The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

As did most Americans, the people of Boston learned about the tragic events of April 14, 1865 by reading telegraph reports that appeared in local papers. President Lincoln had been shot while attending a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Heavy black mourning rules outlined every column of the April 15 issue of the Boston Evening Courier. Men and women alike wept as they read the news. For a time, most were speechless. Their beloved President Lincoln was no more.

Below, you can read the news just as the people of Boston did on the evening of April 15, 1865. We begin with the thoughts of the editors of the Boston Evening Courier as they try to come to grips with the horrible events that took place the previous evening. A few excerpts appear below.

"But five days ago the city was alive with rejoicings over the surrender of Gen. Lee. Banners and decorations were displayed at every point. The Ensign of the Republic floated proudly in the breeze. To-day the city is filled with mourning; the decorations of rejoicing have given place to the emblems of grief; the flag droops at half mast, and a universal gloom overshadows the city. All hearts are profoundly affected by the startling and afflicting intelligence, that Abraham Lincoln has fallen by the hands of the assassin.

It is impossible to express in words the chill that has fallen upon every man; or the deep-seated sorrow which rests on every countenance. Men, as they approached the duties of the day, seemed confused and stunned by the appalling nature of the intelligence which met them at the threshold. They had thought, or speech, or ears but for one topic, - the great calamity at the capital of the nation."

"No language of which we are capable could half express the horror and dismay with which the dreadful event of the day has affected us. The crime itself, the murder of the ruler of the people, though not unparalleled in history, has seldom occurred under such extraordinary circumstances – never at such an unfortunate moment for public affairs. And what a change from only yesterday! Then we were anticipating the gradual progress of pacification, and the restoration of the country to union."

Telegraph Reports as they appeared in theBoston Evening Courier April 15, 1865

By Telegraph
To The
Evening Courier

(For News by Telegraph to Morning papers See Fourth Page.)

Death Of
President Lincoln.

Sec'y Seward Dying.

His Son Frederick Dead.

The Two Assassins Known.

$10,000 Reward Offered for their Capture.

Reported Arrest of J. Wilkes Booth.

War Department,
Washington, April 15 – 4:10 A.M.

To Major General Dix:

The President continues insensible, and is sinking.
Secretary Seward remains without change.
Frederick Seward's skull is fractured in two places, besides a severe cut upon the head.
The attendant is still alive, but hopeless.
Major Seward's wounds are not dangerous.
It is now ascertained with reasonable certainty that two assassins were engaged in the horrible crime, Wilkes Booth being the one that shot the President. The other was a companion of his, whose name is not known, but whose description is so clear that he can hardly escape.

It appears from a letter, found in Booth's trunk, that the murder was planned before the 4th March, but fell through then because the accomplice backed out until Richmond could be heard from.

Booth and his accomplice was at the livery stable at 6 o'clock last evening, and left there with their horses about ten o'clock or shortly before that hour.

It would seem that for several days they had been seeking their chance, but for some unknown reason it was not carried into effect until last night.

One of them has evidently made his way to Baltimore.

The other has not yet been traced.

(Signed)

E.M. Stanton,
Secretary of War

Later.

The President Dead.

War Department,
Washington, April 15 – 8 A.M.

To Major-General Dix:

Abraham Lincoln died this morning at twenty minutes after seven o'clock.

E.M. Stanton, Sec'y of War.

Washington, April 15 – 8:40 A.M. – Major Gen. Augur, commanding the Department of Washington, has offered a reward of $10,000 to the party or parties arresting the murderer of the President, and the assassin of the Secretary of State and his son.

There was no change in the condition of Secretary Seward at 6 o'clock this morning.

Frederick Seward Dead – The Secretary Just Alive.

(From the Independent News Room.)

Washington, April 15 – 9 A.M. – Secretary Seward is just alive. His son Frederick is dead.

Reported arrest of J. Wilkes Booth

(From the Independent News Room.)

New York, April 15. – It is said that J. Wilkes Booth has been arrested. It is thought here to be true.

The Morning Reports

Murder of President Lincoln.

Attempted Assassination of Secretary Seward.

Mr. Frederick Seward Dangerously Wounded.

Escape of the Murderers.

Official Account.

War Department, April 15 – 1:30 A.M.

Major General Dix:

This evening, at about 9:20 P.M., at Ford's Theatre, the President, while sitting in his private box with Mrs. Lincoln, Mrs. Harris, and Major Rathbone, was shot by an assassin who suddenly entered the box and approached behind the President.

The assassin then leaped upon the stage, brandishing a large dagger, or knife, and made his escape in the rear of the theatre.

The pistol ball entered the back of the President's head, and penetrated nearly through the head. The wound is mortal.

The President has been insensible ever since the wound was inflicted, and is now dying.

About the same hour an assassin, whether the same or not, entered Mr. Seward's apartment, and, under pretense of having a prescription, was shown to the Secretary's sick chamber. The assassin immediately rushed to the bed and inflicted two or three stabs on the throat and two on the face. It is hoped that the wounds may not prove mortal. My apprehension is that they will prove fatal.

The nurse alarmed Mr. Frederick Seward, who was in the adjoining room, and he hastened to the door of his father's room, where he met the assassin, who inflicted upon him one or more dangerous wounds. The recovery of Frederick Seward is doubtful.

It is not probable that the President will live through the night.

Gen. Grant and wife were advertised to be at the theatre this evening, but he started for Burlington, N.J. this evening.

At the Cabinet meeting at which General Grant was present, the subject of the state of the country and the prospect of a speedy peace was discussed. The President was very cheerful and hopeful, and spoke very kindly of Gen. Lee and others, and of the Confederacy, and of the establishment of a government in Virginia. All the members of the Cabinet except Mr. Seward are now in attendance upon the President.

I have seen Mr. Seward, but he and Frederick are both unconscious.

Edwin M. Stanton,
Secretary of War.

Washington, April 14. – President Lincoln and wife visited the theatre (Ford's?) 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 the 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, making his escape amid the bewilderment of the audience from the rear of the theatre, and, mounting a horse, fled.

The screams of Mrs. Lincoln first disclosed the fact to the audience that the President had been shot, when all present rose to their feet, rushing toward the stage, many exclaiming: "Hang him! hang him!" The excitement was of the wildest possible description, and of course there was an abrupt termination of the theatrical performance.

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 the 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.

At midnight the cabinet, with Messrs. Sumner, Colfax and Farnsworth, Judge Curtis, Gov. Oglesby, Gen. Meigs., Col. Hay and a few personal friends, with Surgeon-General Barnes and his immediate assistants, were around his bedside.

The President was in a state of syncope, totally insensible and breathing slowly. The blood oozed from the wound at the back of his head. The surgeons exhausted every effort of medical skill, but all hope was gone.

The President and Mrs. Lincoln did not start for the theatre until 15 minutes after 8 o'clock. Speaker Colfax was at the White House at the time, and the President stated to him that he was going, although Mrs. Lincoln had not been well, because the papers had announced that he and Gen. Grant were to be present, and as Gen. Grant had gone North he did not wish the audience to be disappointed. He went with apparent reluctance, and urged Mr. Colfax to go with him, but that gentleman had made other arrangements, and with Mr. Ashmun of Massachusetts bid him goodbye.

When the excitement at the theatre was at its wildest height reports were circulated that Secretary Seward had also been assassinated. On reaching this gentleman's residence, a crowd and a military guard were found at the door, and on entering it was ascertained that the reports were based on truth.

It is believed that the injuries of the Secretary are not fatal, although both the Secretary and the Assistant Secretary are very seriously injured.

The entire city to-night presents a scene of wild excitement, accompanied by violent expressions of the profoundest sorrow.

The military authorities dispatched mounted patrols in every direction, in order, if possible, to arrest the assassins. The whole metropolitan police are likewise vigilant for the same purpose.

The attacks at both the theatre and the Secretary's house took place at about the same hour – ten o'clock – thus showing a preconcerted plan to assassinate those gentlemen.

Some evidence of the guilt of the party who attacked the President are in the possession of the police. Vice President Johnson is in the city headquarters and guarded by troops.

(By Special Dispatch to Morning Papers.)

Washington, April 14. – In the papers of this afternoon it was announced that the President with Mrs. Lincoln and Lieut. General Grant, would to-night attend Ford's Theatre, to witness the performance of Mrs. Laura Keene, in the part of Alice Trenchard, in our "American Cousin." The house was crowded. The President occupied what is termed the State box, composed of two lower right-hand private boxes thrown into one and ornamented with flags. Mr. Lincoln enjoyed the performance, and was in unusually good spirits, chatting with Mrs. Lincoln and Miss Harris of New York, who was of the party, when he, without warning, received his death wound.

The person who shot the President is represented as about thirty years of age, five feet nine inches in height, sparely built, of light complexion, dressed in dark clothing and having a genteel appearance. He entered the box from the dress circle in the regular manner, and shot the President from behind, the ball entering the skull about in the middle and going in the direction of the left eye. It did not pass through, but apparently broke the frontal bone and forced out the brain to some extent. The assassin instantly jumped from the box upon the stage, and immediately disappeared through the side scenes and the rear of the theatre, brandishing a dirk-knife. The audience heard the shot, but, supposing it fired in the regular course of the play, did not heed it till Mrs. Lincoln's screams drew attention.

The assassin was followed across the stage by a gentleman who sprung from an orchestra chair. He rushed through the side door into an alley, thence to the avenue, and mounted a dark bay horse, which he apparently received from the hand of an accomplice, dashed up to F street, thence toward the back part of the city. The escape was so sudden that he effectually eluded pursuit. The assassin cried "sic semper tyrannis," in a sharp clear voice as he jumped to the stage and dropped his hat and a glove.

The whole affair, from his entrance into the box to his escape from the theatre, occupied scarcely a minute, and the strangeness of the action found everybody wholly unprepared.

A gentleman present informs me that the President was seated in the box, listening attentively to the conclusion of the third act of the play, when the assassin entered. Mr. Rathbone of New York, who was in the box, rose to inquire the cause of the interruption, but before he could speak the assassin drew a pocket pistol and aimed at the President's head, fired the fatal shot. Dropping the pistol the assassin drew a bowie knife, and wounding Mr. Rathbone in the shoulder, leaped over the edge of the box down on the stage and disappeared behind the scenes, escaping by a side door.

As if this horror was not enough, at almost the same moment the story ran through the city that Mr. Seward had been murdered in his bed. Inquiry showed this to be nearly true, also. It appears that a man wearing a light coat, dark pants and slouched hat, called and asked to see Mr. Seward, and was shown to his room. He delivered to Major Seward, who sat near his father, what purported to be a physician's perscription, and then turned, and with one stroke cut Mr. Seward’s throat as he lay in bed, inflicting a horrible wound, but not severing the jugular vein, and not producing a mortal wound. In the struggle that followed, Major Seward was also badly, but not seriously, wounded in several places. The assassin rushed down the stairs, mounted the fleet horse on which he came, drove his spurs into him, and dashed away before anyone could stop him.

The assault upon Mr. Seward appears to have been made almost at the same moment as that upon the President. Mr. Seward's would is not dangerous in itself, but may prove so in connection with his recent injuries. The two assassins have both endeavored to leave the city to the northward apparently, not expecting to strike the river even so low down as the chain bridge. Cavalry has been sent in every direction to intercept them.

Gen. Rawlins telegraphed instantly for Gen. Grant to return from Philadelphia, he having left in this afternoon's train. It is supposed the assassin intended to have shot Gen. Grant also, as it had been extensively announced in the papers that he would attend the theatre with Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln.

Gen. Grant has been heard from, and will arrive in the morning. Vice President Johnson and the members of the Cabinet have been with the President to-night. Frederick Seward was not seriously wounded.

A horse covered with foam was found to-night near Lincoln Hospital, two miles out of the city, supposed to have been used by one of the assassins.