Samuel B. Arnold, Alexander Gardner, 1865

Booth’s Cohorts

Both Samuel Arnold and Michael O’Laughlin knew Booth from childhood and had served in the Confederate army. Although they were part of the original plan to kidnap Lincoln, they were not involved in the assassination. Nonetheless, both men were arrested, tried, and convicted to life in prison. President Andrew Johnson pardoned Arnold in 1869, but O’Laughlin died in prison in 1867.