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IvanF's No-Name Overview of Abraham Lincoln, General Grant and Lee, John Wilkes Brutus Booth, and the US American Civil War
- last updated July 2000 (using Grade 12 course notes) -

Appomattox Court House Surrender Details

• on February 3^rd, 1865, both Union and Confederate leaders began peace talks on a federal steam ship at Hampton Roads, Virginia; however, the peace talks amounted to almost nothing after Jefferson Davis refused to give in to any of Lincoln's demands
• in response, General William Sherman of the Union retook Charlestown from the South; a Union flag was finally hoisted high above Fort Sumter again
• in Petersburg, Virginia, General Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy was outnumbered 2 to 1 by General Ulysses S. Grant; Lee's plan was to use the railroad to transport his troops into North Carolina where they and Johnston's remaining men would make a final stand
• before Lee could implement his plan, his soldiers were attacked by Grant; Lee withdrew his men from the railroads and retreated to the town of Appomattox Court House, where he was surrounded by Grant's men once again; Lee's army now consisted of only 30 000 men, of which only half had ammo left for their muskets
• as the Union forces marched into the town, they were intercepted by a Confederate horseman bearing a white flag of surrender
• on April 9, 1865, Grant and Lee met in a private home in Appomattox Court House
• under the terms of the proposed treaty, Lee would have to hand over all of his army's firearms to Grant; however, Lee would be given food to feed his starving soldiers, was allowed to keep his men's horses, and was assured that no Confederate leaders would be hanged as punishment
• Lee signed the treaty; after 4 bloody years, the American Civil War was finally over…
• … however, the result of the war in favour of the North incited a certain individual to take his Derringer pistol and extract his revenge: … Booth, John Wilkes Brutus Booth…

• March 4, 1865, Lincoln delivers his second, inaugural address; Federal Congress had already passed the 13^th amendment and 17 states had already ratified it; Lincoln said, "If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him?"
• Lincoln believed that both north and south were guilty of the war, and both sides should also share in the victory; he believed that the victory was a unification of the country over a common infliction
• March 27 and 28, Sherman and Lincoln conferred on the steamer, River Queen, at City Point Virginia; other members included Grant and Admiral Porter, Sherman returned afterwards to North Carolina with the realization that Lincoln "wanted peace on almost any terms"; Lincoln was even willing to let Confederate Congress rule in the south until a permanent, Federal government could be established there
• When Johnston surrendered, Sherman made even more concessions than Lincoln did in the terms for surrender in hope that Lincoln would approve of a quick reconciliation; Sherman never found out, for by this time, Lincoln was shot; April 18^th, Johnston signs the surrender which by authorization of Confederate Secretary of War, General John C. Breckinridge, surrendered every Confed army left
• This document reinstated all political rights for the Confederates along with the personal and property rights found in the Federal Constitution; it gave so many concessions to the South that it is believed Lincoln would not have approved of it if he were still alive (restoration of political rights and amendments were ordered to be left in the hands of the president)
• On Good Friday evening, April 14, 1865, a disgruntled actor by the name of John Wilkes Booth felt compelled to finally do something for the cause of the south, even though he had never enlisted into the army
• He strode into the President's box at Ford's Theatre in Washington, fired a bullet from his derringer at Lincoln's brain, jumped down from the balcony onto the stage, and rode off in the middle of the night in hope of returning to the South as a saviour
• Booth had conspired to end Lincoln's life for months; he first wanted to kidnap Lincoln, bring him to Richmond, and threaten to kill him if the Union took that city; he planned to kill Lincoln, Grant, Vice-President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State Seward with the help of incompetent outcast friends
• Seward was nearly killed as well when one of Booth's friends, Lewis Paine, stabbed him with a knife; attacks on Grant and Johnson misfired and the two survived unharmed
• Lincoln is remembered for his quote in Springfield, June 3, 1860: "A house divided cannot stand", and is also known for his understanding of the South at his second inaugural address, "Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other…. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been fully answered"
• April 15, Lincoln dies, leaving the radical, Andrew Johnson, as President; Johnson at first desired to force the South into Union principles and terms, but later in life realized that Lincoln's way was better and risked his career to carry it out
• However, the Federals were controlled at first by Secretary of War Stanton after Lincoln's death
• Stanton was a ruthless and arrogant patriot of the Northerner cause; he saw Booth as not a lone operator, but as an agent for the Confederate Congress; he came to this conclusion from info gathered from the War Department that terrorism in the north were directed by Confederates in Canada; Booth had recently been in Canada
• Stanton address the entire nation that Jefferson Davis had assassinated Lincoln; however, since he had no proof, the South soon was cleared of the name John Wilkes Booth
• To create patriotism in the north, Stanton kept Lincoln's body in the Capitol dome, and had a funeral in the White House; he then transported the body on a special train to Springfield, Illinois for burial; millions of Americans saw him on the way since Stanton made stops at Chicago, New York, and other major cities; the train traveled especially slow so that whoever could not see his body on display could mourn by the train; it took 2 weeks for the train to arrive at Springfield
• The Northerners were so furious from Lincoln's death that they wanted to repeal the treaty made by Sherman; Grant realized that Sherman had done far more than a General is permitted to so he sent it to cabinet for approval; the cabinet shortly repealed it
• When Johnston was informed that fighting was to recommence, he immediately signed a treaty nearly identical to the one Grant had given Lee
• Sherman became outraged not from the disapproval of his terms, but from Stanton's claims to the whole North that Sherman was insane and disloyal (Stanton backed this up by claiming that the treaty kept firearms in Confederate hands, permitted slaves, and seemed to recognize the Confederacy as a nation)
• Sherman's popularity died out shortly after and he became a fierce opponent of Stanton, however, his respect eventually returned as a man who tried to follow out Lincolnian policies, and as a forgiving villain in the south
• Johnston lost control of Sherman because Sherman did not want anything to do with politics; Johnston lost control of Grant simply because he was too patriotic to be handled
• April 26, 1865, John Wilkes Booth is trapped and killed by Federals near Bowling Green, Virginia
• After 4 years of fighting, the Union was reconstructed, although racial problems between Northerners and Southerners struggled onwards even a century after the last shot was fired at Palmito Ranch near Brownsville, Texas

• April 14th, 1865 (Good Friday): President Lincoln is assassinated by a disgruntled, Confederate actor known as Booth, John Wilkes Booth (pg. 199 in the text book)
• Wilkes, as he was known as by his siblings, was arguably the most popular actor in both the North and the South (he was the first actor to ever be mobbed by a zealous gang of fans); however, he often complained about how he was always compared in talent to his father, Junius Booth (who was 'the first great American actor to ever grace this gallant, new world')
• Wilkes adored the South because he started his acting career in Richmond; he also hated the North because his brother, Edwin (who later kicked him out of the house), believed in Federalism (the brothers were fierce competitors in the field of acting as well)
• Asia Booth, Wilkes' favourite sister, recorded in her diaries that Wilkes often spoke of his childhood visit to a gypsy; Wilkes once handed Asia the napkin that the gypsy had given him, which read: "You'll break hearts. They'll be nothing to you. You'll die young, and leave many to mourn you, many to love you too…"
• Wilkes had affairs with over 8 different women, including one with Lucy Hale, the daughter of a Union Senator; she invited Wilkes to watch Lincoln's Second Inauguration Address
• Wilkes later said this to his dear friend and assassination accomplish, Lewis Powell: "Oh, what an excellent chance I had to kill the president, if I had wished, on inauguration day!"
• Wilkes loved his mother very much, and chose not to enlist in the Confederate army to keep a promise that he had made to his mother; Wilkes spent the Civil War with Lewis Powell, devising methods to kidnap the president; Wilkes and his group "worked to capture" at least twice, with both attempts ending in failure
• Wilkes worked in Ford's Theatre in Washington where he made a living by mostly performing Shakespearean plays; Abraham Lincoln saw Wilkes perform in The Marble Heart and asked around if he could meet with the actor
• After the assassination, Wilkes attempted in vain to reach Confederate soil, where he hoped he would be hailed as an unforgettable hero; Wilkes eventually found refuge in the Garrett family farm in Virginia
• He was soon tracked down by Lieutenant Edward P. Doherty, Detective Luther Baker, and a Calvary including Sergeant Thomas "Boston" Corbett; and then…
• Wilkes' greatest goal in life was to be remembered for all time, which came true; his assassination of Lincoln resulted in hundreds of thousands of crying Northerners crowding around Lincoln's funeral train while cursing the Booth family name
• The assassination once again divided the country, and state rights were quickly taken away from the South; Secretary of War Stanton convinced the Northern public that Wilkes was a member of a Confederate conspiracy, and that the South is to blame for Lincoln's death - he called for harsh punishment to be inflicted upon the South
• April 11^th: Wilkes sees Lincoln make another speech and says, "Now, by God! I'll put him through. That is the last speech he will ever make…" … and it was …

• if Lincoln had turned around before he was killed, he would have instantly recognized Booth; Booth was one of the most famous actors in America
• November 9, 1863, Lincoln watched Booth perform in the popular play, The Marble Heart; Lincoln was so impressed with Booth's energy that he asked to meet him; Booth declined
• Newspapers called Booth the "star of the first magnitude", "the youngest star in the world", and "the most handsome man on the American stage" in Boston, New York, Chicago, and even Washington
• Booth performed his last role as the evil Pescara in The Apostate, just 4 weeks before he assassinated Lincoln
• In the Booth household, Shakespeare was recited as often as the Bible; to John Wilkes, battles at Gettysburg and Antietam were as theatrical as the battles in MacBeth and Richard III; Booth did not fear death because he felt that he had died hundreds of times on stage
• 1899, Joel Chandler Harris noted that Booth "had all the elements of a genius but seemed powerless to focus on them... He was as mad as Hamlet was: no more or less… He was so infected and unbalanced by his profession that the world seemed to him to be a stage which men and women were acting, living, their parts. There was nothing real to him but that which is most unreal, the theatrical and the romantic. He had a great variety of charming qualities, and his mind would have been brilliant but for the characteristics which warped it"
• Booth's father, Junius Brutus Booth came to America from England in 1821 with Mary Ann Holmes, who would bear him 10 children; Booth had left a wife and son back in England
• After Junius' death in 1852, the Booth children, including Wilkes as he was called, tried to conceal their illegitimate births
• Although Junius tried to discourage his children from the theatre, Wilkes and Edwin became involved in the dramatic arts anyway
• During winters at the Booths' winter home on Exeter Street, Baltimore, Edwin and friends would rehearse in the backyard; Wilkes often would disrupt their fun and once, someone threw an oyster shell at his head, leaving a scar that he combed his hair over
• The Booths often were drunk and depressed; Junius, although considered to be the first great American actor, would rarely step onto the step sober; Junius' wild sword-fights and erratic behaviour from alcohol would soon brush onto his son, Wilkes; ironically, Wilkes never saw his father perform once
• Asia, Wilkes' younger sister, reveals in her memoirs, The Unlocked Book, that her mother had a nightmare when Wilkes was a baby "in which she imagined that the foreshadowing of his fate had been revealed to her"
• At the end of the school year of 1850 or 1851, at the Milton Boarding School for boys near Cockeysville, Maryland, Asia and her mother visited Wilkes; Wilkes admitted to Asia that he had visited a gypsy not long before who told him, "You'll die young… You've got in your hand a thundering crowd of enemies - not one friend - you'll make a bad end… you'll have a fast life - short, but a grand one"; Wilkes had written it on a tattered piece of paper which he gave to Asia; although Asia admits Wilkes tried to laugh the words off, he would often refer to them later in life
• 1852, Junius Booth dies on a steamboat after telling his sons, Edwin and Junius Jr., that "he was anxious to be at home again and meant to retire from stage" (The Mad Booths of Maryland, by Stanley Kimmel)
• after the funeral in Baltimore, Wilkes studied at St. Timothy's Hall, a military school in Catonsville, Maryland; ironically, this school wore gray uniforms very similar to the ones later worn by Confederate soldiers
• many of the students had Confederate attitudes; the teachers entirely Federalists; in one incident, the principle took away the weekend break because students had killed several chickens; in response, Wilkes and his friends stole muskets from the armory and threatened the principle that they would defend themselves; the principle gave into their demands 3 days later
• 1854, Wilkes and Asia work together on a biography of their dead father; it was published 6 months after Wilkes' death with Asia as the only author mentioned
• Edwin became famous in the north, while Wilkes built up his reputation in Richmond between 1858 and 1860
• John Wilkes Booth tried to change his name to J.B. Wilkes to not-be associated with the Booth name, but by the end of the civil war, he gave up and was called John Wilkes Booth
• Wilkes toured the north in January 1861; the North even commented the Wilkes showed more promise than Edwin or even Junius Sr.; Wilkes won the respect of the people with his politeness and manners
• Edwin was a Lincoln supporter; he saved the life of Lincoln's son, Robert, at a railroad station in Jersey City and was allowed to perform Hamlet for Lincoln and the First Lady years later
• Edwin was a Union patriot; he would not discuss war matters when the family gathered, thus dividing the family; perhaps the only reason Wilkes stayed in the north is because theaters did not flourish in the south during the civil war
• According to Asia, Edwin asked Wilkes why he did not enlist in the Confederate army; Wilkes claimed that he had promised his mother that he wouldn't; later, he admitted to Asia that he was more valuable to the south as a blockade-runner, smuggling Quinine into Richmond
• David Carroll noted that Wilkes was "the recipient of a hundred love letters a week, was followed home by women, was carried off the stage by them, and was the first actor on record to have his clothes shredded by a gang of zealous fans"
• Wilkes became famous for his brilliant performances in Richard III, causing the critics to compare him to the greatness of his father; November 1864, when Edwin was set to act with Wilkes in Julius Caesar, Asia observed that he was "trembling little for his own laurels"
• April 26^th, 1861, the tabloids reported that after performing at Green Street Gayety Theatre in Albany, New York, Wilkes returned to his hotel room with Henrietta Irving; Irving cried that Wilkes had won her love falsely, tried to stab him in the heart but was blocked, instead cutting him on the head; she later tried to commit suicide in fear that she had killed him
• Wilkes rode throughout the north openly proclaiming his hate for Lincoln and support for the south; he always wore the finest clothing, and was noted for his excellent marksmanship
• March 1864 in Union-occupied New Orleans, Wilkes sang the Confederate anthem, "The Bonnie Blue Flag" to prove to his peers that he could do anything that he wanted; he was arrested, and was freed when he acted as if he didn't know that there was a law prohibiting the singing of that song; he claimed he had heard it somewhere, and liked the words
• While in Canada, Wilkes spent his time learning about the roads in southern Maryland; this was the route that spied went from Canada to Washington
• George Atzerodt, the man Wilkes sent to kill Vice-president Johnson, backed out at the last minute; Lewis Payne managed to stab Secretary of State Seward with a knife
• When Wilkes jumped off of the president's balcony, people thought it was part of the play since they did not hear the gun shot
• Afterwards, people began burning Booth scrapbooks and playbills with his name were scraped

 Info from http://home.att.net/~rjnorton/Lincoln/2.htm:

• Wilkes once said, "Our country owed all her troubles to him, and God simply made me the instrument of his punishment"
• The gypsy told him, "Ah, you've a bad hand; the lines of cris-cras! It's full enough of sorrow. Full of trouble. Trouble in plenty, everywhere I look. You'll break hearts, they'll be nothing to you. You'll die young, and leave many to mourn you, many to love you too, but you'll be rich, generous, and free with money. You're born under an unlucky star. You've got in your hand a thundering crowd of enemies - not one friend - you'll make a bad end, and have plenty to love you afterwards. You'll have a fast life - short, but a grand one. Now, young sir, I've never seen a worse hand, and I wish I hadn't seen it, but every word I've told is true by the signs. You'd best turn a missionary or a priest and try to escape it."
• 1850s, at St. Timothy's Hall, Wilkes had joined the Know-Nothing in politics, a group made to preserve the country for native white born-citizens; he gave up on school after his father died
• Asia Booth Clarke wrote that Wilkes once told her, "I must have fame! Fame!"
• He was 5'8", had jet black hair, ivory skin, lean, and athletic
• 1860, Wilkes earned $20 000 a year from acting; he was hailed as the "youngest tragedian in the world" after starring in Romeo and Juliet, The Apostate, The Marble Heart, The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, and MacBeth
• 1862, Wilkes was arrested for making anti-Union remarks in St. Louis; he later told Asia, "So help me God! My soul, life, and possessions are for the South."
• Summer of 1864, Wilkes stayed at McHenry House in Meadville, Pennsylvania; this was found on a window pane in the house shortly afterwards: "Abe Lincoln departed this life Aug. 13, 1864, by the effects of poison."
• November 1864, in a letter to his brother in law, Wilkes wrote, "This country was formed for the white not for the black man. And looking upon African slavery from the same stand-point, as held by those noble framers of our Constitution, I for one, have ever considered it, one of the greatest blessings (both for themselves and us) that God ever bestowed upon a favoured nation."
• Wilkes' assassination group consisted of Michael O'Laughlen, Samuel Arnold, Lewis Powell (Paine), John Surrett, David Herold, and George Atzerodt; Wilkes met with them at Gautier's Restaurant on Pennsylvania Avenue 3 blocks from Ford's Theatre
• Samuel B. Arnold said on December 20, 1902 that "He (Booth) became a monomaniac on the success of the Confederate arms, a condition which generally follows when a man's thoughts are constantly centered upon one subject alone."
• 1864, Wilkes met 16-year old Isabel Sumner and exchanged photos and letters with her; he gave Isabel a ring with "J.W.B. to I.S." inscribed on it; when he was sick, Isabel sent him flowers
• 1865, Wilkes became involved with Lucy Lambert Hale, daughter of New Hampshire's abolitionist former senator, John Parker Hale
• March 1865, Wilkes secretly became engaged with Lucy; Lucy invited him to Lincoln's second inauguration speech
• Wilkes later said, "What an excellent chance I had to kill the president, if I had wished, on inauguration day!"; Lucy was seen with Booth in National Hotel the day of the assassination
• April 11^th, after Lincoln's speech where he says, "on the very day intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers", Wilkes responded with, "Now, by God! I'll put him through. That is the last speech he will ever make."… and it was…
• "For six months we had worked to capture. But, our cause being almost lost, something decisive and great must be done."
• Asia once wrote that she knew "that my hero (JWB) was a spy, a blockade-runner, a rebel… I knew that he was today what he had been since childhood, an ardent lover of the South and her policy, an upholder of Southern principles. He was a man so single in his devotion, so unswerving in his principles, that he would yield everything for the cause he espoused."

IvanF Y2kk 2000