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* From an Associated Press story published 150 years ago today…
President Lincoln and wife visited Ford’s Theatre this evening for the purpose of witnessing the performance of ‘The American Cousin.’ It was announced in the papers that Gen. Grant would also be present, but that gentleman took the late train of cars for New Jersey.
The theatre was densely crowded, and everybody seemed delighted with the scene before them. During the third act and while there was a temporary pause for one of the actors to enter, a sharp report of a pistol was heard, which merely attracted attention, but suggested nothing serious until a man rushed to the front of the President’s box, waving a long dagger in his right hand, exclaiming, ‘Sic semper tyrannis,’ and immediately leaped from the box, which was in the second tier, to the stage beneath, and ran across to the opposite side, made his escape amid the bewilderment of the audience from the rear of the theatre, and mounted a horse and fled.
The groans of Mrs. Lincoln first disclosed the fact that the President had been shot, when all present rose to their feet rushing towards the stage, many exclaiming, ‘Hang him, hang him!’ The excitement was of the wildest possible description…
There was a rush towards the President’s box, when cries were heard — ‘Stand back and give him air!’ ‘Has anyone stimulants?’ 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 his brain was oozing out. He was removed to a private house opposite the theatre, and the Surgeon General of the Army and other surgeons were 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 been sitting; also on the partition and on the floor. A common single-barrelled pocket pistol was found on the carpet.
A military guard was placed in front of the private residence to which the President had been conveyed. An immense crowd was in front of it, all deeply anxious to learn the condition of the President.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 1:58 pm
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A sad fate for a great man.
Comment by Vote Quimby! Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 2:01 pm
Go to Google’s homepage today. They are “celebrating” the 155th Anniversary of the Pony Express. Seems to me the remembrance of Lincoln would be a much more appropriate “doodle”.
Comment by Anon221 Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 2:03 pm
I went to see that same play Saturday night in Springfield. Act 3, Scene 2, one actor on the stage with perhaps the funniest line of the night and BANG!
I don’t think anyone so much as took a breath.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 2:05 pm
Arguably the single most nation changing event in the history of the United States. I would encourage everyone to visit the actual Fords Theatre in DC and even more interesting the Peterson House across the street. Many artifacts from the assassination available for public viewing.
Comment by Stones Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 2:13 pm
When I was in high school, I had the opportunity to visit Ford’s and the house across the street. At that time you could go right up to the box. I still have the series of photos I took. You were literally able to walk in the footsteps of history and see the views Mary, Lincoln, and Booth had of the theatre and the stage. Heart wrenching experience. Years later when I visited the theatre again on a trip to DC, visitors could only look up at the box. The perspective was not the same.
Comment by Anon221 Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 2:13 pm
A visit to the restored Ford’s Theater is a must for anyone visiting Washington.
Comment by G'Kar Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 2:14 pm
==They are “celebrating” the 155th Anniversary of the Pony Express. Seems to me the remembrance of Lincoln would be a much more appropriate “doodle”. ==
Lincoln is shot today, but dies tomorrow. He lingers for several hours in the boarding house across the street while Washington’s dignitaries gather and weep and Mary Todd falls apart and gets sent away from his deathbed.
I imagine the sesquicentennial of his death will be all over the news tomorrow.
Comment by Educated in the Suburbs Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 2:15 pm
Way to bury the lede, Lawrence Gobright.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 2:23 pm
Educated-
Well, it’s 591 to 36 right now as to the “trending” stories on Google News, and it ain’t hoofbeats that are in the “homestretch”.
Comment by Anon221 Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 2:23 pm
That military guard would have been better posted at the president’s theater box than his death bed.
Comment by Elijah Snow Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 2:24 pm
It is a big day in history.
A horrible, terrible day.
After burying hundreds of thousands of young men, the worse war any nation could endure came to an end. Then an American president was murdered just days later.
Within five years everything changed. Why not the presidency? Huge swaths of Georgia, Virginia and South Carolina were destroyed. Every man evolved from their romantic version of soldiery into one of a trench-warfare nightmare. An entire race of people were to be given rights by a new political party which didn’t exist in half the nation for another century. A level of government that most felt was like a third wheel or a spare tire, began exerting control where only local or state governments had been felt.
A US president was to most Americans at that time, a temporal figurehead. The Civil War forced Abraham Lincoln into every cabin, parlor and hovel. The Emancipation Proclamation forced federal policy into every church and synagogue.
150 years ago today, a horrible event ended the beginning, of an entirely new era in America.
A sobering day indeed.
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 2:35 pm
“Way to bury the lede, Lawrence Gobright.”
The President has been shot and the news that Gen. Grant changed plans is deemed more important.
Comment by State employee Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 2:45 pm
– The Emancipation Proclamation forced federal policy into every church and synagogue.–
I’m not even going to ask…..
For the record, the Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order freeing slaves as a military necessity in areas of rebellion. It didn’t free slaves in the Union and, in effect, could only be enforced in areas where and when rebellion was suppressed.
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States.
Comment by Wordslinger Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 2:52 pm
=A visit to the restored Ford’s Theater is a must for anyone visiting Washington.=
“Going to Ford’s Theater to watch the play is like going to Hooter’s for the food,” Sarah Vowell
Comment by Carhartt Representative Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 3:08 pm
Grant was actually more esteemed at the time since he had won the war on the battlefield.
Comment by not so simple Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 3:23 pm
I would like to read this whole thing. Thanks for this look at history. The Civil War ended 150 years ago. Unfortunately a tragic end for Abe Lincoln.
Comment by Levois Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 3:29 pm
Your assumptions over my post are incorrect.
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 3:49 pm
Thanks for posting Rich.
It’s a dramatic and sad ending for an amazingly courageous President.
Comment by Belle Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 3:50 pm
Great post, Rich. I always forget that Seward received stab wounds that night too.
Comment by The Muse Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 3:55 pm
VMan, I choose not to attempt to decipher what you mean by how ” the Emancipation Proclamation forced federal policy into every church and synagogue.”
Comment by Wordslinger Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 4:02 pm
Years ago, I visited Ford’s Theater (a vivid memory was walking through a dicey neighborhood to reach the theater). It is well maintained and amazingly small theater building.
Comment by Upon Further Review Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 4:12 pm
Not too long ago, the Chicago History Museum had an exhibit which included the actual bed on which President Lincoln died. They made the point that he was such a tall man, he was actually positioned diagonally on the bed.
Comment by Christopher Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 4:17 pm
Please explain to us unknowing beings, VM, what your line meant.
Comment by Precinct Captain Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 4:19 pm
Wordslinger is correct. Far from “forcing federal policy into every church and synagogue,” the Emancipation Proclaimation, issued by Lincoln in his capacity as Commander in Chief, did not even apply to the United States. It freed not a single slave in any of the Union-loyal slave states. It applied only to rebel states, and even then, only to areas conquored by the Union army.
And since slavery as an institution was crumbling everywhere the Union army advanced, the EP essencially gave legal recognition to what was already a reality.
Comment by State employee Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 4:21 pm
The former Chicago confectioner and politician, Charles Gunther, purchased large quantities of Civil War artifacts which were exhibited in his Chicago Museum. Most of his collection eventually was added to the Chicago Historical Society (now the Chicago History Museum). One such item was the bed in which Lincoln died.
Alderman Gunther served as one of the two representatives of the 2nd Ward in the Chicago City Council until he was defeated by William Hale Thompson, Jr. in 1901.
Comment by Upon Further Review Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 4:24 pm
The Sarah Vowell book cited upstream is titled “Assassination Vacation” and is well worth the read.
Comment by Cheryl44 Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 4:33 pm
One thing that is striking about the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley is how lax security seemed to be as compared to the present. In former times, politicians really mingled with the people and this proximity sometimes led to tragic results.
Comment by Upon Further Review Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 4:38 pm
How great of a read was that?
Having 150 years of perspective, but reading what we consider a “real time” report, giving account of the momebt while “in it”.
Wow.
Good stuff.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 4:45 pm
UFR, Reagan was awfully lucky — an inch here, an inch there, Brady and McCarthy each taking one — it could easily have gone the other way.
Ford was luckier, twice, but, still, they both had loads of armed security and lone nuts with handguns came close.
Comment by Wordslinger Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 4:51 pm
Both Roosevelts suffered near misses too, Word.
TR was seeking a new term as third party candidate when he was shot and wounded in Milwaukee. A prominent Chicago surgeon, John Murphy, M.D., patched him up. FDR was president-elect when Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak was shot. Hours of debate can be had as to whether or not FDR or Cermak was the intended target.
Comment by Upon Further Review Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 5:11 pm
UFR, Zangara was a known lunatic who just happened to live by the Miami park where Roosevelt gave an impromptu speech.
The speech was not scheduled and couldn’t have been planned for.
Besides fatally wounding Cermak, Zangara shot four other people, one of whom died.
Hardly the makings of well-planned Outfit hit on Cermak, like John Kass likes to peddle.
He hit four other people besides Cermak, killing one.
Comment by Wordslinger Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 5:28 pm
I know both sides of the Zangara story. There are arguments on both sides, but it is definitely a conspiracy theory. Another big part of the myth was the quote attributed to Cermak which may well have been invented. I also do not believe that Cermak was right next to Roosevelt. Maybe the assassin shot wildly. You are correct in that Zangara had all types of problems.
Cermak did not actually die immediately. He lingered for a considerable time. If it were not for his health problems, including colitis which probably hastened his demise, he might of recovered.
The real purpose of Cermak’s Florida visit was probably to plead the case for Federal assistance for Chicago and to try to kiss and make up with FDR. Cermak supported Al Smith at the convention and had to mend fences with Roosevelt afterwards.
Comment by Upon Further Review Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 5:42 pm
Interesting foot note. Anton Cermak’s daughter was married to Illinois Governor Otto Kerner.
Comment by Old and In The Way Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 10:44 pm