Lincoln: Conspiracy! Part Two - EP 116

Part Two of the series on Lincoln and Booth.

After firing the fatal shot into President Abraham Lincoln’s head on the night of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth wasn’t finished — he was just getting started. As chaos erupted inside Ford’s Theatre, Booth leapt to the stage, shouted “Sic semper tyrannis!” and limped into the darkness. What followed was one of the most intense manhunts in American history — a 12-day pursuit that spanned backwoods trails, swamps, safehouses, and towns gripped by fear and vengeance.

In this episode, follow Booth and his young accomplice David Herold as they flee Washington on horseback, navigating backroads in southern Maryland. Their first stop? The tavern of Mary Surratt, where weapons had been stashed earlier that day — a detail that would later seal her fate. Booth, despite a broken leg from his theatrical leap, pressed on, relying on Confederate sympathizers like Dr. Samuel Mudd to provide shelter, medical aid, and false directions to federal agents hot on his trail.

Explore how Secretary of War Edwin Stanton took command in the chaotic hours after Lincoln’s death, transforming Washington into a locked-down city of suspicion. With the help of detectives, cavalrymen, and a growing network of informants, Stanton launched a full-scale manhunt — deploying wanted posters, raiding hideouts, and tracking Booth across the Potomac into Virginia.

You’ll hear how Booth, holed up in a tobacco barn on the Garrett farm, wrote in his diary — still defiant and convinced he was a hero. As the net closed in, Union soldiers surrounded the barn, setting it ablaze to force him out. Booth refused to surrender. A single shot rang out. The assassin of Abraham Lincoln was dead.

But the story doesn’t end there. This episode dives deep into the high-stakes drama of the escape, the role of rural civilians caught between loyalty and law, and the moral ambiguity of those who aided Booth — knowingly or not. Through secret trails, missed chances, and last stands, we follow the trail of a man who sought to upend the nation — and paid the ultimate price.

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