Abraham Lincoln’s assassination is something that many people remember over 150 years. Interestingly enough, there are still some details about the assassination plot that the common person doesn’t know. Here are 4 interesting facts about Lincoln’s assassination.
Lincoln Wasn’t the Only One on the Assassination List
Booth and a few of his co-conspirators planned to take out Lincoln, Secretary of State William Seward, and Vice President Andrew Johnson. Only Booth executed his plan to take out Lincoln. Lewis Powell did get to Seward by stabbing him, but he survived the attack.
Some Witnesses Were Haunted for the Rest of Their Lives
The major witness that suffered was Union officer Major Henry Rathbone. The Lincolns invited both him and his fiancee, Clara Harris, to Ford’s Theatre that night. Booth came in like a mouse and shot Lincoln. Rathbone tried to apprehend Booth, but he was stabbed by him. That night changed his life forever. Even though he did go through with the marriage with Harris and they had kids, he wasn’t the same. He had bouts of anger and continued to blame himself for Lincoln’s death. Things got so crazy that he ended up shooting and stabbing his wife, who succumbed to the wounds. He was in the insane asylum for the rest of his life.
Ulysses S. Grant Was a No Show
Grant was invited to attend Ford’s Theatre but he declined the offer. The Civil War hero and the future president may have escaped death by not sitting with the Lincolns in the president’s box.
Lincoln Had a Premonition About His Death
2 decades after Lincoln’s death, Ward Hill Lamon, a friend and colleague of Lincoln, wrote in a memoir an interesting story about the president before he died. Apparently, Lincoln shared a disturbing dream with him where he saw his own body laying on a table and someone said that he died. This was not a single occasion either. To some people, it seemed almost prophetic that he’d have a tragic death.
