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American History Hit

Capturing Lincoln’s Assassin

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.51.3K Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2022

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On shooting President Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth fled Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC on horseback, eventually heading south. But Lincoln’s was not the only assassination planned that night. Michael Kauffman tells Don about the others - attempted and abandoned - on the evening of April 14th, 1865, and the ill-fated run from the law of Booth and his co-conspirators.


Produced by Benjie Guy. Mixed by Thomas Ntinas. Senior Producer: Charlotte Long.


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Transcript

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0:00.0

In the in the inky darkness of an April night in 1865,

0:07.0

horse and rider charged through the streets of Washington, D.C.

0:11.0

fleeing the scene of a murderous crime.

0:15.0

Blocks behind, in the chaotic confusion of Ford's theater,

0:19.0

President Abraham Lincoln is now collapsed, shot in the head.

0:22.0

In a matter of hours he will die. is now collapsed, shot in the head.

0:23.0

In a matter of hours he will die.

0:25.0

His assassin, John Wilkes Booth,

0:28.0

this man now steering his steed beyond the city limits,

0:32.0

crossing the Anacostia River into the woods and country

0:34.8

lanes of rural Maryland, will soon be joined by fellow conspirator David Herald.

0:39.9

Together, they follow a pre-planned escape route that leads across the Potomac River into Virginia,

0:46.1

into the South, into the Confederacy, where they expect to find refuge, safekeeping among

0:51.6

their own. But the hard days ahead offer surprisingly little of

0:55.8

that and their desperate flight will ultimately prove fatal.

1:03.0

Hello and welcome again to American history.

1:10.0

Hello and welcome again to American History Hit.

1:12.0

I'm Don Wildman. We are in the midst of things.

1:15.3

The epic and intricate tale of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, April 14th,

1:20.7

1865 and the days following.

1:23.7

And we are speaking to Michael Kaufman, author of American Brutus, about John Wilkes Booth

1:28.3

and his conspiracy to avenge the South, picking up with Booth's escape.

...

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