Booth’s Conspiracy
John Wilkes Booth originally planned not to kill, but to kidnap Lincoln and hold him ransom in exchange for Confederate prisoners. To carry out the audacious plan Booth conspired with several other southern sympathizers: Samuel Arnold, Michael O’Laughlin, Lewis Powell, John Surratt, David Herold, and George Atzerodt. On the evening of March 17, 1865, the group tried to intercept Lincoln’s carriage on its way to the theater but the president was not present. Afterwards, Arnold, O’Laughlin and Surratt dropped out of the scheme but the others remained involved.
After Lincoln’s assassination, federal authorities quickly rounded up Arnold and O’Laughlin, as well as Powell and Atzerodt. Booth and Herold remained at large until April 26 when authorities finally tracked them down in a Virginia tobacco barn. Herold surrendered but after Booth refused to come out, Sergeant Boston Corbett fatally shot him in the head. Booth’s body was taken back to Washington, D.C., and buried in the federal arsenal grounds. A military commission later tried and convicted eight people for their role in the Lincoln assassination; four of them were executed by hanging.