Four conspirators involved in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln were executed on the gallows where they were viewed by Union troops. David E. Herold, George A. Adselot, Lewis Payne, and the first woman, Mrs. Mary E. Surratt (pictured far left), were hanged after a trial by a special military tribunal. Mrs. Surratt was the janitor of a boarding house in Washington where the conspirators met. The trial of the eight arrested conspirators took the form of a court-martial, and all eight were found guilty. The hanging took place on July 7, 1865 at the prison inside Fort McNair in Washington. Others, Michael O'Laughlin, Edward Spangler, Samuel Arnold, and Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, who tended to Booth's broken bones, were convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison. O'Laughlin died in a military prison. Others later had their sentences commuted.
The Civil War, which lasted about four years, ended with a Union victory on April 12, 1861-May 9, 1865. Five days later, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Lincoln, who had fought in the Civil War, freed the slaves, and was hailed as "the greatest man since Christ," gave a comedy performance called "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. at about 10 p.m. on April 14, 1865. Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865 at about 10:00 p.m. at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. while watching a comedy called Our American Cousin. John Wilkes Booth, an actor from the South, assassinated Lincoln by shooting him in the back of the head with a pistol. After the assassination and his escape from the theater, he was tracked down and shot dead. It was the first assassination of a president in the history of the United States.
In a special seat on the second floor of Ford's Theater, Room 8, Booth walked up behind Lincoln and shot him in the back of the head with a pistol at close range. He shouted "Southern revenge" and jumped down to the stage about four meters below. The tyrant ran past him, shouting that he was dead, and escaped. President Lincoln, who was shot, died at 7:22 a.m. the next day, April 15, at the age of 56.
Booth did not act alone, and six other conspirators were arrested. Booth escaped by boat on the Anacostia River, and three Confederate soldiers helped him escape. During the arrest of Booth and his co-conspirators, who were hiding in a barn, after setting it on fire, Booth was shot in the neck and killed. Herold, who was holed up in the barn with him, was arrested. At the military trial, four of Booth's six accomplices were hanged, and two were sentenced to life in prison.
