John Wilkes Booth is perhaps one of the most infamous presidential assassins.
Everybody knows the story. On April 14, 1865, Booth shot Abraham Lincoln in the head while at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. Booth snuck into Lincoln’s booth and shot him in the head while he was enjoying the show.
According to Battlefields, Booth then leaped onto the stage, a move which is believed to have broken his foot, and made his escape from the capitol.
Of course, the ending to Lincoln’s story is very clear, but what happened to Booth after that fateful night?
Booth was an actor and was active on the political scene, according to Battlefields. He even performed at Ford’s theater before his plan to kill Lincoln there.
After his jump and flea from the theater, Booth went on the run for twelve days, according to The History Channel. He journeyed south to stay with Confederate sympathizers who were also not in support of Lincoln’s policies. He was only 26 years old at the time.
He is said to have made it across the Potomac River to Virginia by April 23. Three days later, at 2am, he and his compatriot were cornered in a barn by New York Clavary Regiment detectives.
History recalls Booth having a rather theatrical response to being cornered in the barn, asking them to identify themselves multiple times, asking for time to consider his options, and even offering to fight them hand to hand despite declaring that he could not walk.
While his counterpart decided to surrender, Booth himself remained hidden from the detectives, clearly very determined to somehow find his way out of the whole situation. Eventually, one of the presenters set fire to the barn and shot Booth.
Despite a dramatic declaration that he has died for his country, Booth did not die there. He was reportedly taken to a nearby home and a doctor was called for him as he suffered and begged for them to kill him. The doctor deduced Booth’s condition as helpless saying that the gunshot had rendered him paralyzed and Booth died at 7 AM on April 26, 1865.
Though his morals were questionable, Booth was certainly willing to die for what he believed in and was loftily confident in his ability to get away with the murder of the nation’s president. He was buried in an unmarked grave and his last words were “Useless, useless, useless.”
