Are you watching Manhunt on Apple TV ? This new show chronicles the efforts to capture President Abraham Lincoln’s assassins.
The true story is just as thrilling as the show depicts! After shooting President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth fled. Because the White House was too far away, gravely injured President Lincoln was taken to a nearby home where doctors gathered. There, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton quickly jumped to action.
It soon became clear that John Wilkes Booth was not the only person involved in the plot. Co-conspirator Lewis Powell stabbed, but did not kill, Secretary of State William Seward, while George Atzerodt failed to carry out an attack on Vice President Andrew Johnson. Others also assisted in planning and hiding those involved.
Secretary Stanton spearheaded a massive manhunt including U.S. troops and civilians to capture Booth and his accomplices. Booth escaped into Maryland, first staying at the homes of Dr. Samuel Mudd and Samuel Cox, and then hiding for five days in Zekiah Swamp before crossing the Potomac River into Virginia. There, Booth and co-conspirator David Herold stayed in a farmer’s barn. Soldiers from the 16th New York Cavalry surrounded the barn and Booth was shot and killed by Sergeant Boston Corbett on April 26, 1865.
By the end of April, all but one of Booth’s remaining accomplices had been caught, alongside most of those that had helped harbor the fugitives or assisted in the escape. Ultimately, a military tribunal decided the fates of the plotters during a seven-week trial. Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Harold, and George Atzerodt were all sentenced to execution by hanging, while several others were given prison sentences.
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