to Lafayette Park. That meant they were also right outside the home of Secretary of State William Seward. Lewis Powell's job was to kill Seward. Powell was a battle-hardened soldier who fought with General Lee's army at Gettysburg

and had riddened with one of the Confederacy's most respected cavalry units, Mosby's Rangers. It shouldn't be too hard for him to kill one bed-ridden old man. Secretary of State Seward had been in a terrible carriage accident several days ago. He had barely survived, and now he was forced to wear a hideous-looking metal brace around his neck and his jaw. He was incredibly weak, and he required care around the clock. Powell and Harold planned to use the accident to their advantage. Harold had worked at a pharmacy, so he was able to get a box that looked like medicine for Seward. Harold handed the box to Powell.

Powell stepped down from his horse and walked across the street to Seward's house. He knocked on the door. A servant answered, and Powell told him that he had a delivery for Seward. It was medicine from Seward's doctor. But the servant wouldn't let Powell inside. The young black man didn't know anything about a delivery of medicine. Powell shoved his way into the home. He pushed the servant aside and started to climb the steps.

On the second floor, Seward's son appeared at the top of the stairs. Powell argued with him as he tried to figure out where his target was. Powell insisted he had been sent by the doctor to deliver urgent medicine to Seward. In the second floor hallway, Fanny Seward peaked out of the door. She was the secretary's 20-year-old daughter, and she had been sitting at the foot of his bed while he tried to fall asleep. But when she heard a commotion in the hall, she opened the door to issue a stern warning. to whomever disturbed her father's rest. When Fanny looked into the hall, Powell knew where he needed to go.

He pulled a gun and pointed it at Seward's son. He pulled the trigger, but the gun didn't fire. He quickly smashed Seward's son on the head with the pistol. Seward's son grabbed Powell, but Powell pulled out his knife and stabbed his opponent. Powell drove Seward's son backward and pushed him into the bedroom. When Powell barged into the bedroom, he confronted Fanny, but also a Union soldier named George Robinson. Robinson had received a leg wound in battle, and now he was watching over Seward while he recovered. Powell engaged Robinson with

the knife. He stabbed and punched the Union soldier until he knocked Robinson to the floor. Powell bowled his way past Fanny and launched himself at Seward, who lay helpless in his bed. Powell stabbed and slashed at the Secretary of State. Fanny screamed at the top of her lungs, Her other brother, Augustus, sprinted down the hall from his room. Robinson pulled himself up and charged at Powell. He knocked the assassin off of Seward and started to fight him toward the bedroom door. Augustus Seward ran into the room and joined the fight. Together, Robinson and Augustus forced Powell out into the hallway.

Powell was in a frenzy. He grabbed Augustus and screamed into the young man's face. I'm mad. I'm mad. Then Powell bolted down the stairs. and ran outside. When he hit the street, he saw his horse standing there in front of him, alone. David Harold had heard the screams while he waited outside. He panicked and rode away, leaving Powell to fend for himself.

Powell leapt onto his horse. He had some trouble with the initial getaway, but he eventually galloped away into the darkness. While John Wilkes' booth was shooting the president, and Lewis Powell was assaulting the Secretary of State, George Atserrat was getting drunk. He didn't want to carry out his assignment, and he was drinking to build courage. His job was to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson. That was the full plan.

Booth would kill the president, Atzarat would kill the vice president, and Powell would kill the Secretary of State. Booth and Powell were pretty sure they'd done their jobs. Atzorat was the final piece of the puzzle. The German was drinking at the Union Hotel when he was supposed to be. supposed to be at the Kirkwood House Hotel assassinating the vice president. He had invited the manager of a nearby stable to come with him, and when he was thoroughly drunk, the two men returned to the stable so that Atzerat could retrieve his horse and carry

out his mission. The stable was less than half a mile from Ford's theater. At about the same time that Booth raced for the Navy Yard bridge to escape the city, Atzarok climbed onto his horse and trudged toward the Kirkwood House Hotel. The hotel was a hotel was. just down the street. As Vice President Andrew Johnson slept in his bed on the second floor, he had no idea the president had been shot and the Secretary of State had been stabbed. The two attacks had happened just minutes ago, and no one outside of those locations knew about the events. Atserrat entered the Kirkwood House Hotel. He had rented room 126 that morning, which was part of the plan that Booth had laid out last night. To this day, it's unclear if Atserrat

actually agreed to go through with the mission. But whether he agreed to it or not, he quickly turned around and fled the hotel. He did not attack the vice president. He hurried away to hide from the mayhem he knew would follow. As Atzerat aborted his task, David Harold walked his horse up a street near the stable where Atzerat had been just minutes before. Harold had galloped away from Secretary Seward's house when he'd heard Fanny Seward's screaming during the attack, but now he probably tried to play it cool so he wouldn't draw attention to himself. That plan didn't last long. The stable manager who had been drinking with Atserrat spotted Harold.

Harold was riding a rented horse and he was overdue to return it. The manager shouted at Harold to bring the animal back to the stable. Harold spurred the horse into a full gallop. He raced for the Navy Yard Bridge. While all these events unfolded behind him, Booth trotted up to the same. the Navy Yard Bridge. It was an extension of 11th Street in Washington City, and it crossed the eastern branch of the Potomac River to Maryland. Today, it's the 11th Street Bridge. Booth had rushed through the city with a single goal in mind. He needed to make it to the bridge

before news of the attacks reached the soldiers who guarded it. As he drew near the crossing, he slowed his horse and tried to act natural. He was likely sweating, despite the chilly April evening. His ankle probably throbbed, but he had to hide the pain. There were some clouds that evening, but there was also a nearly full moon. He approached the bridge at around 1040 p.m., more than an hour and a half after curfew for crossings. Two years earlier, the army issued an order that no one was allowed to cross the bridge after 9 p.m. without a signed pass. But now, five days after General Lee surrendered, the rules might have relaxed. relaxed a bit. And soldiers were probably more concerned with people who tried to enter the city in the

dark of night than leave the city. Even with those possibilities, Booth steeled himself for his most critical performance of the night. Sergeant Silas Cobb walked out of the guardhouse near the bridge to challenge the rider who approached after curfew. Cobb said something to the effect of, who goes there? Booth said, a friend. He spoke nonchalantly and appeared cool. and collected, even though his horse had clearly been riding hard. As Cobb questioned Booth, Booth said he was going home to Charles County, Maryland, and he didn't know about the curfew on the bridge. He chose to travel so late at night because the moon would be higher and brighter, and it would light the road. Cobb was still suspicious, but he let Booth pass.

The assassin crossed the bridge and trotted into the Maryland countryside, bound for Mary Sarat's tavern where John Lloyd waited with his supplies. But Sergeant Cobb's work wasn't done for the night. A few minutes after he allowed Booth to cross the bridge, David Harold rode up to the guard post. Cobb questioned him, and Harold said his name was Smith. His excuse for arriving at the bridge after curfew was that he had stopped to see a woman on his way out of town. Cobb noticed that this man who called himself Smith was not as refined as the man who had passed a few minutes earlier. but Cobb did not sense any distress, and he led Harold cross. Shortly thereafter, a third man rode up to the bridge on this busy night.

He was John Fletcher, the stable manager who had been drinking with George Atserrat and had spotted David Harold on the rented horse. Fletcher had chased Harold through the city to recover the horse. Now Fletcher reigned to a stop at the bridge and faced Sergeant Cobb. Fletcher asked if a man had just passed, who fit Harold's description, and Cobb said yes. The man said his name was Smith. Fletcher said Smith had ridden away with one of his rented horses,

and he wanted to chase the man. Cobb said he would allow Fletcher to cross the bridge, but if Fletcher did, he could not come back to the city until sunrise the next morning. John Fletcher sat at the edge of the bridge and stared across the river. He tried to decide if it was worth it to spend a cold night chasing David Harold through the darkness of the Maryland countryside. He decided no, it wasn't worth it.

David Harold could wait until morning. John Fletcher turned around and trotted back into a city that was about to plunge into total chaos. Next time on Infamous America, Ford's theater becomes a scene of mayhem as people rush to help the fatally wounded president. Government officials soon realized that this was a coordinated conspiracy as there was a simultaneous attack. on the Secretary of State. Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, begins an unprecedented manhunt for John Wilkes Booth, and Booth has precious little time

to stay ahead of his pursuers. That's next week on Infamous America. Research for this season was provided by Joey McAdams. Editing and sound design by Dave Harrison. I'm your writer and host, Chris Wimmer. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening.

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