>> very well done. all right, guys. three, two, one. >> merry christmas! hello, john. >> a years ago forgotten

tragic -- >> i hear you. ♪ >> i offered her my heart just as she wanted them. ♪ ♪ [ gunshot ]

>> on the evening of april 13th, 1865, john wilkes booth initiates his plan not only to kill abraham lincoln but to decapitate the government of the united states. a civil war that has lasted four years is drawing to an end. while washington city celebrates the surrender of robert e. lee's confederate army, booth and his co-sporers fought a carefully coordinated triple murder. >> secretary of state is going nowhere soon. to his bed and slow to recover. the nurse. and there's a -- butler. >> you will check into the kirkwood tomorrow morning. vice president johnson's suite is on the first floor. >> no.

>> no? >> no. i do not wish. i cannot. >> it is too late, george. we have, all of us, conspired together. >> to capture, yeah. to keep one man. not to murder. >> this is an act of war, and you are stuck to it. it is a tar pit from which you cannot pull away. and when tomorrow night is through and our deed is done, we will, all of us, be known as its authors. i have seen to it. and we will be hailed as heroes. >> we will meet back here tomorrow night, 9:00.

harold will pay a visit to the secretary of state, mr. azerot will visit and i will go see a performan performance. and there i will kill a tyrant. >> this is the true story of the killing of abraham lincoln. the first assassination of an american president and what might be the most resonant crime in the history of the nation. john wilkes booth's plan to kill lincoln isn't the first operation to target the 16th president of the united states. at least five kidnapping or assassination schemes are hatched, though none are attempted.

none save perhaps one. abraham lincoln is riding alone as is his custom from the war department to the soldiers home where the family stays during the hot summer months. >> help me. >> i heard a rifle shot. >> yes, down by the bottom of the hill. that's what's frighten him so and he bucked and separated me from his eight dollar plug hat. private nichols, i'm much obliged.

>> sir, found at the bottom of this hill. >> it is properly ventilated for these hot summer months. likely some fellow returning from a day's hunt discharged his gun in a precautionary measure of safety before bringing it into his home. i assure you, i'm in greater danger from a rumor of snipers than i am from your silence in this affair. i would ask that you tell no one of this adventure. . i would be obliged to you. >> sir.

>> that is abraham lincoln. the self-educated statesman who has abolished slavery and will go on to end the war and save the union. yet during his four years and 41 days in office, the intensity of the hatred leveled toward him even by members of his own party is extreme even by today's standards. while the killing of abraham lincoln serves to sank fi him, to transform a controversial president into a dearly beloved martyr, it also serves to pervert the truth about his killer. john wilkes booth, a passionate and well admired man on the path to become one of the greatest actors of his time, is reduced by history to a two-dimensional scoundrel and dismissed as a madman. >> who got it. >> save the fight.

>> curtain. >> mr. booth. >> why, mr. mccollum. >> mr. booth, i'm still very sorry. >> come, come, my fellow. you look as if you had lost the blood. not another word. now if you had got my eye, that would have been bad. but you didn't. it was splendid. >> that is john wilkes booth, bosh and raised in maryland, a border state, a slave state that did not secede from the union. john wilkes booth is also a southern zealot whose hatred of abraham lincoln is nothing less than fanatical. in october of 1864, booth makes contact with a confederate

secret service and shortly after lincoln's re-election he determines to kidnap the president. he stops in philadelphia to visit his sister asia and there he writes a letter. >> to whom it may concern. right or wrong, god judge me, not man. my love is for the south alone. nor do i deem it a dishonor in attempts to make for her a prisoner of this man to whom she owes so much. misery. >> our brother voted for him? >> yes. >> for a false president. a man of the north who aims to crush out slavery by robbing, raping and slaughter. god rampant.

this country was fought for the white man and not for the black. asia, lock this in your safe for me. i may come back for it. but if anything should happen to me, open it alone and send the letters as directed for brother junias and sister rosalie and one other to whom it may concern, a confederate doing duty upon his own responsibil y responsibility, james wilkes booth. >> i will fix that for you, son. put a fine point on it. >> on february 5th, 1865, abraham lincoln visits alexander

gardener's photographic studio. >> are we ready mr. garden arer? >> that i am, mr. president. now, if you wouldn't mind moving to the other side of the table. that anger favors you. >> after four years and more casualties than in any conflict in the nation's history, the civil war is almost over. but the image made on this day will be the last official portrait ever taken of the 16th president of the united states. abraham lincoln has six weeks to live. >> with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as god gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to

do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. >> booth is there. a face in the crowd. on the steps of the east port ik c o. by march 17th, 1865 booth and two boyhood friends along with confederate agent louis powell and smuggler george atzerodt lay in route to the campbell military hospital. but lincoln cancels the hospital visit. booth then travels to new york where he learns of a confederate plot to kill lincoln by planting explosives in the white house.

♪ >> who is dead in the white house? >> the president. he was killed by an assassin. ♪ >> lincoln awakens from a dream of his own death. according to one account, it is in the early morning hours of april 2nd and lincoln is aboard the steamship river queen.

he's left washington to visit the war front where general ulysses s. dwrant grant is pois capture the confederate capital of richmond, west virginia. abraham lincoln has 14 days to live. on april 3rd, 1865, confederate forces set fire to their own capital of richmond, virginia, before evacuating ahead of advancing union troops. confederate president jefferson davis escapes by train, abandons his white house of the confederacy, and abraham lincoln lands in richmond to view the devastated ruins of this american city.

♪ >> do any of you know the way to general whitesell's headquarters? >> yes, sir, master, lincoln, i know the way. ♪ >> thank god i have lived to see this day. on we go. >> may the good lord bless and keep you safe, master lincoln.

>> you are a free citizen of this republic. kneel to god only and thank him for the liberty that is yours. >> it's one of the most unforgettable scenes in american history. an american president walking the streets of a fallen rebel capital in the midst of a civil war. scarcely 36 hours after jefferson davis has fled his capitol, abraham lincoln arrives at the surrendered home of the confederate president. >> i'm informed that general whitesell is on his way, sir. and this is mrs. o'melia, the

housekeeper. >> ma'am, might you direct me to president davis' desk? so this must have been president davis' chair. ♪ >> jefferson davis will soon be captured in georgia. he will die 24 years later at the age of 81. >> this is whence mr. jefferson davis conducted his war. >> but abraham lincoln has less than 11 days to live.

>> might i have a glass of water? >> ironically on this day, the immediate danger to the president is not in richmond. it's on its way to washington. sergeant thomas harny, an explosives expert with the confederate torpedo bureau has already been dispatched on a secret mission to blow up the white house and lincoln in it. and there is sound evidence that john wilkes booth learns of the plot while in new york and at the same time that abraham lincoln is walking the streets of richmond. >> sergeant harny is with colonel mowsby as we speak so he can infiltrate washington frmg and he's sanctioned this hairbrained incendiary scheme? i see. and it is true that president davis escaped intact from richmond?

>> yes. thank heaven he is safely bound for danville. you seem troubled. >> troubled. i for four years i have lived not daring to express my thoughts or sentiments, even in my own home, constantly hearing every principiple dear to my het declared as treasonable. i have begun to deem myself a coward and to despise my own existence. richmond has fallen in a war against the constitution, against states right, against southern rights and institutions and a malignant tyrant, a half breed low mannered country buffoon is threatening to proclaim himself king. i should have killed him on

inauguration day. i could have. i was that close. now if the south is to be aided at all it must be done quickly. it may already be too late. when caesar conquered the enemies at rome and the power that was his menaced the liberties of the people, brutus arose and slew him. trouble? not at all. i stand with brutus. >> lincoln might have remained in virginia on the battlefront with general grant. he might even have been present to witness robert e. lee's surrender on april 9th, but as fate would have it, secretary of state william seward and his son frederick are victims of a carriage accident in washington.

>> william? >> mr. president. >> mr. lincoln, sir. >> frederick. >> is your father able to tolerate a friend? >> this way. ♪ >> seward's jaw is broken in two places and his right arm is fractured. so on april 9th, unaware of lee's surrender, lincoln returns to washington to visit his injured secretary of state. >> i think we nearly -- richmond is back in the arms. i walked her streets. i sat in jeff davis' own chair.

>> thank you for coming, mr. president. >> how could i stay away when my secretary of state is rendered in such a way as he cannot but listen? i have worked my own hand as hard as at sawing wood so many others' hands have i shaken. i've been to the prison. general whitesell asked me point blank how to treat the confederate soldiers. i told him to let them up easy. my old friend. >> it is close to 10:00 p.m. when secretary of war stanton delivers the telegram that robert e. lee has surrendered. the next day washington city is

in full celebration. a crowd gathers in front of the white house to serenade lincoln and to call for him to speak. he politely promises a speech the next night and requests that the band play the confederate anthem. he asked them to play dixie. >> gunshots in the parlor, gaston. >> thank you. >> i ain't going by powell no more. >> let us all join in doing the acts necessary -- >> on tuesday, april 11th, faithful to his promise, lincoln speaks from the north portico of the white house. booth is there. >> it is also unsatisfactory to some that the elective franchise is not given to the colored man. >> that means nigger

citizenship. >> and on those who serve our cause as soldiers. some 12,000 voters. >> shoot. draw your revolver and shoot him now. >> there's people. >> there are always people. i wonder, mr. powell or mr. payne, in spite of your reputation if you have what it takes. i already suspect mr. herold -- >> i have what it takes. >> that's the last speech he will make. >> abraham lincoln has less than four days to live. hey team, i know we're tight on time, but i really need a...

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generosity is its oyou can handle being a mom for half an hour. i'm in all the way. is that understood? i don't know what she's up to, but it's not good. can't the world be my noodles and butter? get your mind out of the gutter. mornings are for coffee and contemplation. that was a really profound observation. you got a mean case of the detox blues. don't start a war you know you're going to lose. finally you can now find all of netflix in the same place as all your other entertainment. on xfinity x1. [fireworks] tom hanks: washington city celebrates

washington city celebrates robert e. lee's surrender, when a grand illumination. candles burn in every window public and private. fireworks and cannon volleys proclaim victory. on april 13th, booth visits grover's theater and learns that a production of aladdin or his wonderful lamp is planned for the next night, april 13th, good friday and that the president has been invited to attend. booth arranges for a ticket to the box adjoining the president's and informs his co-conspirators that the plan has changed from kidnapping to murder. that on april 14th, louis powell will kill secretary of state seward. he will lead him across the bridge in maryland. and george atzeroth will kill

vice president johnson and booth will kill lincoln during the performance of aladdin at grover's theater. ♪ will little more than 24 hours to live, abraham lincoln rises at 7:00 a.m. and writes four brief messages including one instructing acts secretary of state frederick seward to call a cabinet meeting for 11:00 a.m. then joins his family at breakfast to find his eldest son robert just returned from witnessing the surrender at appommatox. uniform spotless ately, with a jeweled sword and shining spurs and general grant so shabby in a muddy blue uniform

borrowed from a private. it was great. oh, and here is lee. >> papa, let me see. can i see it? >> now, that's the face of a nobel man. listen to me, robert. you must lay aside your uniform, return to college, read law for three years and at the end of that time i hope that we will be able to tell whether you will make a lawyer or not. >> yes, sir. and i will, sir. >> shortly before 11:00 a.m., lincoln sees secretary of war edwin stanton at the state department. >> mr. stanton, mrs. lincoln has invited general and mrs. grant to join us at the theater this

evening and general grant already hints that they will decline in favor of taking a train to new jersey to visit with their children. i trust that you have had no occasion to encourage this disergs in the face of entertainment. >> had i had the occasion, i would have seized it. >> i'm sorry, sir. but it is a fact that rumors of assassination schemes are everywhere now. it remains a constant subject of concern between myself and mr. seward even in the face of his recovery. >> the doors to the white house stand open to one and all, day and night, stanton. my life is within reach of anyone sane or mad by the hand of a murderer i can die but once. but to go continually in fear, well, that is to die over and

over. and over again. ♪ >> will you be attending the theater tonight? aladdin is playing at grover's. >> no, sir, afraid not, sir. >> pity. there will be some fine acting there tonight. >> the officers could keep their silence. and what did you make for the common soldiers? >> i told them to go back to their homes and families with the promise to not again take up arms against the united states of america. >> quite simple. and quite right. which brings to mind how very providential it is that this rebellion was crushed just as congress has adjourned.

>> there are men in congress who harbor feelings of hate and vindictiveness toward the south, but there will be no persecution when this war is over. no bloody work. we must spend every effort to reanimate the south, put her state governments in order and to re-establish the union before congress reconvenes. still no word from general sherman? >> we are hourly expecting him. >> it will be good news. general sherman will have secured johnston's surrender. i know this because i have had the dream last night. i've had it before. it's always the same. and invariably followed by favorable news. as secretary of the navy it has

to do with your element, mr. wells, water. i am in some kind of vessel in the dream. and always moving with rapidity toward an indefinite shore. >> in an aside, general grant informs the president that his wife insists upon them leaving on the afternoon train. they will not be attending the theater. shortly before noon, john wilkes booth stops at ford's theater as is his daily custom to pick up his mail. >> heres a man that don't like general lee. >> i told you, harry, i don't like the way he surrenders, given his sword by the senate in richmond and swearing by oath to never give it up, he should have died on the battlefield before surrendering his southern manhood to the butcher grant. that's what i said. now let's hope he's not paraded

through the streets as the romans did their captains. >> i'll be sure to ask the president his plan in that regard. >> the president? you mean the buffoon who walked into jeff davis' house in richmond, threw his legs over the chair and spit tobacco juice all over the place? >> he don't chew tobacco, john, or i would have put the spit on in the presidential box tonight. messenger for mrs. lincoln called for tickets for them and general and mrs. grant. maybe we'll have robert e. lee and old jefferson davis in another box, both of them in shame. >> i thought he was attending grover's. ♪

♪ >> booth goes to humphrey's stable to reserve a horse, then to write a letter, a confession, an explanation, a manifesto signed by him on behalf of himself, louis powell, david herold and george atzerodt. later he and mrs. lincoln take a carriage ride alone. according to mary todd lin cop, she's never seen her husband so supremely cheerful. they talk about the past, about the death of their son willie, three years before. about the future, traveling abroad and lincoln's plan to return to his law practice. lincoln tells mary that on this particular day, he feels that the war has come to a close. they end up at the washington navy yard where lincoln summons

a young naval officer, william h. flood. >> mother, the last time we saw young flood here we were in springfield. i was a lawyer and he was but knee high to a grasshopper. his mother was kin with governor carlin. >> i remember priscilla flood. >> and his father served with me in the illinois state legislature. a democrat. but a friend and a good man despite his fervent support of my opponent for the presidency. >> since of the father, sir. >> never a sin to stand up for what you believe. now, flood, tell me which is the vessel with the history? >> well, mr. lincoln, they've all been messing around under fire quite a lot, but i guess you mean the montauk. she's got the hardest hitting, in the toughest fight. >> the very one, sir. show her to me. mother?

>> at 4:30, a group of confederate prisoners of war is being escorted up pennsylvania avenue when booth encounters his friend, the actor john matthews. >> great god, i have no longer a country. >> what's the matter, john? >> matthews, i have a favor to ask you. will you grant it? i may have to leave town tonight. i have a letter here which i desire to be published in the national intelligencer. please attend to it for me unless i see you before 10:00 tomorrow. >> there goes general grant. >> where? >> general and mrs. grant will later recall the horseman who peered into their carriage twice

on its way to the train station. the actor john matthews will be on stage that evening at ford's theater. the next day he will burn the letter, the signed confession given to him by john wilkes booth. abraham lincoln has less than 15 hours to live. looking for balance in your digestive system? try align probiotic. for a non-stop, sweet treat goodness, hold on to your tiara kind of day. get 24/7 digestive support, with align. the #1 doctor recommended probiotic brand. now in kids chewables.

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[audience laughter]. lord dundreary: you see, i gave her a draught that cured the effect of the draught. and that draught was a draft that didn't pay the doctor's bill. i gave her drops that cured the effect of the drops and that was a draft that didn't pay the doctor's bill. >> good gracious, what a number of drafts. >> it's almost a game of drafts. >> what's the matter?

>> that was a joke, it was. >> where is the joke some. >> she don't see it. >> why anybody can see that. [ applause ] [ mplaying "hail to the chief" ] >> at roughly 8:30 p.m., the lincolns arrive at ford's theater, driven by coachman francis burke and footman charles fords.

>> mr. fords, mr. parker, i hope that you might enjoy the play. >> since november of 1864, four officers of the metropolitan police have been detailed to protect the president. on this night, john parker is on duty. as last-minute replacements for general and mrs. grant, mrs. lincoln invites her dear friend, clara harris, in the company of her fiance major henry reed rathbone. the famously self-educated lincoln is an enthusiastic lover of theater, but during the war he is drawn to comedy, telling noah brooks that a farce or comedy is best played. a tragedy is best read at home. a last-minute meeting with louis powell, david herold and david

atzerodt has just concluded. the attack that booth outlined is to go into effect immediately. at 10:15 louis powell is to kill secretary of state seward in his home on lafayette square. david herold will guide powell out of the city via the navy yard bridge. george atzerodt is to kill vice president johnson at the kirkwood house hotel. the only change in the plan is that booth will not be attending aladdin at grover's. >> hello, john. he will kill lincoln at ford's theater. it's still early in act two. booth has calculated that the appointed time of 10:15 will fall at the beginning of act three of our american cousin and it will be an intermission between the acts. booth retrieves his horse from

humphreys stable. ♪ ♪ >> mr. spangler. we leave in 15 minutes. mind you -- >> mr. booth, it's almost intermission. i got to shift scenery. you will have to cross under. i can't keep the horse. just go with him and tell peanuts to come here and hold this damn horse. >> our american cousin.

>> louis heads next door to the star saloon. whether or not francis burke, the man who drove the lincoln carriage and john parker, the man detailed to protect the president are drinking at the star saloon when booth enters will never be known with my certainty. >> but the urge somehow to be a part of or witness to the killing of abraham lincoln will prompt many to make claims that are impossible to substantiate. the remark allegedly overheard during intermission by orchestra conductor william withers is a

prime example. >> a fine tragedy, but you'll never be as good as your father. >> when i leave the stage for good, i'll be the most talked about man in america. >> and the stage is set for the most dramatic and resident crime in american history. ♪ >> yes, sir? >> i have here medicine for mr. seward. from his surgeon. >> i don't know that we are expecting any such thing, but i'll see to it that he gets it. >> no. i got to take it to him myself personal.

>> please, sir, the house is mostly asleep now. and you don't want to be waking. >> and left it to his granddaughter miss mary meredith. >> who is this? >> mr. frederick, this guy says he's from dr. burke. >> i have medicine here for mr. seward with instructions on how he must take it. >> i'm sorry. you cannot see him now. my sister and his nurse are endeavoring him to get to sleep

>> she won't think anything about it. >> go back and tell him that i will refuse to let you see him if you think i cannot be trusted with the medicine. >> very well, then. [gun cocks]. [gun cocks]. james powell: you son of a bitch! [gun clicks].

[audience laughter]. mrs. mountchessington: mr. trenchard, you will please recollect you are addressing my daughter. asa trenchard: i'm offering her my heart and hand, just as she wants them, with nothing in 'em. [audience laughter]. fanny seward: [screams, crying]. augusta: the nasty beast! [audience laughter]. mrs. mountchessington: i am aware, mr. trenchard. [audience laughter]. mrs. mountchessington: you are not used to the manners of good society and that, alone, will excuse the impertinence of which you have been guilty. asa trenchard: don't know the manners of

good society, eh? well, i guess i know enough to turn you inside out, old woman; you damned old sockdologizing. [gunshot]. john wilkes booth: sic semper tyrannis! sic semper tyrannis! maj. rathbone: stop that man! clara harris: stop him! john wilkes booth: let me pass! let me pass! fanny seward: murder! help! murder! john wilkes booth: give me that horse, boy! [horse neighs] john wilkes booth: go. william bell: murder! stop that man! murderer!

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[clock ticking]. [gun clicks]. mary todd lincoln: [sobbing and screaming]. man: what's happening? clara harris: the president is, is shot! mary todd lincoln: [screams]. [crowd screams]. [pounding on the door]. maj. rathbone: back away! i've been stabbed, please. clara harris: help us! someone please, please help us! dr. charles leale: you're in no immediate danger. mrs. lincoln, mrs. lincoln, i'm dr. leale, a united states army surgeon.

mary todd lincoln: oh, doctor! oh, doctor! [sobbing] help him! help him! dr. charles leale: water! bring water! and brandy! on the floor. i want him recumbent. mary todd lincoln: [sobbing]. men: one, two, three. man: watch his head. watch his head. he might have been stabbed. dr. charles leale: we need to cut the shirt and coat away from the neck to the elbow. man: charlie. dr. charles taft: dr. charles taft. mary todd lincoln: you help him! is he dead? someone answer me! help him! oh, god. dr. charles leale: i'm checking for hemorrhage of the subclavial artery. wait. i found it. a hole. and there's a clot. [audience screaming].

mary todd lincoln: [sobbing]. dr. charles leale: it's a bullet wound. occipital bone here. removal of a clot has relieved pressure on the brain. mary todd lincoln: [sobbing]. lieutenant bolton: ladies! gentleman! the president is being attended by physicians! please make your way in orderly fashion to the street! dr. charles leale: i'm opening up his larynx for a free passage of air. i need you and you to lift his arms and manipulate them back and forth. up and down to expand his thorax. mary todd lincoln: [sobbing]. dr. charles leale: feeble. respiration not satisfactory. mary todd lincoln: [sobbing]. maj. rathbone: here, here's brandy! keene: may i hold his head? mary todd lincoln: [sobbing]

tell me! [sobbing] tell me, is he alive? tom hanks: at 10:35, 20 minutes after shooting the president, booth arrives at the navy yard bridge, his escape route into maryland. sgt. silas t. cobb of the 13th regiment massachusetts heavy artillery is on sentry duty. sgt. silas cobb: halt! who goes? john wilkes booth: a friend. sgt. silas cobb: name? john wilkes booth: my name is booth. sgt. silas cobb: where from? john wilkes booth: i'm from the city. sgt. silas cobb: where are you headed? john wilkes booth: down home, charles county. sgt. silas cobb: what town? john wilkes booth: i don't live in a town. i live near beantown. sgt. silas cobb: i don't know where that place is, friend. but do you know it's against the law to cross here after nine o'clock? what is your object to be in town so late when you got so far to travel? john wilkes booth: it is a dark road. i thought if i waited 'til now i should have the light of this moon to help me see my way.

sgt. silas cobb: well, i will let you pass, but i don't know as i ought to. john wilkes booth: hell, there'll be no trouble about that. man: make way. make way! to the white house. we must take him to the white house. dr. charles leale: no, he will die on the way. dr. charles taft: the saloon. here, next door. peter taltavul: no! no, it should not be said the president of the united states died in a saloon. not even my own. lieutenant bolton: doctor, give me your commands and i will see to it that they will be carried out. dr. charles leale: as i said, across the street, to the nearest house. lieutenant bolton: make a path! let us pass!

dr. charles leale: stop, stop! [grunts]. abraham lincoln: [gasping breath]. dr. charles leale: [grunts]. william h. flood: the house opposite is closed. henry s. stafford: here, here! bring him here. dr. charles leale: go, go, go. man: clear the way, please. out of the way, please. tom hanks: lincoln is taken to a boarding house directly across the street from the theater and, due to his 6'4" height, laid diagonally on the bed of absent boarder, william clark. shorty after 11:00 pm, secretary of war edwin stanton sets up a headquarters in the back parlor of the house and establishes relays between there and the war department telegraph operators. he alerts general grant and calls him back to washington, issues emergency directives to police and military authorities, orders the national detective police, to initiate a manhunt for the as-yet unknown

assassin and notifies vice president johnson that the president is dying. and shortly before midnight, chief justice david kellogg cartter begins to hear eyewitness testimony of the crime. but the appointed stenographer cannot write fast enough. general christopher augur: is there anyone here who knows the practice of shorthand writing? albert daggett: here! there's a boarder here who does! general christopher augur: tell him that his services are required here. immediately. albert daggett: jim, it's general augur. they want you next door. corporal james tanner: tell him i'll be right there. why are you checking your credit score? you don't want to ride the 13l forever, do you? the doctor said it's not contagious.

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the possibility of a flare was almost always on my mind. thinking about what to avoid,

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the navy yard bridge, sergeant cobb stops david herold, riding a gray roan horse. herold asks if a rider has passed here and cobb tells him, "yes," and lets him pass. david herold's job on april 14th is to guide lewis powell out of washington after killing secretary of state seward. but hearing the cries of "murder" from seward's house. fanny seward: murder! he's killing my father! tom hanks: herold flees the scene, not waiting for powell. he catches up with booth at soper's hill, eight miles from washington. and it's a little after midnight when they arrive at a safe house for confederate spies. [banging on door] david herold: for god's sake, lloyd, make haste and get the things! tom hanks: a tavern where weapons have been stored. david herold: lloyd, the things! tom hanks: a tavern owned by the mother of confederate courier john surratt.

john wilkes booth: i cannot carry a carbine. this little bitch fell on me. stumbled while jumping. i broke my damned leg. i need a surgeon. we'll go to sam mudd's. david herold: but, no. hadn't we oughta get down south, cross to the river, cross into virginia. john wilkes booth: i cannot go on without a doctor. lloyd? lloyd? john lloyd: huh? john wilkes booth: i am fairly certain we have assassinated the president and secretary seward. mind your damn horse, davey. let's go. tom hanks: meanwhile at the petersen boarding house, corporal james tanner, who has lost both legs at the second battle of bull run and is just 10 days past his 21st birthday, is about to take the first eyewitness testimony in the assassination of abraham lincoln. mary todd lincoln: [sobbing].

dr. ezra abbott: pulse 48, rising. dr. king: respiration 21. dr. barnes: ecchymosis is setting in. edwin stanton: who are you? corporal james tanner: uh, corporal james tanner, sir. uh, you're in need of a phonologist? edwin stanton: what? corporal james tanner: shorthand, sir. edwin stanton: yes, come here. mr. hill will be asking questions of the witnesses before chief justice cartter.

mary todd lincoln: [sobbing]. tom hanks: the assassination of abraham lincoln is witnessed by more than 1,500 people, yet no two accounts match. lieutenant crawford: a.m.s. crawford. henry hawk: uh, william henry hawk. james p. ferguson: uh, james p. ferguson. lieutenant crawford: i thought at first he was intoxicated. there was a glare in his eye. i turned to captain mcgowan, intending to say something in reference to this man's manner. james p. ferguson: i was looking with an opera glass to see, uh, which citizen it was, with the president. lieutenant crawford: the next instant, the shot was fired. [gunshot]. lieutenant crawford: i said at once it was the president's box and jumped to the door. henry hawk: i was on stage at the time of the firing. [gunshot]. james p. ferguson: and he put his hands on the cushion of the box and he threw his feet right over. and he pulled part of a state flag off. henry hawk: and as i looked towards him, he came in the direction in which i was standing.

b.a. hill: can you describe the man's form that jumped from the box? lieutenant crawford: yes, sir. i saw him as he ran across the stage. james p. ferguson: as he ran across, he looked right up in my face. i, i pulled the lady down behind the banister. lieutenant crawford: as he went through the scene he threw his hand behind him and the knife was up in sight. henry hawk: he made some expression when he came on the stage. john wilkes booth: the south shall be free! henry hawk: but i did not understand what. james p. ferguson: he stopped as he said. john wilkes booth: i have done it! james p. ferguson: shook the knife. lieutenant crawford: his face was towards me. he did not say a word that i heard, but very strongly resembled the booths. henry hawk: i, i believe to the best of my knowledge that it was john wilkes booth. still, uh, i'm not positive, uh.

abraham lincoln: [gasping breath]. tom hanks: at 4:30 am april 15th, booth and herold arrive at the home of dr. samuel mudd. either during his jump from the presidential box to the stage, or as the result of his horse falling, booth has sustained a clean break of his fibula, two inches above the instep of his left foot. john wilkes booth: [grunts in pain] tom hanks: at the same time that dr. samuel mudd is tending to john wilkes booth, 30 miles away, abraham lincoln is dying. dr. barnes: i am inserting a nélaton probe. dr. ezra abbott: pulse 60. dr. king: respiration 24.

dr. barnes: at three inches, following the track of the ball, there's the bone plug. driven in from the skull. i can feel the ball at, at five inches. and two inches further, fragments. dr. charles leale: the orbital plate? dr. barnes: undoubtedly. dr. charles leale: perhaps we should summon mrs. lincoln. dr. barnes: barely perceptible. mary todd lincoln: [sobbing]

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icking] [gun clicks] mary todd lincoln: [whimpering] it's your mary. mother. it's your molly. i'm here little puss. [sobbing]. your child-wife. [crying]. oh, my love. live but one moment to speak to me once. to speak to our children. you'd speak to little tad, wouldn't you, father?

you love him so well. abraham lincoln: [gasping breath]. tom hanks: mary lincoln screams and faints. and secretary of war stanton orders that she is to be removed from the room. as she is led away, corporal tanner, transcribing his shorthand in the back parlor, overhears her to say, "oh, my god and i have given my husband to die." dr. charles augustus leale, the 23-year-old surgeon who has been by the president's side for nine hours, has scarcely let go of lincoln's hand, for no other reason than, "to let him in his blindness know that he was in touch with humanity and had a friend." at 21 minutes and 55 seconds past 7 am on saturday, april 15th, 1865, abraham lincoln draws his last breath.

15 seconds later, his heart stops. robert todd lincoln: [sobbing]. tom hanks: the reverend phineas gurley will recall that those present remain motionless and silent for several minutes after surgeon general barnes says, simply. robert todd lincoln: [sobbing]. tom hanks: "he is gone." [clock ticking] edwin stanton: now he belongs to the ages. robert todd lincoln: [sobbing]. tom hanks: angels. according to corporal tanner, stanton said, "he belongs to the angels now." but tanner was unable to record the moment. his pencil had broken.

[rooster crows] his leg splinted and with the aid of a crutch, booth leaves dr. samuel mudd's home late on the afternoon of saturday, april 15th. already, members of the 13th new york cavalry have

been ordered to southern maryland in search of lincoln's killer. what will soon become the largest manhunt in american history at that time begins with troops searching scarcely four miles from dr. mudd's farmhouse. lost in the dark and on the edge of the zekiah swamp, booth and herold have promised to pay tobacco farmer oswell swann $12 to a leader in the confederate underground. john wilkes booth: how is it that you know captain cox? oswell swann: oh, we all know captain cox, sir. he a true man of the south. he a hard man. beat a nigger to death hisself. mmm-hm. david herold: you, you a free nigger? oswell swann: oh, we all's free now, sir, thanks to marse lincoln. lawd rest his soul. but i ain't no nigger. i's a we-sort. david herold: what? oswell swann: a we-sort. you know.

"we-sorta-folk." nigger, injun, white man, all mixed up, you know. john wilkes booth: you have heard about lincoln? oswell swann: yas suh. he in the arms of the lawd. [pounds on door] david herold: um, my friend and i, we're in need of some shelter, food. not the nigger. samuel cox: name? david herold: um, my friend, he's hurt his leg. samuel cox: you're john wilkes booth. i think i know what you have done.

tom hanks: they have arrived at about 1:00 am on easter sunday. after talking until dawn, cox is sympathetic, but no fool. he will put booth and herold in touch with a confederate smuggler who will get them across the potomac and into virginia. but cox will not allow lincoln's assassin to stay in his home. so booth and herold are directed to wait in a pine thicket just across cox's property line. they don't know it yet, but they will wait there for the next five days and four nights. john wilkes booth: davey! don't you know i can't get on? david herold: help him on his horse. john wilkes booth: [groans in pain]. $12? oswell swann: yas suh.

john wilkes booth: thought you said captain cox was a man of southern feeling. david herold: you say anything about this, and you won't live long. tom hanks: john wilkes booth has 10 days to live.

icking]. [gun clicks]. tom hanks: on april 17th colonel lafayette baker, the head of the national detective police, asks alexander gardner to make copies of three pictures. it is the first time in history that photographs have been used on a wanted poster. thanks in part to papers found in booth's room at the national hotel, lewis powell and mary surratt are jailed in washington and george atzerodt, who simply got drunk and wandered away from the kirkwood hotel, rather than attempt to kill

vice president andrew johnson, is discovered hiding-out in his cousin's home in germantown, maryland. elements of the 8th illinois cavalry and the u.s. 22nd colored troops join the 13th new york cavalry in southern maryland. and two members of the national detective police, lieutenant luther baker and colonel everton conger, accompany 26 members of the 16th new york cavalry under the command of lieutenant edward doherty. john wilkes booth: our cause being almost lost, something decisive and great must be done. i struck boldly and not as the papers say. i shouted "sic semper" before i fired. in jumping, broke my leg. this night, before the deed, i wrote a long article and left it for one of the editors of the national intelligencer in which i

fully set forth the reasons for our proceedings. he or the government. tom hanks: the first of booth's two journal entries ends there. he is interrupted by thomas jones, samuel cox's foster brother. cox has asked jones to see to it that booth gets across the potomac to virginia. in spite of the $100,000 bounty being offered, jones keeps booth and herold hidden and fed while government troops occupy and sweep through the region. later, jones will claim that booth's singular

desire was for newspapers. so it is here, in the pine thicket, that booth reads the horrific accounts, the lurid details, and bloody result of lewis powell's attack on secretary of state william seward. fanny seward: [screams]. murder! he's killing my father! murder! help! [screams]. [sobbing].

james powell: i'm mad. i'm mad, i'm mad! emerick hansell: [screams]. william bell: murder! stop that man! murderer! tom hanks: miraculously, secretary of state william seward is still alive, as are all of the victims of lewis powell's savage attack. and george atzerodt's intended victim, vice president andrew johnson, has been sworn in as the 17th president of the united states. but as abraham lincoln's body lies in state

in the east room of the white house, john wilkes booth lies on a bed of dirt and pine needles and reads the worst reviews of his life. a man who was raised on shakespeare is brought to his knees by his own hubris. in one fell swoop, with one grand gesture, he has changed the course of american history and dramatically jeopardized the fate of the south that he loved so dearly. [horse neighs] [search party passes] tom hanks: booth's tragedy is nearly complete.

on the night of april 20th, thomas jones leads booth and herold to a boat. the current is strong. there are naval patrols searching the potomac for the fugitives. john wilkes booth has less than six days to live. asmy family tree,ing i discovered a woman named marianne gaspard... it was her french name. then she came to louisiana as a slave. i became curious where in africa she was from. so i took the ancestry dna test to find out more about my african roots. the ancestry dna results were really specific. they told me all of these places in west africa. i feel really proud of my lineage, and i feel really proud of my ancestry. ancestry has many paths to discovering your story, get started for free at ancestry.com just checking my free credit score at credit karma.

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[clock ticking]. [gun clicks]. tom hanks: on april 18th, abraham lincoln's dream of an assassinated president lying in state in the east room of the white house is fully realized. on april 21st, lincoln's body leaves washington by train to travel 1,654 miles to oak ridge cemetery in springfield, illinois.

after one failed attempt, it's in the early morning hours of april 23rd that john wilkes booth and david herold finally cross the potomac and land in virginia. as he writes in his diary, "with every man's hand against me, for doing what brutus was honored for, looked upon as a common cutthroat. abandoned, with the curse of cain upon me." and on april 24th booth and herold arrive at the farm of richard garrett. booth presents himself as james w. boyd, battle of petersburg and the family takes them in. but the very next day, booth is writing in his diary when word comes that union cavalry are heading toward the garrett farm. booth tells herold to get his pistols and

the two men flee to hide in the woods. when they return, garrett's suspicions have been aroused. tonight they will not be welcome to sleep in the house. tonight they will sleep in the tobacco barn. john wilkes booth: tonight i try to escape these bloodhounds once more. i have too great a soul to die a criminal. david herold: i don't want to die, booth. i don't want to kill no one. john wilkes booth: i do not wish to shed a drop of blood. but i must fight the course. 'tis all that's left to me.

tom hanks: at 2:30 am on the morning of april 26th, the tobacco barn at garrett's farm is surrounded by 26 members of the 16th new york cavalry. lafayette baker: we know who you are! john wilkes booth: who are you? what do you want? lafayette baker: we want you! and we know who you are! give up your arms and come out directly! john wilkes booth: well, my boy? david herold: we have no choice. john wilkes booth: you god damn coward. you would leave me now? go, go on. i would not have you stay with me. this is a hard case! it may be that i am to be taken by my friends!

lafayette baker: be assured, we are not your friends! john wilkes booth: you have the sound of a brave man, an honorable man. i am a cripple. i've got but one leg. if you will withdraw your men in line 100 yards from the door, i will come out and fight you. lafayette baker: we did not come here to fight! we came to make you a prisoner! john wilkes booth: you put any more kindling there; i'll put a ball through you. i could have picked off three or four of your men by now if i wished to do so. draw off your men 50 yards. lafayette baker: i will not! john wilkes booth: well, my brave boys! you can prepare a stretcher for me! go, go out. save yourself if you can. captain! there is a man in here who wishes to surrender awful bad! lafayette baker: let him hand out his arms!

you carry a carbine and you must hand it out! john wilkes booth: i declare before my maker that this man is innocent of any crime. upon the word and honor of a gentleman, he has no arms. the arms are mine and i've got them! doherty: show your hands! put out your hands! david herold: booth. john wilkes booth: go! one more stain on the old banner! [laughs]. make quick work of it, captain. shoot me through the heart! [gunshot]. [door creaks]. conger: he's shot himself! lafayette baker: no, he did not. doherty: quick, get him out! get him out of here! private parody!

man: pick him up! conger: speak, speak! john wilkes booth: tell my mother that i die for my country. conger: for your country? is that what you say? john wilkes booth: yes. conger: here, get him away from the fire. let's go. man: let's go. let's move! come on! go! man 2: got him? set him against the wall, soldiers. prop him up. get him up! doherty: where's he shot? conger: in the neck. i told you, he shot himself. doherty: nah, corbett did.

give me that. i saw him through the barn planks. he claimed he was raising his rifle against us. sergeant boston corbett shot him. tom hanks: in washington, lewis powell and george atzerodt will soon be joined by david herold, and all of them will be held in custody aboard the ironclad monitors uss saugus and uss montauk. and tomorrow, their photographs will be taken and the public will see, for the first time, the faces of the men who conspired to decapitate the government of the united states. now, it is the morning of april 26th. and john wilkes booth has only hours to live.

[clock ticking]. [gun clicks]. conger: there's nothing in your throat. no blood. tom hanks: the ball that passes through booth's neck severs his spinal cord between the 4th and 5th cervical vertebrae, paralyzing him from the neck down. john wilkes booth: k, kill m, kill me. conger: we don't want to kill you. we want you to get well. john wilkes booth: [gurgling, gasping] ha, hands. let me, lift them. let me see my hands.

doherty: he asked to see his hands. john wilkes booth: useless, useless. [slow, rasping breath]. tom hanks: shortly after dawn on wednesday, april 26th, 1865, john wilkes booth draws his last breath. his belongings are wrapped in paper. his body is sewn into a saddle blanket and loaded onto wagon, then a steamer, then a tugboat bound for the washington navy yard.

alexander gardner and timothy o'sullivan board the ironclad monitors uss saugus and montauk to make collodion glass plate photographs of the men who conspired first to kidnap and then to kill abraham lincoln. george atzerodt, who lost his nerve and got drunk rather than attempt to kill vice president johnson, is condemned to die. alexander gardner: mr. lewis powell. have a seat. tom hanks: after his savage but failed attempt on the life of secretary of state seward, lewis powell hides in washington for three days

before wandering into mary surratt's boarding house and into the arms of the police. alexander gardner: and don't you move now, laddie! tom hanks: powell is sentenced to death. on april 27th, david herold is brought aboard the uss montauk. the young man who followed john wilkes booth to the bitter end is condemned to die. and at the request of secretary of state stanton, alexander gardner takes one more picture on april 27th.

lafayette baker: dr. frederick may, can you positively identify the body? dr. may: is there a scar upon the back of its neck? lafayette baker: there is. dr. barnes: let me describe it before it's seen by me. it's on the left side and has the appearance more like the cicatrix of a burn than that of a surgical operation. it was occasioned when i removed a fibroid tumor from his neck. it is exactly as you have described it. dr. may: yes, that is he. that is john wilkes booth. alexander gardner: gentlemen, please stand where you are and perfectly still. one, two, three.

tom hanks: james wardell, one of lafayette baker's detectives, takes the single glass plate and delivers it to lafayette baker. it is presumed that baker gives it to secretary of war stanton. but no one knows. alexander gardner's photograph of the autopsy of john wilkes booth has never been found. the trial of the conspirators is a military tribunal. 366 witnesses testify. and all of the defendants are found guilty. and in attempting to create a definitive record of the people and events surrounding the assassination of abraham lincoln, alexander gardner and timothy o'sullivan are given extraordinary and exclusive access. on july 7th, 1865, the sentences are carried out for the first assassination of a

president in the history of the nation. and mary surratt becomes the first woman ever to be executed by the united states federal government when she joins powell, atzerodt and herold on a scaffold at the old arsenal penitentiary. in an interview 10 years later, the former president of the confederacy, jefferson davis, states simply, "next to the destruction of the confederacy,

the death of abraham lincoln was the darkest day the south has ever known." tad lincoln learned of his father's assassination while attending "aladdin" at grover's theater. he died of heart failure six years later. briefly committed to an asylum by her only surviving son, robert, mary todd lincoln died in springfield, 17 years after the assassination of her husband. john wilkes booth's body was buried in a storage room at the old arsenal penitentiary, then in a warehouse and finally interred in green mount cemetery in baltimore, maryland, four years after the killing of abraham lincoln. 10 weeks after the president's death, the civil war was over. and lincoln's gettysburg declaration was realized. that, "government of the people, by the people,

for the people shall not perish from the earth." welcome to the journal editorial report. i'm paul. a pair of attacks this week capping off a bloody year in europe. isis claimed responsibility for the deadly truck rampage at a christmas market in berlin monday. while russia's ambassador to turkey was assassinated by a lone gunman who shouted in arabic, god is great and don't forget aleppo. don't forget syria. in this week's violence adding to the wave of attacks including the march bombings at the brussels airport and the truck attack in nice, france. joining the