Booth Brothers: Drama, Fame, and the Death of President Lincoln

Booth Brothers: Drama, Fame, and the Death of President Lincoln book cover
CHAPTER 1 A WANTED MAN T he cold night sky shrouded the barn in inky darkness Gusts of chilling wind passed through the slats of the barn walls rustling the frames used to hang drying tobacco leaves inside Indeed it was cold that long-ago morning April 26 1865 but the man lying in the hay on the floor dared not risk lighting a fire in the barn’s stove Wounded and weary from travel his body may have cried out for warmth but a fire was a chance he did not take Other more prudent men might have feared a stray spark would ignite the hay but he had never been the cautious sort At the moment he feared the smoke and light from a fire could bring something more dangerous the men who were hunting for him He had been on the run for 12 days Along with his companion David Herold he had scurried from place to place during that time Each stop was a hideout Each host was an accomplice willing or not He had a price on his head Posters all across the country offered a 100,000 reward for the man and his accomplices He was John Wilkes Booth the most wanted man in America and he had committed a crime so heinous there was scarcely a newspaper in the country that hadn’t splashed his act across its front page To Booth’s great surprise however the newspapers had not painted him as a hero as he had anticipated Certainly he had not expected praise from Northern papers But to be declared a criminal in his beloved South was a wound more painful than the fractured leg that had been slowing him down
Booth Brothers: Drama, Fame, and the Death of President Lincoln

Booth Brothers: Drama, Fame, and the Death of President Lincoln

Today everyone knows the name of John Wilkes Booth, the notorious zealot who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. But in his lifetime, the killer was an actor who was well-known among fans of the theater, well-known but less famous and less admired than his brother Edwin. In the 1860s, Edwin Booth ranked among the greatest and most-respected stars of the stage. He lived in New York and sympathized with the Union cause, while his younger brother stomped the streets of Washington, D.C., and raged as the Civil War turned in favor of the North. John fantasized about kidnapping the president, but after the defeat of the Confederacy, he sought deadly vengeance. The night Lincoln attended a performance at Ford's Theatre, Edwin was far away, knowing nothing of the plot unfolding in the nation's capital.

About This Book

By: Rebecca Langston-George
Illustrated by:
Published by: Capstone Press a Capstone imprint
9-12Age Range
7.2 AR
72Pages
PeopleSubject
1070LLexile
1-2 hoursReading Time
ZGuided Reading
ZFountas & Pinnell
80DRA