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The 12 Day Chase For Lincoln's Killer Summary

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The book that I decided to read for my quarter book report was Manhunt, The 12 Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson. I chose this book because I thought it would be interesting to learn about how they actually tracked down Abraham Lincoln’s killer after he was assassinated. Manhunt went into a lot of detail about how Lincoln’s killer, John Wilkes Booth, was found. The story started off on the morning of March 4th, 1865, which was the morning of Abraham Lincoln’s second inauguration. This is when we first learn about John Wilkes Booth’s strong hatred for Abraham Lincoln. On April 3rd, Richmond fell to the Union, prompting the Confederate surrender on April 9th, ending the civil war and sending Booth into a downward spiral of depression. He blamed Lincoln for all of his troubles, making him hate him even more. So, after hearing about President Lincoln’s plans to attend the showing of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s theater on the night of April 15th, Booth created a plan to kill the president. Booth called upon some childhood friends to help him carry out his plan; David Herold, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, John Surratt Jr., Samuel Arnold, and Michael O’Laughlen. He decided that he not only wanted the president dead, but also the Secretary of State, William Seward and the Vice President, Andrew Johnson. Lewis Powell and …show more content…

Then, on the morning of April 25th, Booth spotted union men and told one of the Garrett sons to go upstairs and get his gun which upset him and the rest of his family. Mr. Garrett told Booth and Herold that they must leave but the pair refused. They agreed, however, to stay in the barn for the night and then leave the next morning. Sensing the suspicion of the two men, two of the Garrett sons locked Booth and Herold in the barn and contacted officials, who arrived at about 12:30 am on April 26,

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