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00:04Tonight, the conspiracy that led to the first assassination of an American president.
00:10A single gunshot rings out through the theater, followed by screaming.
00:15A man in black lands on the stage, and before they know it, he's ridden off into the night.
00:22By the next morning, John Wilkes Booth is a wanted man.
00:25He's a national fugitive.
00:27But it's soon apparent that this assassination is more than just the act of a lone gunman.
00:33There are some basic facts that are absolutely known.
00:36Booth was the gunman that killed Lincoln.
00:38There was also a conspirator who attempted to kill the Secretary of State, William Seward.
00:43And this starts not only the largest manhunt in American history, but also sparks off one of the largest conspiracies.
00:50Now, we explore the top theories surrounding the plot to kill Abraham Lincoln.
00:56Now, many people believe that someone more powerful than Booth was giving the orders.
01:01She believed that Johnson was in on it because he had the most to gain by her husband's death.
01:06They saw Lincoln as enemy number one.
01:09Was there a mastermind or secret organization behind the plan to kill Abraham Lincoln?
01:15And if so, who was it?
01:32It's a pleasant 70-degree spring day in the nation's capital.
01:37Good Friday, the start of Easter weekend.
01:39Good Friday, Washington, D.C. is a jubilant place.
01:46First, they get news that Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, has fallen to U.S. troops.
01:53Then, as Lee makes his way south, he surrenders to Grant at Appomattox on April 9th.
02:03Even though the war isn't technically completely over, everybody knows it's just a matter of time now.
02:10The Confederacy is defeated.
02:14There's peace ahead.
02:18On April 14, 1865, it's said that Lincoln awakens in probably one of the best moods he's ever been in.
02:25That evening, he's going to be going to a play at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. called Our American
02:32Cousin.
02:33There's just a moment of national release that's playing out in microcosm in the theater there.
02:38This is Lincoln's highest moment in some ways in terms of joy of celebration.
02:44It sort of peaks.
02:46But the spirit of celebration will be short-lived.
02:51Around 10 p.m., an audience member looks up at the president's box and notices a man with dark hair
02:57and a nicely groomed mustache making his way towards the president's box.
03:03There was a funny line on the stage, a big swelling of laughter, and in the middle of it all,
03:10there's this very loud popping sound.
03:13The First Lady lets out a terrible scream.
03:16Something bad has happened to the president.
03:18He's clearly unconscious, but nobody at first can tell how he has been injured.
03:23According to Harry Hawke, a stage actor who's performing that night, he hears the assailant yell,
03:28Six Semper Tyrannus, which in Latin stands for Thus Always to Tyrants.
03:32The assailant then jumps from the president's box onto the stage, but as he's jumping, he catches his foot on
03:40a bunting,
03:40and he lands a bit awkwardly on stage.
03:43He then shouts that the South shall be free before running off the stage, out a side exit, and disappearing
03:50from the theater.
03:51A doctor rushes to the booth, and initially he believes that the president's been stabbed.
03:56But then the doctor is able to find a small wound in the back of his head.
04:00Then they know that this is a gunshot wound.
04:02People notice the moment that this assassin jumps onto the stage who he is, and they realize he's an actor.
04:09He's a very well-known actor.
04:12That is none other than John Wilkes Booth.
04:16While the stunned audience tries to make sense of what just happened, there's more chaos less than a mile away.
04:24Across town, you have a man knock at the Secretary of State William Seward's house.
04:28And when he gets close to Seward's room, he pulls out a knife and he starts slashing.
04:32He stabs and slashes Seward multiple times, and then runs out of the house himself.
04:37Remarkably, Seward survives the attack because he's wearing a metal neck brace, which stops the assailant from outright killing him.
04:46The president is carried across the street to a boarding house, and he's brought there so that physicians can provide
04:52care for him.
04:53The bullet has passed through his brain and lodged itself at the back of his right eye.
04:59Lincoln never regains consciousness, and at 7.22 a.m. on April 15th, the president is declared dead.
05:08Secretary of War Edwin Stanton swings into action very quickly, and he orders that the city is sealed off.
05:13He also orders the arrest of any man, woman, or child attempting to cross a bridge to escape from the
05:19city.
05:19The news of Lincoln's assassination spreads across the country by both newspaper and telegraph, and millions in the country are
05:28reeling.
05:29What is absolutely clear is that John Wilkes Booth was the man responsible, and that there was another attack taking
05:38place at the exact same time, and that could not be a coincidence.
05:43Attention is directed toward the state of Maryland. This is where Booth is from.
05:47Investigators quickly run down Sam Arnold, who was a known confidant of John Wilkes Booth, and a previous conspiracy to
05:55strike out against the president.
05:57But he then bowed out because he didn't want to be associated with it.
06:01In the aftermath of the attack on Lincoln, they discover that Booth had frequented a local boarding house that was
06:11owned and operated by Mary Surratt.
06:13And Mary Surratt was a Confederate sympathizing woman from Maryland.
06:18So as authorities are interviewing Mary Surratt, she's saying she doesn't know anyone, she doesn't know anything about this.
06:25There's a knock on the door, and when they open the door, there's a man standing there with a pickaxe
06:30in his hand, a man by the name of Louis Powell.
06:33Powell also matches the physical description for the man who violently attacked Seward a few days earlier.
06:39So the big question is who's responsible for this conspiracy, and a good place to start is with the man
06:44who fired a shot that night, and who is also still on the run.
06:53Booth is a major Confederate sympathizer.
06:57On top of that, Booth is a staunch advocate for slavery and believes that all abolitionists are treasonous individuals.
07:04What makes Booth different is he uses his platform from the stage to eventually denounce everything that Lincoln stands for,
07:14basically calls for the death of abolitionists.
07:17He does all of this from the stage.
07:20Booth comes from a famous acting family, and over the last decade, he's become a star.
07:25He's toured extensively, even during the war, almost always to critical acclaim.
07:32As the alleged conspirators are rounded up, they start to talk, of course.
07:36All of them start to point the finger at Booth.
07:40Given all of Booth's actions, his words up to this point, he almost surely appears to be the ringleader.
07:45John Wilkes Booth told people when he was trying to enlist their help in this plot,
07:51he said, we're just going to capture the president.
07:56Shortly thereafter, Booth attends a speech of Lincoln's, where Lincoln's really espousing these notions of the future of free black
08:04people in America and all the rights that they should have.
08:08That sort of keyed into Booth's mind, and he said, that's the last speech he will ever make.
08:14It is often said that that's the turning point.
08:18From that moment on, there is no doubt in Booth's mind that he's not going to capture the president.
08:26He's going to kill him.
08:29So as Booth decides he needs to kill Lincoln, the plot turns to not just killing Lincoln, but also killing
08:35Lincoln's main cabinet.
08:37So he wants to kill Lincoln's vice president, Andrew Johnson, his secretary of state, William Seward, and one of his
08:44major generals, General Grant.
08:46Vice President Johnson is spared that night, and that's simply because of the man who was assigned to carry out
08:52his assassination,
08:53gets cold feet at the last minute, and abandons the plot.
08:58If the effort had not been abandoned, the idea of decapitating the U.S. government so that the Confederacy would
09:05have a chance to resurrect itself, that might have actually become a reality.
09:10Federal officials offer a $100,000 reward, but 10 days after the assassination, there's still no sign of John Wilkes
09:20Booth.
09:20After Booth jumps from the president's box, he's still able to escape the theater and then ride out of D
09:26.C. on horseback that night.
09:28Shortly thereafter, he rendezvous with another co-conspirator named David Herold.
09:32They met a few years earlier after his show.
09:35He's swept into the web of Booth.
09:3712 days after the assassination, a detachment from the 16th New York Cavalry finally caught up with Booth and Harold
09:46at a farm just outside of Port Royal, Virginia.
09:52When the soldiers and detectives arrive at the barn and tell the men that they've got them surrounded, Harold gives
09:59up and walks right out of the barn.
10:02But Booth refuses and stays in the barn.
10:05The barn is then lit on fire, but within all of the commotion, a soldier fires his weapon and shoots
10:10Booth in the neck.
10:12He died about the same time of day that Lincoln had died, 12 days earlier, and that was the end
10:19of John Wilkes Booth.
10:22Investigators must now piece together the conspiracy puzzle without the most prominent suspect.
10:28The man who shot Lincoln is now dead, but this hydra of conspirators is still alive and in captivity.
10:38By the end of April 1865, eight people had been publicly identified and were preparing to stand trial as co
10:48-conspirators to the Lincoln assassination.
10:52Unlike most crimes committed by civilians, these conspirators would not be tried in front of a civilian court.
10:58This would be a military tribunal.
11:00This includes people like Sam Arnold, Lewis Powell, Mary Surratt, David Harreld, Dr. Samuel Mudd.
11:08You also have a man by the name of George Atzerrod.
11:10George Atzerrod was the man who was tasked to kill the vice president, Andrew Johnson, that night.
11:16At this point in time, all of the evidence points to John Wilkes Booth.
11:21One of Booth's friends, Sam Arnold, who was part of the plot to kidnap Lincoln, fingered Booth as the leader
11:30of the party.
11:31The key point about this conspiracy is that the prosecution set forth the idea that John Wilkes Booth put all
11:39these people together.
11:40He's the one who managed to rally their support.
11:43But there was always speculation as to whether or not he really was the mastermind or was he merely the
11:51puppet.
11:55On May 12, 1865, testimony begins in the trial of eight defendants accused of conspiring to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln.
12:06In the coming weeks, over 300 witnesses will take the stand and the stakes are high.
12:12Guilty verdicts could mean the gallows.
12:16Prosecutors start laying out their case for each person one at a time.
12:20When it comes to Lewis Powell, the argument made by his lawyer is not that he's not guilty,
12:27but it's that he's so passionate and so moved by the idea of a confederacy that it literally drove him
12:36to insanity.
12:38George Atzerodt, who was assigned to assassinate Vice President Johnson, he eventually abandons the mission, gets drunk, and stumbles around
12:45the streets of the city.
12:46And his argument is that he was too cowardly to carry out the crime.
12:51David Harreld, the man who assisted Booth's escape, he stands very little chance in trial,
12:56considering that he was found in the barn with John Wilkes Booth.
13:00Mary Surratt is presented as being a ringleader by providing a place for the co-conspirators to assemble.
13:08She denies her guilt in the conspiracy throughout all of this.
13:13Her son, John Surratt, is one of the co-conspirators, but the only one who manages to escape the country
13:18after the crime is committed.
13:22David Harreld, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, and Mary Surratt are all found guilty and hanged.
13:30Three other conspirators are sentenced to life in prison, including Dr. Samuel Mudd and Sam Arnold.
13:37But Arnold is pardoned in 1869.
13:41All told, we have ten total conspirators who are civilians.
13:44You have the eight who have been tried.
13:45You have John Wilkes Booth, who, of course, is dead.
13:47And then you have John Surratt, who at this point is on the lam in Canada, soon to make his
13:52way to Europe.
13:53But federal authorities and northern newspapers have their eye on a bigger target.
13:59The conspirators who are on trial are asked about not only just their role in the conspiracy,
14:04but whether or not it went all the way up to the heights of the Confederate government.
14:09April 2nd, 1865, Jefferson Davis flees the city of Richmond.
14:14The city falls the next day to the Union Army.
14:19He makes his way down into North Carolina with part of the Confederate government.
14:24Unlike Robert E. Lee, who told his soldiers just to go home and be citizens,
14:28Jefferson Davis is one to keep this fight alive.
14:33After Lincoln's assassination, the pressure on the Confederate leadership increases.
14:37In fact, President Johnson offers a $100,000 reward for the capture of Jefferson Davis.
14:44So while Booth was a trigger man, you have members of the media, members of the government,
14:48and American citizens firmly believing that the mastermind behind the plot was none other than the Confederate president.
15:01By the summer of 1864, nearly a year before the Lincoln assassination,
15:07the Confederate government is in dire straits, both militarily and financially.
15:12A lot of people think that in Jefferson Davis' mind by this point,
15:16especially after Lee surrenders, is if he's going to win this, he's got to make a huge swing.
15:21He has to take out the head of the Union government.
15:24Author and researcher, John C. Fazio, argues that if one follows Booth's movements
15:31in the months leading up to the assassination, the trail leads directly to Jefferson Davis.
15:38John C. Fazio maintains that Booth was actually a part of the Confederate Secret Service,
15:46that he was a spy, and Fazio talks about Booth making trips to places to drum up support for the
15:54Confederacy,
15:54including places like Montreal, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. as well.
16:02He makes this trip to Montreal in late 1864, which on the surface, okay.
16:05But when he returns to Washington, D.C., he deposits $1,500 in the bank,
16:11which would be $30,000 today, and there's no really accounting for where he got this.
16:15Fazio claims that the movement of money and meetings with all of these high-ranking Confederate officials
16:20indicates that there was an operation that was known about,
16:25and that was also approved by the heads of the Confederacy.
16:29According to Fazio's research, Booth's co-conspirator, John Surratt,
16:35went to Richmond, the Confederate capital,
16:37and met with top leaders in March 1865, perhaps even with Davis himself.
16:44Fazio finds evidence of John Surratt returning to Mary Surratt's boarding house
16:49with a large quantity of money,
16:51and he believes that what this indicates is that Surratt had gone to Richmond,
16:56he came back to Washington, D.C. to the boarding house
16:59with instructions to carry out the assassinations
17:02and the money to get the job done.
17:05We know that Lincoln was killed in 1865,
17:08but what starts to come out is that the death of Lincoln,
17:10the attack on Lincoln, could have been a part of a larger plot
17:13to take out the Union government.
17:18In early 1865, before the trial,
17:22President Andrew Johnson himself issues a proclamation
17:25claiming the crimes of April 14th were incited
17:28and procured by Jefferson Davis.
17:32Union forces finally captured Jefferson Davis on May 10th,
17:36just a couple days before they're going to try these conspirators.
17:41Although some people at trial indicate that Jefferson Davis
17:45was the ultimate authority for this operation,
17:47the government's case against him fizzles
17:50when some of the details that these witnesses provide
17:53proved to go nowhere,
17:54and they're contradicted by other evidence.
17:58None of Davis's closest associates
18:00believe he would have ordered Lincoln's assassination.
18:04On the surface, it may be very easy to believe
18:07that Jefferson Davis would have wanted Lincoln killed,
18:11but when you look at their personalities,
18:13you see that there's a good deal of mutual respect between them.
18:19But there's also the hard fact that if Lincoln dies,
18:22his vice president, Andrew Johnson, is going to come in,
18:25and it's well known that Jefferson Davis
18:27and so many other Southerners cannot stand Andrew Johnson
18:30because Andrew Johnson is a Southern Unionist.
18:32They see him as a traitor.
18:34They don't want him to be their new president.
18:36But there are still those who believe
18:38that Davis and his men are responsible.
18:42Given Booth and Surratt's suspicious activities,
18:45a lot of people continue to speculate
18:47and point the fingers at Jefferson Davis.
18:5419th century newspaper editor Horace Greeley
18:57once estimated that Abraham Lincoln received
19:00more than 10,000 death threats
19:03over his four years as president.
19:05For Lincoln, the specter of assassination was always present.
19:10The hate for Lincoln ran deep in the South.
19:13You have Southerners taking out newspaper ads
19:15where they're offering money to kill Lincoln.
19:18You have Southerners actually sending candied fruits
19:20to the White House.
19:21They're poisoned.
19:23Assassination attempts begin almost immediately
19:26after Lincoln's victory in the election of 1860.
19:29These include a plot to kill him
19:33as he travels from Illinois to Washington
19:35for his inauguration.
19:36This trip requires changing trains
19:39in a city rife with Confederate sympathizers.
19:42Baltimore, Maryland.
19:44At that time in our nation's past,
19:46we did not have a deep security apparatus
19:50around the president.
19:51His allies and his advisors are so worried about Lincoln.
19:54They bring in this guy named Alan Pinkerton.
19:56They bring him in to really watch out for Lincoln
19:59and try to root out any attempts on Lincoln's life.
20:03Pinkerton finds out that there's a group of conspirators
20:06in Baltimore who are planning to assassinate Lincoln
20:09when he makes it to the city.
20:11But his operatives infiltrate the group,
20:15including a young woman by the name of Kate Warren,
20:17who's considered to be the first female private detective
20:20in U.S. history.
20:22Pinkerton and Warren learn that the assassins,
20:25who are using Lincoln's published schedule,
20:28plan to form a mob to ambush him
20:31when he changes trains in Baltimore.
20:33The ruse becomes that Lincoln is posing
20:35as a sick and older person
20:38who's dependent on a caretaker,
20:40and that's Kate Warren.
20:41Kate Warren has him abandon his characteristic hat
20:44in favor of a beaver hat,
20:46and they change to a different train station.
20:49The disguised Lincoln arrives in Baltimore at 3.30 a.m.
20:53and makes the mile-long trip across town
20:56to his connecting train.
20:58He arrives safely in Washington at 6 a.m.
21:02The group that was supposedly going to carry out
21:04this assassination attempt are now foiled.
21:06However, there are some researchers who do suggest
21:09that this same group
21:10will try to take Lincoln out once again.
21:13An even deeper current of this is
21:16these conspirators were supposedly a part
21:18of this much larger organization
21:22that had deep roots throughout the South and the North.
21:26And some people argue that Booth
21:28was actually a part of their ranks
21:30and that when he fired that bullet in the Lincoln's head,
21:33he was doing so under their orders.
21:40In the 1850s,
21:42the idea of a secret society was all the rage.
21:47And there was a man named
21:48George Washington Lafayette Bickley.
21:51He hit upon the idea of creating an organization
21:55that he would call the Knights of the Golden Circle.
21:59These folks were absolutely dedicated to two things,
22:03preservation of slavery
22:04and the establishment of a perpetual slave society
22:08that would unite Mexico, the Caribbean,
22:11and the American South.
22:13Their plan was to invade Mexico
22:14and make Mexico a part of the Confederate States of America
22:18and continue to push forward.
22:19And then they would align with the Caribbean nations
22:21that had not yet abolished slavery.
22:23And together, they would create a superpower.
22:26Bickley is quite successful.
22:28Thousands of young men sign up
22:29and are recruited by him
22:30to join the Knights of the Golden Circle.
22:33It's easy to just assume
22:35groups like this were relegated to the South.
22:37That wasn't the case.
22:38People in the North felt this way, too.
22:40In his 2013 book,
22:42The Knights of the Golden Circle,
22:44researcher David Keene describes this secret society,
22:48also known as the KGC.
22:51In 1859,
22:52a group of actors in Richmond, Virginia
22:55is captivated by this clandestine organization.
22:58One of them is 20-year-old John Wilkes Booth.
23:03It's not beyond the pale to wonder
23:05whether he was one of these conspirators
23:07or actually helped with this 1861 attempt
23:09in Baltimore, Maryland, his home state.
23:12But once the Civil War starts,
23:14the mission of the KGC changes.
23:16It's no longer about invading a foreign nation.
23:19It's now about protecting Southern secession
23:22and the right to own slaves.
23:24At the end of the war,
23:25they imprisoned Bickley
23:27because they had found evidence
23:28that the KGC members knew about this plot
23:31to kill Lincoln before it even happened.
23:34Judge Henry Burnett,
23:36who presides over the trial of the co-conspirators,
23:38he'll go on to say that the footprints
23:40of the Knights of the Golden Circle
23:41is all over the trial.
23:42It's believed that before 1865,
23:45the KGC actually incorporates its intent
23:49to assassinate the president
23:51and his cabinet
23:52into the oath sworn by its members.
23:55But whether or not this secret society
23:58was the driving force behind Lincoln's assassination
24:01remains an open question.
24:03If Booth is actually receiving instructions
24:05from the Knights of the Golden Circle,
24:07it would suggest that the assassination
24:09of President Abraham Lincoln
24:10is not just some wanton act of revenge,
24:13but it's part of a coherent plot
24:16to secure the interests
24:17of the Knights of the Golden Circle
24:18and the future of the South.
24:20Given their secrecy,
24:22it's really hard to truly know
24:24all of the KGC's activities
24:26in the spring of 1865
24:27and their true size for that matter.
24:30While it is tantalizing
24:31to want to pin the assassination plot
24:34on a group like this
24:35without proper and true evidence to prove it,
24:39it's all circumstantial at best.
24:44November 1864.
24:47A meeting allegedly takes place
24:49in New York City
24:50at the opulent Fifth Avenue mansion
24:52of super-rich financier August Belmont.
24:56In his 2004 book,
24:59Murdering Mr. Lincoln,
25:00biographer Charles Hyam argues
25:03that the main agenda of the meeting
25:05is to plot the assassination
25:07of the president.
25:08And among those in attendance
25:10is John Wilkes Booth.
25:13While the majority of hatred
25:16towards Lincoln
25:17comes primarily from Southerners,
25:19in places like New York,
25:21you have groups of people
25:24that are called Peace Democrats.
25:27They're nicknamed Copperheads
25:29after the snake
25:30because many on the Union side
25:32consider them to be
25:33treacherous snakes.
25:36They didn't think Lincoln
25:37was doing things right.
25:39They thought that the war needed to end.
25:41And if that meant that the South
25:42should be able to secede,
25:44so be it.
25:46Others argue that they're racist
25:49because part of the secession
25:51is to keep slavery.
25:54And so there's dual arguments
25:57as to who were these
25:59Peace, quote, Democrats.
26:01Another massive problem
26:03that these Northern Peace Democrats
26:06have with Lincoln
26:07is a financial one.
26:09And this is where we get into
26:11August Belmont.
26:13August Belmont is
26:14a fascinating individual.
26:16He was born Aaron Schaumburg
26:18in what is today Germany.
26:21He becomes the agent
26:22of the Rothschild
26:24International Banking Operation
26:25and then eventually
26:26immigrates to the United States
26:28before the American Civil War
26:29and becomes a member
26:30of the Democratic Party.
26:33When Belmont moved to America,
26:35he remained aligned
26:36with the Rothschilds,
26:37and some suggest
26:38that that's where
26:39his anti-Lincoln sentiment begins.
26:41Because apparently,
26:43when the Rothschilds
26:44offer up these
26:45high-interest loans
26:46as a way to fund the war,
26:48Lincoln said no.
26:50There are also people
26:51that are affiliated
26:52with the cotton industry
26:53that have it out for Lincoln as well
26:54because they believe
26:55that he is messing
26:57with their finances.
27:00Historian Charles Higgum
27:01has argued that
27:02there was this meeting
27:03that Belmont held
27:04in 1864 at his home.
27:05And at this meeting,
27:07a lot of wealthy men
27:08in the North
27:08had a real axe to grind.
27:10The meeting is described
27:12in a letter
27:12that's sent to the Secretary of War,
27:14Edwin Stanton,
27:15six months after it takes place.
27:17The letter points to the idea
27:18that the plot
27:19to assassinate Lincoln
27:21doesn't come from
27:22a Confederate sympathizer
27:23or even the Confederate side.
27:25It comes from the Union side.
27:31According to this letter,
27:33the meeting is attended
27:34by some of America's richest
27:36and most influential power players.
27:39August Belmont's
27:40one of the richest people
27:41in the United States.
27:43He's a racehorse owner.
27:44He is the namesake
27:47for the Belmont Stakes,
27:49which is run at Belmont Park
27:50in New York.
27:52Allegedly, George McClellan
27:54was at the same meeting.
27:55Now, George McClellan
27:56definitely has an axe
27:57to grind with Lincoln,
27:58but for different reasons.
28:00After the Battle of Antietam
28:01in 1862,
28:02Lincoln had stripped him
28:04of his leadership
28:05of the Union Army.
28:07Other prominent men
28:08at the meeting
28:08allegedly include
28:09the pro-South
28:11former mayor of New York
28:12and now U.S. Congressman Fernando Wood.
28:15Wood, when he was mayor of New York,
28:17believed that New York City
28:18should have also seceded
28:20from the Union.
28:20You also have Charles Haswell,
28:22who is a wealthy ship designer.
28:24They're all coming together.
28:25They're meeting in this room.
28:26But most importantly,
28:28allegedly,
28:29John Wilkes Booth
28:30might have joined
28:31their group as well.
28:33Belmont actually
28:34was someone who raised
28:35large sums of money
28:37for McClellan's
28:37presidential campaign
28:38in an attempt to unseat
28:40Lincoln from power.
28:41He also launched
28:42a campaign
28:43to disseminate
28:44anti-Lincoln
28:45and anti-emancipation
28:47proclamation propaganda.
28:48The meeting
28:49is not the only evidence
28:50of a plot
28:51allegedly involving
28:52Belmont and McClellan.
28:55McClellan's secretary
28:56writes in his diary
28:58about a month
28:59before the meeting
29:00of the Copperheads
29:01about an encounter
29:02he has
29:03with Alan Pinkerton.
29:05Pinkerton comes
29:06and interviews
29:07McClellan's secretary
29:09and he asks
29:10McClellan's secretary
29:11if he knows anything.
29:12The secretary
29:13says he doesn't.
29:14Pinkerton then tells him
29:15well I think it's
29:16McClellan and his friends
29:17so your boss
29:19is up to something
29:20and we've got
29:21an eye on you.
29:23The Democratic
29:24Convention of 1864
29:25was very volatile,
29:27very violent
29:27in rhetoric at least.
29:29Talking about
29:30the need
29:31to not re-elect
29:32Lincoln,
29:32the need to
29:33get him out of office
29:34and if we cannot
29:35do it
29:36by the ballot
29:38then it's going
29:39to happen
29:39by the bullet.
29:42Given the level
29:43of anti-Lincoln
29:44sentiment in the North
29:45it's not surprising
29:46that Belmont
29:47and others
29:48might have made
29:49menacing statements
29:50but for some historians
29:52it's Booth's
29:53surprise attendance
29:54at the alleged
29:55November meeting
29:56that signifies
29:57their talk
29:58may have turned
29:59to action.
30:00George Atzerott
30:01made a confession
30:03which was lost
30:03and then later
30:04discovered in 1977
30:05that while in New York
30:07he saw Booth
30:08giving a secret
30:09hand signal
30:09to two people.
30:11George Atzerott
30:12confesses that
30:13Booth met with
30:14a quote-unquote
30:15party in New York
30:16and that they were
30:17going to get
30:18the president for sure.
30:19This was a plot
30:20to blow up
30:20the White House
30:21with Lincoln in it
30:22as well as his captain.
30:24Now it isn't
30:25that much of a leap
30:25for this group
30:26of people to turn
30:27to Booth
30:27to come up
30:28with a more direct
30:29and less messy method.
30:31Rumors about
30:32August Belmont's
30:33supposed connection
30:34to Lincoln's assassination
30:35run wild
30:37in 1865.
30:39Biographer David Black
30:40has argued that
30:41Belmont did indeed
30:42have something
30:42to do with this
30:43but Belmont
30:44always vehemently
30:45denied this
30:46and there's no
30:46real hard evidence
30:47to this.
30:48Booth told people
30:50that there were
30:50far more people
30:51involved in the plot
30:53maybe 50 to 100.
30:55It's possible
30:55that Booth
30:56created this
30:57in his own mind
30:58to make himself
30:58feel bigger.
31:00Many of the people
31:00who eventually
31:01were tried
31:02do allude to the fact
31:03that they felt
31:04they didn't know
31:04all the pieces
31:05of what was going on
31:08even in the plot
31:09they were part of.
31:13The investigation
31:14of Abraham Lincoln's
31:15assassination
31:16at Ford's Theater
31:17doesn't end
31:18with the trial
31:19of his conspirators.
31:20The monumental nature
31:22of the crime
31:23and the many questions
31:24remaining
31:25lead to decade
31:26after decade
31:27of Lincoln conspiracy
31:28research and speculation
31:30including a controversial
31:32book that 72 years
31:35after the fact
31:35makes a startling claim.
31:38In 1937
31:40a book is released
31:41called
31:41Why Was Lincoln Murdered?
31:43This book is written
31:44by Civil War historian
31:46Otto Eisenschimmel.
31:47The Eisenschimmel
31:48is a chemist
31:49by trade
31:50but he's
31:51fascinated
31:52by the Civil War era
31:53and through his research
31:55he comes to the conclusion
31:57in his book
31:58that it wasn't
31:59John Wilkes Booth
32:00that led the plot
32:01to kill Lincoln
32:02it was in fact
32:03Lincoln's own
32:04Secretary of War
32:06Edwin Stanton.
32:12Eisenschimmel's case
32:13is entirely circumstantial.
32:15He doesn't have
32:15a smoking gun
32:16but he nevertheless
32:17points to evidence
32:18like Grant's
32:19failure to attend
32:20Ford's theater
32:21the night of the
32:22assassination attempt.
32:24Grant is originally
32:25set to accompany
32:26the Lincolns
32:26to Ford's theater
32:27that night
32:28but drops out
32:29at the last minute.
32:31The author claims
32:32that Secretary of War
32:33Stanton
32:34convinced Grant
32:35to refuse
32:36Lincoln's invitation.
32:37Stanton argued
32:38that having
32:39the victorious commander
32:40and the president
32:41together at the same
32:42public function
32:43would present
32:44a security risk.
32:45When Grant
32:46decides to go
32:47to New Jersey
32:48Stanton seems
32:49a bit more lax
32:50about Lincoln's
32:52security detail
32:52that night.
32:53Eisenschimmel
32:54also alleges
32:55that Lincoln
32:56personally requests
32:57to have one
32:58of his best
32:58bodyguards
32:59Eckert be with him
33:00the night of the play.
33:02Eckert is a very
33:03strong guy.
33:04It's even rumored
33:04they can break
33:05fire pokers
33:06you know
33:06with just his bare hands
33:07and Stanton says
33:08no he can't go
33:09to the theater.
33:10Why can't he
33:11go to the theater?
33:12He has very important
33:13work to do that night.
33:15With Lincoln's
33:17preferred bodyguard
33:18unavailable
33:18Washington police
33:20patrolman
33:20John Frederick Parker
33:22one of four officers
33:24assigned to
33:24White House
33:25details
33:25steps in.
33:27Allegedly Parker
33:28had a checkered
33:28history
33:29allegations of
33:31activity
33:31unbecoming
33:32of an officer.
33:33One point
33:33allegedly in 1864
33:35he got himself
33:35mixed up in a brothel
33:36and fired his pistol
33:37through a window.
33:39Parker is
33:40mysteriously
33:41not there
33:42to protect Lincoln
33:43on that evening.
33:44What had actually
33:46happened was
33:46John Frederick Parker
33:47had gone across
33:47the street
33:48to the bar
33:49with Lincoln's
33:50valet
33:50his coach driver.
33:51A bar
33:52coincidentally
33:53which is where
33:54John Wilkes Booth
33:55is also physically
33:56present
33:56tying on a few
33:57drinks to give him
33:58some liquid courage
33:58to go and carry out
33:59the assassination.
34:03Isenshimel believes
34:04that Stanton's
34:05denying the president's
34:06request about Eckert
34:07and giving him
34:08Parker instead
34:08was paving
34:10the way for
34:11and making it
34:11easier for Booth
34:13to carry out
34:13the crime.
34:14If you wanted
34:15to go with
34:15Isenshimel's
34:16theory you could
34:17look at what
34:17Stanton does
34:18afterwards.
34:19Parker has a slap
34:20on the wrist
34:21he's never even
34:22officially noted
34:23in the assassination
34:24report
34:25and then he's still
34:26on White House
34:26detail after this.
34:28Some believe
34:29this all points
34:30to Stanton
34:31orchestrating
34:32an assassination plot
34:33and there's
34:34even more
34:35suspicious behavior
34:36after the murder.
34:38Booth and David
34:39Harreld were both
34:40somehow able
34:41to make an escape.
34:43The bridges
34:43were supposed
34:44to be secured
34:44by the Union Army.
34:45How they managed
34:46to get through
34:47that night
34:48across the bridges
34:49was of real concern
34:50to Isenshimel
34:50and so he believed
34:51that somehow
34:52this pointed
34:52to a larger
34:54conspiracy.
34:56The author
34:56also questions
34:57the handling
34:58of the standoff
34:59between Booth
35:00and Union soldiers
35:01in Virginia.
35:03Stanton had ordered
35:05that Booth
35:05be taken alive.
35:07His death then
35:08at least to Isenshimel
35:10proves that
35:11this assassination
35:12plot inside job
35:13has been carried
35:13out perfectly
35:14because now
35:15Booth can't possibly
35:17provide any testimony
35:18in any trial.
35:20So if you follow
35:21this theory
35:21this is Stanton
35:22just tying up
35:23loose ends
35:23and he continues
35:24to do so
35:24by pushing
35:25for the military trial
35:26of the co-conspirators.
35:28When published
35:29in 1937
35:30Why Was Lincoln Murdered
35:32causes an uproar.
35:34Critics ask
35:35why would Stanton
35:36do this?
35:37Now when it comes
35:38to Lincoln
35:39and Stanton's
35:40actual relationship
35:41this has always
35:41been a matter
35:42of debate.
35:43For starters
35:44Stanton was not
35:44a supporter
35:45of Lincoln
35:45in 1860
35:46in the election
35:47he was actually
35:47a supporter
35:48of his opponent
35:48John Breckinridge.
35:50The authors
35:50suggest Stanton
35:51was worried
35:52Lincoln would fire
35:53him once the war
35:54ended.
35:55If he could cause
35:56chaos and confusion
35:57with an assassination
35:58then perhaps
35:59he could maintain
36:00control of the army
36:01and consolidate
36:02power.
36:03But skeptics
36:04see a problem
36:05with this theory.
36:07The two men
36:08had buried
36:08all their differences
36:09during the war
36:10and following
36:11Lincoln's assassination
36:12it was said
36:13to have deeply
36:14deeply affected
36:15Stanton
36:15for quite some time.
36:21Approximately seven hours
36:22before the assassination
36:24of Abraham Lincoln
36:25John Wilkes Booth
36:27pays a visit
36:28to the Kirkwood
36:29House Hotel.
36:30It's not just
36:32any Washington Inn
36:33it happens to be
36:34the residence
36:35of Vice President
36:37Andrew Johnson.
36:38John Wilkes Booth
36:40asks whether or not
36:41the Vice President
36:42is there.
36:43The clerk at the desk
36:45says I'll check
36:46and he says
36:47oh wait a minute
36:47don't bother
36:49and he takes out
36:50a piece of paper
36:51and he writes
36:52don't wish to disturb you
36:54are you at home
36:55J. Wilkes Booth.
36:57This cryptic note
36:59never gets to
37:00Johnson that day
37:01but it fuels
37:02two questions
37:03that remain unanswered.
37:05Why was Booth
37:06reaching out
37:06to the Vice President
37:07and why would they
37:09appear to know
37:10each other?
37:11George Atzeroth
37:12the man
37:12who was apparently
37:13tasked with killing
37:14Vice President
37:16Andrew Johnson
37:16was also staying
37:17at the same hotel
37:18as Johnson
37:19but he ends up
37:20not going through
37:20the assassination
37:21because he ends up
37:21getting cold feet.
37:22Some people believe
37:23that Booth
37:24was doing this
37:25simply because
37:26he was concerned
37:27that Atzeroth
37:27might not carry out
37:28the crime
37:28and he was laying
37:29a framework for him
37:30to do the job
37:31later on
37:31if necessary.
37:33But there's also
37:34then a belief
37:34that it could be
37:35just Booth
37:36leaving this little
37:37piece of evidence
37:38that would suggest
37:40a conspiracy
37:41that also involves
37:42the U.S. Vice President.
37:48Some historians wonder
37:49whether John Wilkes Booth
37:51and Andrew Johnson
37:52had met.
37:53Well there's some
37:54circumstantial evidence
37:55there that suggests
37:56that maybe they had
37:56because Johnson
37:58is from Tennessee
37:59and we know
38:00that John Wilkes Booth
38:02performed at the
38:03newly opened
38:04Woods Theater
38:04in 1864 there.
38:07Now at the time
38:08of the assassination
38:09plenty of people
38:10think that Johnson
38:10is involved
38:11including Abraham
38:12Lincoln's widow
38:13Mary Todd Lincoln.
38:14In fact
38:14in a letter
38:15that she wrote
38:16in 1866
38:17she writes
38:18that miserable
38:19inebriate Johnson
38:20had cognizance
38:21of my husband's death.
38:23She goes on to say
38:24as sure as you
38:25and I live
38:25Johnson had some
38:27hand in all of this.
38:28In 1867
38:30Missouri representative
38:31Benjamin Lone
38:32publicly accuses
38:34Johnson
38:34of conspiring
38:35with the Confederacy
38:37to assassinate
38:38Lincoln.
38:39Benjamin Lone
38:39says that
38:40Andrew Johnson
38:40only became president
38:41as a result
38:42of an assassination
38:43that was paid
38:44for by Confederate gold
38:45and the price
38:46that Johnson
38:47paid for his promotion
38:48was treachery.
38:52These suspicions
38:53are so serious
38:53that they eventually
38:54establish a body
38:55to investigate
38:56the extent
38:57to which
38:58Andrew Johnson
38:58may have been involved
38:59in the plot
39:00to assassinate
39:01Abraham Lincoln.
39:02What they find
39:03is that there
39:03is no concrete
39:04direct evidence
39:05that Andrew Johnson
39:06was involved
39:07with Booth
39:08or any of the planning
39:09related to the assassination.
39:11Even with the
39:11close investigation
39:12for some people
39:13it's hard to get past
39:14that that night
39:15of all three people
39:16who had anything
39:17to gain
39:17from Lincoln's assassination
39:19Andrew Johnson
39:20had the most
39:21because he'd be
39:22the next president.
39:23You could also argue
39:24that Booth
39:25leaves this note
39:26at the hotel
39:27because he actually
39:27does want to talk
39:28to Johnson
39:29because Johnson
39:30actually was
39:30the mastermind
39:31of the plan.
39:32There are a number
39:33of areas
39:34where Andrew Johnson's
39:36policy and decisions
39:37after the Lincoln
39:38assassination
39:39do make him
39:40look more suspect.
39:42One was his
39:43May 1865
39:44proclamation
39:45where he gives
39:47amnesty
39:47to most Confederate
39:49people involved
39:50in the American
39:50Civil War.
39:51That didn't do anything
39:53to help his public
39:53reputation
39:54in terms of
39:55Lincoln assassination.
39:56Had it not occurred
39:58there's all kinds
39:59of speculation
40:00of what kind
40:01of president
40:02would Lincoln
40:03have been
40:04given his full
40:04second term
40:05and we'll never know.
40:08That was stripped
40:08away from this
40:09by the conspirators.
40:12Johnson's
40:13one-term presidency
40:14is just filled
40:16with all these
40:16terrible political
40:17battles.
40:18Case in point,
40:19he tried to fire
40:20a member of his
40:20cabinet and because
40:21of that he was
40:22brought up on
40:22impeachment charges
40:23and he was saved
40:24from being convicted
40:25of impeachment
40:26by one vote.
40:28Many historians
40:29today regard
40:30President Andrew
40:31Johnson's one of
40:31the worst presidents
40:32in U.S. history.
40:33The president
40:34who started off
40:35Reconstruction
40:35and tried to veto
40:37any kind of
40:38Reconstruction
40:38legislation
40:39that would have
40:40had a positive
40:40effect on
40:41Black Americans.
40:43The Congressional
40:44Committee designed
40:45to investigate
40:46Johnson as to
40:47whether he had
40:47to hand the
40:47assassination
40:48doesn't come up
40:49with any real
40:50hard evidence
40:51to prove
40:52that he had
40:53a part of it
40:53outside of the
40:54note that Booth
40:55left in the
40:55mailbox.
40:56But even after
40:57that,
40:57many Americans,
40:59including Mary Todd
41:00Lincoln,
41:01still firmly believe
41:02that Johnson
41:03was a part of the
41:04plan.
41:08Abraham Lincoln
41:09was the first
41:10U.S. president
41:11to be assassinated
41:12and the shock
41:13continues to
41:14reverberate.
41:15More than a
41:16century and a
41:16half later,
41:17new books are
41:18being written
41:19about his life
41:19and death.
41:20The turmoil
41:21of Lincoln's time
41:22in some ways
41:23is still with us
41:24and so is the
41:26desire to know
41:27the truth
41:27about a
41:28conspiracy
41:29that left us
41:30forever changed
41:31as a nation.
41:33I'm Lawrence
41:34Fishburne.
41:35Thank you for
41:36watching
41:36History's Greatest
41:38Mysteries.
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