The life of Lincoln's killer

           Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated, his death was a shock and surprise that took the nation by storm. Although what was more surprising was the colpaert behind the assassination, it was none other than the famed stage actor John Wilkes Booth. Booth was born on May 10, 1838, near Bel Air, Maryland where he also grew up. Maryland was a slave state and was very anti-abolitionist. Therefore Booth grew up with these same views and developed a hatred for abolitionists figures, such as Lincoln. 

          By 17 Booth started his acting career and for the most part, carried out a normal life. Although by the 1850s he started to become more public with his political views by joining the Know-Nothing-Party and joining the Virginia militia which was very pro-slavery. Around this time was when Booth got involved with a conspiracy against Lincoln. This group conspiracy made their first attempt at harming Lincoln in March 1865 in Washington D.C. Although the president did not appear and the attempt was a failure. This greatly frustrated Booth and caused him to decide to take matters into his own hands. He wanted to take this conspiracy a step further, he decided he was going to assassinate Lincoln. On April 14th, 1865 Booth shot and killed Lincoln at the Peterson House in Washington D.C. Directly after Booth killed Lincoln he leaped onto the stage and yelled "Sic Semper tyrannis!” Which translates to “The South is avenged!” This helped to further illustrate Booth's motives for killing Lincoln and demonstrated the symbol that Lincoln served as for the whole nation.

      After killing Lincoln Booth fled and crossed the Potomac River. He did this with his other conspirators. Although the police were still after him and were pursuit. Booth was hiding in a barn when the investigators finally found him on April 26, 1865. Booth and his co-conspirators refused to surrender and set the barn they were hiding in on fire. Booth attempted to escape and was shot by police, he later died of his bullet wounds. This put an end to the active conspiracy although Lincoln was already dead and Booth had completed his goal of “avenging the south” by assassinating Lincoln, the symbol of the North.