John Wilkes Booth: Background information when reading Manhunt

John Wilkes Booth

This article relates to Manhunt

Booth's father, Junius Brutus Booth, emigrated from England in 1821 and quickly established himself as one of the great actors of the day. Most of his children were born out of wedlock, and most followed him onto the stage. John Wilkes Booth started his career in 1855 in Baltimore, and then in Philadelphia. Initially, he didn't show promise but in 1858 he moved to Richmond, Virginia where he became more confident as an actor and grew popular with audiences.

He temporarily enlisted in the Confederate army in 1959 in order to witness the hanging of abolitionist John Brown - afterwards he returned to Richmond and was discharged. He did not fight in the Civil War (apparently having promised his mother that he would not join the Confederate army). However, according to some reports he was actively engaged in smuggling medical supplies to Confederate forces.

He left the stage in 1864 to concentrate on his oil investments (bought from his earnings as an actor, at the height of his career he earned $20,000 a year) but turned over his interests to his brother and a friend the same year, having grown impatient with his lack of immediate success.

He then traveled to Montreal to meet with various men associated with the Confederacy. He began planning an operation to capture the President in order to force the release of Confederate prisoners of war confined in Union prisons. The attempted kidnapping took place in March 1865, but was foiled because the President changed his plans and attended a luncheon rather than visiting a hospital outside Washington, as scheduled.

Two weeks later, in April 1865, General Grant surrendered. Five days later, Booth assassinated Lincoln inside Ford's Theatre.

Filed under People, Eras & Events

This "beyond the book article" relates to Manhunt. It originally ran in March 2006 and has been updated for the February 2007 paperback edition. Go to magazine.