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2:00 Booth's plans
Booth meets Lewis Powell at the Herndon House to discuss his plans. Booth then arranges for a getaway horse to be ready for him. Booth then goes to Grover's Theater and writes a letter to the National Intelligencer newspaper about his plans, signing it with his name as well as Powell, Herold and Atzerodt. He gives it to his friend John Matthews and tells him to mail it the next morning. Booth is bitter at Matthews because he refused to join the conspiracy. -
7:00 Lincoln awakes
Every morning when Lincoln awakes, he reads his Bible. -
8:00 Breakfast
Foods in the Civil War
Lincoln eats breakfast with his wife Mary and their sons Tad, age 12, and Robert, age 21. Lincoln is excited to see Robert, who has just returned from the war. -
9:00 Beginning of work day
Lincoln begins his day of work. Mary tells him that she wants them to see the play Our American Cousin, featuring Laura Keene, that evening. Lincoln sends a messenger to Ford's Theater with the information that he will attend the play with his wife Mary and Ulysses Grant and his wife. -
10:00 Stanton
Lincoln visits Edwin Stanton, his Secretary of War, to tell him that he will go to Ford's Theater that evening. Stanton warns him about assassination rumors and recommends that he should bring a security guard. -
11:00 Booth
John Wilkes Booth goes to Ford's Theater to collect his mail and overhears the managers of the theater talking about Lincoln's visit that evening. He decides that this would be the perfect time to assassinate Lincoln. -
1:30 Cabinet Meeting
At the end of Lincoln's cabinet meeting, Grant tells him that he cannot go to the theater because his wife, who dislikes Mary Lincoln, wishes to catch the 6 p.m. train to Burlington, New Jersey. Major Henry Reed Rathbone and his fiancée Clara Harris will attend in their place. -
4:00 John Parker
John Parker is Lincoln's bodyguard for the evening. He is late for his shift, which was not unusual for him. -
5:00 Booth's meeting
Booth tells his friends that the murders must all occur at 10:15. Lewis Powell and David Herold will assassinate Seward, while George Atzerodt will murder Vice President Andrew Johnson. Atzerodt is drunk and says that he is only a German smuggler and does not want to murder anyone, but Booth blackmails him into continuing. -
8:25 Ford's Theater
Lincoln arrives at Ford's Theater late due to his meetings. Once they are seated, his guard, Parker, gets bored and goes to get a drink at Taltavul’s Star Salon with Lincolns' carriage driver, Charles Forbes, leaving Lincoln unguarded. -
9:30 Booth arrives
Booth arrives at Ford's Theater and goes to Taltavul's, where he sees Lincoln's bodyguard having a drink there. -
10:07 Booth in the theater
Booth returns to the theater. It is the third act of the play. He talks to the ticket taker, John Buckingham, who lets him in because they know one another well. Booth approaches the state box where Lincoln sits. Forbes has returned from Taltavul's Tavern and is sitting in Parker's chair. He lets Booth into the box where Lincoln and his wife are sitting. Booth holds his derringer in his right hand and his knife in his left hand. -
10:15 Cue
“Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal — you sockdologizing old man-trap.” This line is the funniest in the play, so knowing the audience's laughs will cover the sound, Booth uses it as his cue to shoot Lincoln, hitting him in his left ear. -
10:15 Escape
Booth drops his derringer and with his knife in his right hand, he stabs Rathbone in the left arm. He then jumps 12 feet to the stage below and breaks his lower left leg fibula. He yells out the Virginia state motto, "Sic semper tyrannis!” Booth limps off the stage and escapes on the horse he had waiting outside for him. -
10:15 Lewis Powell
Andrew Johnson
Lewis Powell, also known as Lewis Payne, arrives at the Secretary's house, dressed as a physician. He attacks the son, and the servant yells murder. Herold becomes scared and runs away. Powell stabs everyone in Seward's room and then he escapes on his horse. However, Powell is lost in the city without Herold who he relied on for directions, and he is captured. Everyone in Seward's house recovers. -
10:15 George Atzerodt
George Atzerodt gets drunk and forgets that he is supposed to assassinate Johnson. -
Midnight Navy Yard
Herold, having abandoned Powell at Seward's house, escapes on the Navy Yard Bridge. He meets up with Booth at Mary Surratt's tavern in Surrattsville. -
4:00 Booth's leg
In the morning, Booth and Herold go to Dr. Mudd's house where Dr. Mudd puts a splint on Booth's broken leg. -
7:22 Death
Lincoln's body was carried across the street from Ford's Theater to the Petersen House, a boardinghouse. His son Robert and his wife Mary see him for the last time. He dies at 7:22 a.m. and 10 seconds.
