The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln Quiz

Answer: Good Friday

Lincoln was shot on Friday, April 14, 1865. This happened to be Good Friday. Because Lincoln was regarded by some as a nearly god-like figure, some have tried to read a special significance into the date, but it seems to have been just a coincidence.

Answer: Actor

John Wilkes Booth was from a famous family of actors. He was very well known to the public. In 1863, Lincoln had seen Booth perform in a play called "The Marble Heart," and had been so moved by his performance that he sent Booth an invitation to visit him at the White House. Booth did not reply to the invitation, and Lincoln remarked to a friend that he was puzzled as to why Booth had not accepted.

Answer: Major Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris

Mrs. Lincoln had invited numerous people to attend the play, including General and Mrs. Grant, but was unable to find anyone who was able to attend before contacting Major Rathbone and his fiancee, Clara Harris. Rathbone was the son of a former mayor of Albany, New York, and Clara Harris was the daughter of Senator Ira Harris. After Lincoln had been shot, Rathbone attempted to subdue Booth, and was severely wounded in his left arm by a Bowie knife that Booth had with him. An artery was severed, and Rathbone nearly bled to death.

The story of Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris is a tragic one. They were not only engaged, they were also stepbrother and stepsister, Clara's father having married Henry's widowed mother. Rathbone recovered from his wound, and the pair were married in 1867, and eventually had three children. Rathbone, however, developed severe mental problems, possibly related to his inability to save Lincoln, and for allowing Booth to escape. In 1882, he was appointed as U.S. Consul to Hanover. On December 23, 1883 he shot Clara to death and attempted to kill himself with a knife. He was tried for murder, but was found to be mad, and spent the rest of his life in an asylum for the criminally insane, where he died in 1911. Both husband and wife were buried in Hanover. In 1952, local cemetery officials noted that the rent on the graves had not been paid, and there had been no visits from relatives. Not recognizing the couple's historic significance, the cemetery had their remains dug up and disposed of, and their graves were reused.

Answer: Andrew Johnson and William H. Seward

While Booth was dealing with Lincoln, fellow conspirators Lewis Powell and George Atzerodt were supposed to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward and Vice-President Andrew Johnson. Powell did attack Seward, stabbing him several times, but failed to kill him. Atzerodt went to the hotel where Johnson was staying, but lost his nerve and failed to carry out his attack.

Answer: Sic semper tyrannis!

While there is some disagreement about what Booth said, the consensus is that he shouted, "Sic semper tyrannis!" This is a Latin phrase that means "thus always to tyrants." He is also said to have shouted "The South is avenged!" in English. Booth managed to make his way to an alley in back of the theater where a horse was waiting for him, and make his escape.

Answer: John Wilkes Booth had once slept in the same bed

The Petersen House, as the boarding house was called, is still standing at 516 10th Street NW in Washington, D.C. It was acquired by the National Park Service in 1933, and is now a museum, decorated exactly as it appeared the night that Lincoln died. In March, 1865 the actor Charles Warwick had rented the room where Lincoln was taken after he was shot. John Wilkes Booth had paid him a visit and fell asleep on the very bed in which Lincoln would later die.

The bed was too short for Lincoln, and he had to be laid diagonally across it. Despite the best efforts of the physicians, Lincoln died at 7:22 AM on Saturday, April 15, 1865.

The bed is now on display at the Chicago History Museum; the one in the Petersen House is a replica. The Petersen House still has the bloody sheets and pillowcases used by Lincoln, however.

Answer: 12 days

Booth and Herold crossed the Navy Yard Bridge into Maryland, and first stopped at Surratt's Tavern, where they had stored weapons. Their next stop was at the house of a physician, Dr. Samuel Mudd, who set Booth's broken leg. They eventually crossed the Potomac River into Virginia. The pair were eventually found in a tobacco barn belonging to Richard H. Garrett, just south of Port Royal, Virginia. Surrounded by Union troops, Herold surrendered, but Booth refused to leave the barn, so the troops set it on fire. When Booth still refused to come out, he was shot by a soldier named Boston Corbett, who aimed his pistol through a crack in the boards of the barn. Booth, paralyzed from the wound, was pulled from the barn and died a few hours later.

There are many mysteries surrounding Booth's escape. The first is how he and Herold managed to escape across the Navy Yard Bridge, which was guarded and supposed to be closed to traffic. Another is Booth's diary, which he carried with him during his escape. It was never introduced as evidence during the trial of his co-conspirators, and when it surfaced, at least 18 pages were missing (some sources say as many as 43 pages). The missing pages have never been found. Perhaps most mysterious of all are persistent rumors that it was not Booth who was killed at Garrett's tobacco barn. That mystery could be solved if the National Museum of Health and Medicine would release a sample of John Wilkes Booth's tissue that was preserved at his autopsy for DNA testing, but they have steadfastly refused to do so.

Answer: Springfield, Illinois

Lincoln's funeral procession was nearly 1700 miles long. Using an indirect route that took it through many major cities, it finally arrived in Springfield on May 3, 1865. Officials in Springfield wanted Lincoln buried in an elaborate tomb in the heart of the city, but Mary Lincoln insisted he be buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery on the outskirts of town. Lincoln's Tomb was not completed until 1874.

Answer: 4

Eight people in all were tried by a military tribunal in connection with the Lincoln assassination. Four of these - Lewis Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt, and Mary Surratt - were sentenced to death. Three, Dr. Samuel Mudd, Samuel Arnold, and Michael O'Laughlen, were sentenced to life imprisonment. Edmund Spangler was given a six-year sentence.

Powell, Herold, and Atzerodt were undoubtedly guilty. Arnold and O'Laughlen had been involved in an early conspiracy to kidnap Lincoln and exchange him for Confederate soldiers held in Northern prisons. Dr. Mudd had set Booth's broken leg, and is known to have met with Booth on at least one previous occasion, but there is no evidence that he was ever part of any conspiracy. Spangler had done nothing more than sell a horse that belonged to Booth, and, like Mudd, was probably completely innocent. Those not executed received pardons from President Johnson in 1869, except for O'Laughlen who had already died in prison.

Mary Surratt's case is more complicated. There have been many attempts to exonerate her, but there is some evidence that she may have been involved. Her boarding house was used as the headquarters of the conspiracy, she carried out errands for them, and her son had been involved in the earlier plot to kidnap Lincoln.

The four condemned conspirators were all hanged together on July 7, 1865. Justice moved a lot more quickly in those days.

Answer: He was the last living witness to the assassination

Samuel J. Seymour's father was the overseer on the Goldsboro plantation in Talbot County, Maryland. In April, 1865 Mr. Goldsboro had to travel to Washington, DC on business, and Samuel's father had to accompany him. Mrs. Goldsboro decided that she would like to go along, and take five year-old Samuel and his nurse, Sarah Cook, with her.

When they arrived in Washington, DC, Mrs. Goldsboro told Samuel that they were going to see a play at Ford's Theater. He remembered that they sat in the balcony across from the Presidential Box, and that he saw Lincoln enter the theater, "smiling and waving to the crowd." He did not actually see Lincoln being shot, but did see him slumping forward in his chair, and John Wilkes Booth jumping to the stage. He recalled being concerned about Booth, and telling Mrs. Goldsboro, "Hurry, hurry, let's go help the poor man who fell down."

Almost 91 years later, 95 year-old Samuel J. Seymour appeared on the February 9, 1956 episode of the TV quiz show "I've Got a Secret." He died less than two months later, the last eyewitness to Lincoln's assassination.