Darren Melchiorre

SOUVENIR “BOOTH”

The Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln,
April 14, 1865

In early 1865, President Abraham Lincoln saw an end to both slavery and the dreadful Civil War that divided the United States. Little did he know that he would soon see the end of his own life. With anger and resentment still prevailing, a young actor and Confederate spy named John Wilkes Booth planned to assassinate the President with hopes of creating chaos among the government so that the South could rise again. Played out like a piece of theater on April 14, 1865, Booth snuck into the Presidential box of Ford’s Theater where Abraham Lincoln was watching a special performance of “Our American Cousin” and shot the President in the back of the head. Through the years, numerous conspiracy theories developed regarding Booth and his potential “co-players”. Did he act alone in the greatest role he ever played? Or was he part of a larger Confederate plot? Regardless, the Lincoln assassination read like the finale of an even bigger drama, with a colorful cast of conspirators and accomplices, all which played a part.