John Wilkes Booth Facts
John Wilkes Booth Facts
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Interesting John Wilkes Booth Facts: |
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John Wilkes Booth had his fortune told when he was attending the Milton Boarding School. The fortune-teller predicted he would have a grand life but also a short one and would meet a 'bad end'. |
John's brother Edwin would also become an actor. |
John was a supporter of the South and Civil War, which was unlike the rest of his family. He believed in slavery which supporters of the North did not. |
In 1859 John Wilkes Booth attended John Brown's execution. John Brown was a famous abolitionist. |
In 1863 John developed a breathing issue and stopped performing on stage for a while. |
During his hiatus from performing on stage John Wilkes Booth began to devise a plan to kidnap the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and take him to Richmond to use in exchange for the release of several Confederate prisoners. |
Some believe that John Wilkes Booth may have been acting under his own ideas to kidnap Lincoln but others believe it was his own plan from the beginning. |
John Wilkes Booth enlisted the help of 6 other southern supporters to kidnap Lincoln. |
Lincoln failed to appear near Washington, D.C and the plan was never executed. |
John became angry at the failed plan and it is believed this fuelled his desire to assassinate Lincoln. |
John Wilkes Booth learned that Abraham Lincoln was scheduled to attend a performance of Our American Cousin in Washington, D.C. on April 14th at the Ford Theatre. |
The afternoon of the performance John went to the theatre and rigged the door of the private box meant for the president. |
At 10:00pm John Wilkes Booth entered the box and shot and killed Abraham Lincoln. |
The plan was to also kill Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward but the other members of John's gang did not follow through. |
John jumped to the stage after shooting and killing Lincoln, breaking a leg. This slowed his ability to escape. |
John south medical treatment from Samuel Mudd. |
After finally crossing the Potomac River with another gang member, they were found in a barn on April 26th. |
After refusing to give up, a shot was fired, killing Booth. It is still unclear if he committed suicide or was shot. |
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