Ford Theatre and President Lincoln

Continued guest blogging by Sean from Washington DC ..........

The historic Ford Theatre is where President Abraham Lincoln was felled on the night of April 14, 1865, just days following the end of the Civil War. After the assassination the theatre was forced to close its doors under threat of arson by people believing theatre staff were part of the conspiracy to murder the president. The government purchased the building in 1866 and used it as a warehouse and office building. But in 1968, 103 years after the last theatrical production shown in the theatre, the newly restored Ford's Theatre re-opened its doors to performances. It also houses a significant museum documenting a tenuous time in American history.

We watched a great little play in the Theatre called "One Destiny" of a first hand recollection of the assissination as told by the threatre manager and an actor who was on stage when the fatal shot was fired.

The theatre box where the president was murdered.

The pistol used by John Wilkes Booth to murder the President.

History Lesson: Most of us know John Wilkes Booth was the assassin. What you may not know is that nine other people were arrested in the conspiracy of Lincoln's death and an associated plan to kidnap the President. Wilkes Booth was killed in a shoot out while being apprehended days after the assassination. Four additional conspirators were eventually hung, including the first woman executed in America, Mary Surratt.