The Day Lincoln Was Shot

Relieved that Richmond has fallen and the American Civil War is over, Abraham Lincoln has contentious discussions with his Cabinet about the treatment of the defeated Confederacy. Many members of his cabinet want the Confederates punished, but Lincoln argues for mercy. He is despised by many Confederates and receives numerous death threats. Lincoln had a disturbing dream about his death.

Coming from an acting family, John Wilkes Booth feels overshadowed by his father and brother and sees Lincoln as a tyrant and slavery as a proper way of life. He assembles a plot to kidnap Lincoln with motley group of Confederates, including former Soldier Lewis Powell and simple-minded David Herold. On April 11, Booth is outraged when he hears Lincoln making a speech promising African-Americans citizenship and the vote. His changes his plot from kidnapping to murder.

On April 14, Booth decided to assassinate Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, orders Powell to kill Secretary of State William Seward, and orders another henchman, George Adzerodt, to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson. Later that night, Powell attacks Seward, his two sons, and two officials in an unsuccessful assassination attempt. Atzerodt got too drunk to even attack Johnson at the Kirkwood Hotel. Meanwhile, during the performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater, Booth shoots Lincoln and stabs one of Lincoln's guests, Major Henry Rathbone, before escaping into Maryland. After being attended by Dr. Charles Leale, Lincoln was carried across the street to the Petersen House, where he died at 7:22 A.M. surrounded by his friends and family for the remaining 8 hours. After an intense manhunt for two weeks, Boston Corbett fatally shoots Booth inside a burning barn surrounded by federal troops, while Herold got apprehended.

The credits reveal that seven of Booth's henchmen and Mary Surratt were put on trial and that four of them were hanged in July 1865. Lincoln's successor Johnson was much harsher on the defeated South than Lincoln would have been.

The film was first released on VHS in 2000 from Warner Home Video. The film is now available on DVD via the burn-on-demand Warner Archive service.^[2]