DC -- Natl Archives -- Case: Search for Lincoln's Assassins:
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- Description of Pictures: The Hunt for John Wilkes Booth: While the movie National Treasure II: The Book of Secrets may stimulate our imagination about this notorious figure, the National Archives presents a selection of original documents from the 12-day manhunt for President Lincoln’s assassin.
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- SEARCH_071212_08.JPG: The Hunt for John Wilkes Booth: While the movie National Treasure II: The Book of Secrets may stimulate our imagination about this notorious figure, the National Archives presents a selection of original documents from the 12-day manhunt for President Lincoln's assassin.
Various signs:
On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a prominent American actor, snuck up behind President Abraham Lincoln as he watched a play at Ford's Theatre and shot him in the back of the head at point-blank range. Booth then jumped to the stage, ran out of the theater, and fled into the night. The President was carried across the street to a private house where he died the following morning.
The assassination led to one of the most intensive manhunts in U.S. history. For twelve days, civilians, police, detectives from the U.S. military, and other Army personnel joined in an investigation that pursued Booth through Washington, D.C., southern Maryland, and Virginia, where he was shot and died on April 26.
Among the holdings of the National Archives are thousands of pages resulting from the investigation and trial of the assassination conspirators. While a popular movie draws attention to John Wilkes Booth, the National Archives presents original documents from the real hunt for President Lincoln's assassin.
Poster announcing $100,000 Reward, April 20, 1865:
The murder of President Lincoln was part of a larger conspiracy that included a simultaneous attack on Secretary of State William H. Seward and the targeting of Vice President Andrew Johnson. On the night of the assassination, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton offered a $10,000 reward for the arrest of the conspirators. Two days later, Lafayette C. Baker, Chief of the National Detective Police, offered $30,000. Five days into the investigation, with the conspirators still at large, Stanton issued this proclamation, offering the stupendous sum of $100,000 (roughly equivalent to $1.2 million today) -- $50,000 for the apprehension of John Wilkes Booth and $25,000 each for the apprehension of two of his alleged accomplices: John Surratt and David Herold. It also threatened anyone who gave them aid with prosecution in a military trial and the death penalty.
- SEARCH_071212_20.JPG: "Appeal to the Colored People!" April 24, 1865:
Four days after Stanton's proclamation offering $100,000, the War Department tried another strategy with this proclamation, appealing to the patriotism of African Americans. Soldiers posted and distributed these leaflets throughout the African American communities in Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia.
- SEARCH_071212_25.JPG: Telegram from Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton regarding the capture and death of John Wilkes Booth, April 27, 1865:
On April 26, a detachment of the 16th New York Cavalry and two detectives caught up with Booth and Herold near Port Royal, Virginia, and surrounded the barn on Richard Garrett's farm where the two had hidden. When one of the detectives threatened to set the barn on fire, Herold surrendered. Booth refused and was shot as the building began to burn. He died a few hours later.
In this telegram, Stanton reported these events to Maj. Gen. John A. Dix, whose superior telegraphic connections in New York made him the primary vehicle for official communications throughout the crisis.
In 1866, the reward money was distributed to several people, including the civilian detectives who worked the investigation, the officer who led the detachment of the 16th New York Cavalry, and each of the soldiers under his command.
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