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April 14, 1865: John Wilkes Booth's Day
8:00am: John Wilkes Booth is sound asleep in Room 228 of Washington's National Hotel after a late night in a city still celebrating the end of the war -- "Everything was bright and splendid," he later wrote his mother. "More so in my eyes if it had been a display in a nobler cause."
9:00am: Booth rises, dresses, and repairs to the hotel dining room for breakfast.
10:00am: He is seen breakfasting in the company of two young female admirers.
11:00am: Booth strolls four blocks to Ford's Theatre. Picking up his mail, he learns of a letter delivered to Ford's that morning -- confirming that the President and Mrs. Lincoln will attend that evening's performance of Our American Cousin. General Ulysses S. Grant is also expected to accompany the Lincolns.
12:00 Noon: Booth visits a nearby stable, where he arranges to rent a horse for his planned escape.
1:00pm: The chief conspirator visits the H Street boarding house of Mary Surratt to whom he entrusts a small wrapped package containing a set of field glasses to be delivered to the family tavern in Surrattsville, Maryland. Booth also gives her a message to carry to the proprietor: some gentlemen would come by later that same night to pick up a pair of guns.
2:00pm: From Mrs. Surratt's, Booth goes to Grover's Theatre. Here he writes another letter, addressed to the editor of the National Intelligencer. At the nearby Kirkwood Hotel, Booth leaves a card for Vice President Andrew Johnson, in hopes of ascertaining Johnson's schedule that evening -- the better to add the vice president's name to the list of murdered government officials.
3:00pm: Outside Ferguson's restaurant Booth is spotted on his rented horse. "He can run just like a cat!" he boasts.
4:00pm: Booth encounters fellow actor John Matthews on Pennsylvania Avenue. He hands over the letter intended for the National Intelligencer, and asks him to deliver it. Not until the next morning will Matthews tear open the envelope. Horrified by its contents and fearful that he will be implicated in Booth's crime, he burns the letter.
5:00pm: In the course of their conversation, Matthews points out a carriage containing General and Mrs. Grant down Pennsylvania Avenue, headed for the train station. Spurring his horse, Booth pursues the retreating carriage. Julia Grant will never forget the glaring face staring at her through he carriage window. The Grants don't know it, but they have escaped an assassin.
6:00pm: Booth has a drink at the bar next door to Ford's Threatre and then returns to his hotel for dinner.
7:00pm: Back at the National Hotel, Booth makes final preparations. He asks a clerk if he plans on attending Ford's. "There is going to be some splendid acting tonight," he declares.
8:00pm: At the Herndon House, a boardinghouse just around the corner from Ford's, Booth reviews plans with co-conspirators Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, and David Herold.
9:00pm: Booth approaches the rear of Ford's Theatre through a narrow passage known as Baptist Alley. Dismounting from his horse, he taps lightly on the backstage door. Stagehand Ned Spangler admits him to the theatre. Booth asks Ned to watch his horse.
10:15pm: Booth wedges the door of the Presidential Box shut with the log of a wooden music stand that he had left there earlier. He stands a few feet behind the president, his gun pointed toward Lincoln's left ear. As the audience laughs at a joke, Booth pulls the trigger. |