Ford’s Theatre and Museum
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Lincoln Assassination early illustration

THE LINCOLN ASSASSINATION

Years ago we made a pilgrimage from New Hampshire to Washington, DC to see the place where Lincoln died. Every American should make this journey. Here is our journal of the visit with digital snapshots.

 

 

 

NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE TOUR
JUMP TO: Peterson House 
READ ALSO: The New Dying Words of John Wilkes Booth

Ford's Theater is just one of two dozen stops on the Washington DC trolley ride. We paid $25 for a 2 1/2 hour ride, but got off for two full hours to see this historic and macabre location. Prices may have risen since then. The blank brick Ford's Theater looks very much as it did when it became the center of attention on April 14, 1865. The Civil War suddenly ended, John Wilkes Booth stood here and decided not to kidnap the President as planned, but to murder him. Booth's plan included the assassination of the vice president and secretary of state as well. An actor familiar with this theater, Booth rigged the door of the Presidential box. The President and his wife Mary Todd arrived late, and Booth visited the bar next door, now the box office, to drink up his nerve to act.

Today the Theater and the Peterson House across the street are run by the National Park Service. It's dark inside, but was air conditioned on the sweltering July day of our visit. Park rangers offer a short narration and the Lincoln Museum is in the basement. And it's all free. The first thing everyone does, once their eyes accept the darkness, is to snap a flash photo of the presidential box where Lincoln was shot. The reconstruction from early photos is eerily precise. The box was draped that day for Lincoln's possible visit. The picture of George Washington is accurate (the theater owner could not find one of Lincoln.) No matter how many pictures or movies you've seen and despite a roomful of tourists, the effect is still powerful. There it is, you think, the spot where it really happened. – JDR

TOur bus arrives at Ford's Theare / SeacoastNH.com

Lincoln Assassination illustration / Library of Congress

Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC/ SeacoastNH.com

Box office and former bar at Ford's Theare/ SeacoastNH.com

President's Box at Ford's Theatre site of Assassination / SeacoastNH.com

Early photo of Assassination site/ Library of Congress

OUTSIDE LINK: Ford’s Theatre Official Web Site
Original photos and text by J. Dennis Robinson
© 1999 SeacoastNH.com All rights reserved.

CONTINUE TOUR DOWNSTAIRS TO MUSEUM & GIFT SHOP  


LINCOLN ASSASSINATION MUSEUM
Washington DC

This small superb museum in the theater was a surprise. We had no idea there were so many artifacts. Lincoln has become a pop idol in American culture, almost unreachable. But this basement room makes it all seem real in a way a giant shrine like the Lincoln Memorial cannot.

We had come from Seacoast NH to verify our story of Lucy Hale of Dover, NH who was fiancée to assassin John Wilkes Booth on the day he killed the president. Inside this glass case are the photos of five women Booth was carrying when he was shot after a 12-day manhunt. Lucy or "Bessie" was the daughter of NH abolitionist Senator JP Hale. And suddenly, there she was. Her photo was in the exhibit case (second from the left) though we could not get a decent photo through the glass case.

Artifacts in the museum include Booth's derringer that he used against Lincoln, plus the knife he also wielded before he leapt from the presidential box to the stage breaking his ankle. Lincoln's clothing, the door to the presidential box and other items are here also. The actual bullet is not here. The rocker in which Lincoln was sitting was purchased by Henry Ford for his own museum in Michigan. Among the most haunting items are the white cloth hoods placed over the heads of the conspirators during their execution by hanging. The chilling event was recorded by early photographers. Booth was shot by his pursuers after a 12-day search.

The Ford Theater souvenir shop is downstairs in the Lincoln Museum, a tasteful store with a wide array of books on Lincoln. The selling of Lincoln has been going on since the Civil War. This souvenir plate is actually part of an extensive exhibit of coins, medals, playing cards, bottles - everything you can imagine with Abe's famous visage. It's disturbing to see John Wilkes Booth books, one of the nation's most despicable characters, sold side-by-side with Lincoln volumes. But we need to remember that, before the assassination, Booth was a true stage star at Ford's Theater and elsewhere. He has been called the country's second most photographed man of his era. Guess who was #1. – JDR

Lincolns everywhere at Ford's Theatre museum

John Wilke's Booth's women including Lucy Hale/ SeacoastNH.com

Wilke's derringer /gun in exhibit in DC/ SeacoastNH.com

Lincoln Assassin hoods/ SeacoastNH.com

Hanging of Lincoln Assassins/ Library of Congress

Souvenir hunters at Ford's Theatre Gift Shop/ SeacoastNH.com

Lincoln commemorative plate/ SeacoastNH.com

Abe Lincoln book display at Ford's Theatre/ SeacoastNH.com

Books about John Wilkes Booth/ SeacoastNH.com

OUTSIDE LINK: Ford’s Theatre Historical Info 

Original photos and text by J. Dennis Robinson
© 1999 SeacoastNH.com All rights reserved.

CONTINUE TO PETERSON HOUSE