Chasing Lincoln’s Killer
James L. Swanson Read September 17, 2010
This book takes place in Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia around April 1865.
The main characters are: John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln’s killer; David Herold, his accomplice; Abraham Lincoln; Lewis Powell, Booth’s accomplice and Sec. Seward’s attacker; Edwin Stanton, officer in charge of the manhunt; and Boston Corbett, the man who shot Booth.
First, on April 14, 1865 John Wilkes Booth sneaks into Ford’s Theater and shoots President Abraham Lincoln with a .44 caliber deringer single-shot pistol, then flees the theater and the district. Then, Booth meets up with David Herold outside the city and they make their way to Dr. Samuel Mudd’s farm for medical care, a meal and some rest. Next, they leave the farm and hide in the woods behind before meeting up with Thomas Jones, who agrees to help them cross the Potomac, but he tricks Booth into heading the wrong way. So, instead of landing in Virginia they land farther north, in Maryland and are almost captured by the manhunters. After that, Booth is cornered at the Garrett’s farm and gets himself shot and killed with a bullet rather than surrendering, and hanged back in DC. Finally, Booth’s accomplices and the other conspirators are caught, brought back to Washington, tried and then hung, their names were Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold and George Alzerodt.
My opinion of this book was very good. I wish it had been a little faster in the beginning before the assassination, but overall this was a really good book and I’d certainly recommend it to anyone who asked me.
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