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John Wilkes Booth

Abraham Lincoln & son Tad

Picture Source: National Park Service

The name of John Wilkes Booth conjures up a picture of America's most infamous assassin, the killer of perhaps the greatest president of the United States. However, J. Wilkes Booth (as he was known professionally) led a very prominent life as an actor in the years preceding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. This period of his life is often forgotten or overlooked.(Source: National Park Service)

Many people don't realize that Lincoln had seen Booth on the stage previously and the day he was shot was not the first time Booth entertained him. John W. Booth appeared at Ford's Theatre in the following plays:
· November 2, 1863 - "Richard III"
· November 3, 1863 - "The Apostate"
· November 4, 1863 - "The Robbers"
· November 5, 1863 - "A Lady of Lyons"
· November 6, 1863 - "Merchant of Venice"
· November 7, 1863 - "Richard III"
· November 9, 1863 - "The Marble Heart" *
· November 10, 1863 - "Hamlet"
· November 11, 1863 - "Romeo and Juliet"
· November 12, 1863 - "Money"
· November 13, 1863 - "Richard III"
· November 14, 1863 - "The Robbers"
· March 18, 1865 - "The Apostate"
* President Lincoln attended the November 9th performance of John Wilkes Booth in "The Marble Heart."
(Source: National Park Service)

It was common in those days for a star to perform in a different play every day for two or more weeks at a time. You really had to have a good memory.

Lincoln had been shot only five days after Lee surrendered.The weapon of choice was a small Derringer pistol. Speculation was that this was an easy pistol for Booth to hide upon his person. Booth was staring in the play "Our American Cousin" at the Ford theatre. Booth entered the box where the president was sitting, unchallenged, and put the pistol to the back of Lincoln's head and pulled the trigger. He wasn't done yet. He dropped the gun, pulled out a knife and stabbed Major Rathbone, a companion of the president at the play. During the ensuing chaos Booth jumped from the box onto the stage breaking the fibula in his left leg but got away without anyone following him. Can you imagine this, he was able to walk right up to a president and shot him, stab people with him, break his leg in a jump, yet leave and no one chased him?

Twelve days later it took over two thousand soldiers to trap Booth in a burning building. The orders of the Secretary of War Edwin Stanton were to capture Booth alive but when he wouldn't leave the burning building, he was shot and killed anyway by a Sergeant named Boston Corbett.

It seems this was the end of the story doesn't it? Ah but it wasn't because about 60 years later the FBI director William J. Burns decided to investigate the case again. He had a theory that Booth wasn't killed and had lived for many years after Lincoln's death. In 1948 a boot belonging to Booth was examined by the FBI and in 1977 Booth's diary was examined by them.

The following files were released by the FBI under the Freedom Of Information Act. They comprise 184 pages and are in PDF format. A PDF reader will be needed to view them, such as Acrobat Reader. If you don't have a reader, CLICK HERE FOR FREE READER.

PDF files relating to Booth investigation by FBI

When John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln he used this Derringer:

Picture Source: FBI

Notice in picture #6 the pieces of Lincoln's skull in a dish under the gun. Will the mystery ever end, is this just the case of one crazed man, or did a conspiracy exist that allowed Booth to shoot and run without being stopped, and why did Sergeant Corbett disobey orders and shoot and kill Booth.