unable to re-up in the theater in the aftermath of the tragedy and there was public outrage at the thought of continuing it as a theater. so they would basically be forced to sell the building to the war department under stanton , who we have to thank otherwise the building would have been lost to history. for many years, the war department utilized the theater as a storage facility for its war records. it wasn't until the latter part of the 19th century, early 20th century, that it became under the office of public buildings and grounds. when the national park service acquire the structure, that is the year the agency went from just nature parks over to historical, cultural sites under franklin roosevelt. for many years, it was in area of the theater, a lincoln museum covering artifacts of lincoln's life, his legacy. in the 1960's from 1964-19 68 it was restored back to its 1865 appearances you see it today. the official first play reopened on lincoln's birthday, february 12, 1968. as you all know, the national park service as a working relationship with our partners ford's theater society, private nonprofit. it's certainly very unique as a historical entity. in mexico right interesting. while we rangers and staff interpret the historic significance for our visitors, our partners bring it to life as a working theater and in recognition of lincoln's own legacy. the façade here, what sexy original would include the front façade structurally and the roof attic, and everything else, about 90% of the interior was redone in the 1960's. this building to the right here this is where our national park service office is. that is where we work out of. this originally would have been the star saloon back in agency five, where john wilkes booth had gone into have a drink before he made his final entry back into the theater. we have today what is called the atlantic building. the theater was closed down several years back when we created an altogether new lobby for our theatergoers, and ford theater society and their staff now when visitors,, they don't go to the doors here as they did in the early days in 1860 five but come through the atlantic building. there are much more amenities there. from there, they into into the historic theater it self here. here we have an actual wartime photograph of the theater. you can see looking at the façade here. the roof is all and tact -- is all intact. bits of the building were done back in the 1960's, and you get an idea the conditions of the roads in every -- and how many taverns, saloons, and boarding houses were here. president lincoln -- the only president to attend the theater while in office --was an avid theatergoer. he like to get away and immerse himself in the literature of william shakespeare. while carrying the country through the most disruptive war and history, the war between states, in which americans would perish. we have a picture of lincoln as a family man, mary lincoln, his lincoln also, when he would get away from the white house, in addition to going to the theater to watch shakespearean plays in particular, which he enjoyed was a retreat to the old cottage where he would reflect as well, gather his thoughts. the shakespearean dimension, and his enjoyment of shakespearean literature was almost therapeutic for lincoln, a very melancholic man dealing with the various tragedies that he had. the leak and family had four children altogether. eddie, who died in infancy. and another one who died of typhoid figure, and tragically tad would die of tuberculosis. mary lincoln lost three of her children. the only one to lead make it to adulthood would be robert todd lincoln. mary lincoln is a very interesting topic. the madness -- "the madness of mary lincoln," is one of the best works that does justice to her. here we have president lincoln, the mark of war, showing the four years of caring the countries -- carrying the country through the conflict. it was believed that that picture was taken place around april 10, 18 65, just days before his assassination. you get the idea of how much he has aged during the years of all the challenges. john wilkes booth, shakespearean actor, he was part of a renowned acting family. the move family -- booth family was from maryland. he had two other brothers who were also famous actors. john wilkes along with his brothers were quite renowned in the 1850's and 1860's, performing on stage many of the shakespearean classics, such as hamlet mcbeth, julius caesar. he was comparable to the most renowned star the physic of today back in his own time. at the same time that he was renowned before the american public as an actor, he thought of himself primarily as a southern actor, while his other brother was more prominent in the northern states. john wilkes was not the refined actor that his brother was. i would say, he was not an unsuccessful actor, he had a different style. his style tended to be more renowned and in scenes involving action. at the same time, again, the american public has no idea of john wilkes booth's southern proclivities. when the war begins, no one has any idea that will go on for four years including john wilkes booth. john wilkes booth becomes more and more convinced in his own mind that president lincoln's attempt to create his own country was ultimately responsible for all of this death and destruction particularly upon the people of the south. in order to understand john wilkes booth frame of mind, and this is kind of my idiosyncratic take. you have to understand something which i will call liberties of classical republicanism. that is going back to an older society in -- older idea in society, a creed that all men are created equal, as lincoln quotes in his gettysburg address, referring to jefferson's declaration of independence. what i would argue also is that while lincoln did preserve the union of the states geographically, the regime itself was transformed one from what i would call a republic to a naturalized democracy. if you go back to the framing in philadelphia, when the framers established the government, they thought of it primarily as a republic, as opposed to a democracy. you do not see the words democracy in the united states constitution. it refers to a republic. as a result of the war, i would argue that the united states became more democratic. a dement democratic republic, overshadowing the republic. no one wrote about this more eloquently than the french aristocrat, took a . john wilkes booth's father was a successful actor in his own day. the temperament of junius brutus booth, john wilkes inherited and was similar in acting styles. here we have a photo of the booth brothers in the play, "julius caesar." john wilkes booth was essentially the mastermind of a group of conspirators. when talking about the events leading up to the minute and late 1854, spring 1865, as you get close to the war, it is important to differentiate between a conspiracy to abduct lincoln and a conspiracy t assassinate him. john wilkes booth was looking to not assassinate him. i'm number of agents that john wilkes booth had contact with, particularly when he went north into canada, he had a number of meetings and rhonda those with confederate agents -- a confederate secret service that was established to monitor lincoln's movements. this came about as a result of a number of factors, one of which was the dog render aid, an unsuccessful attempt to take down richmond, the capital of the confederacy. there was a union core that was ambushed and papers were found to burn the white house of the confederacy, and also if possible to kill jefferson davis. when these work their way up the chain into the confederate high command, that is where you begin to see systematically confederate gold going towards the formation of a confederate clandestine operation to undertake possibly kidnapping lincoln for retaliation. john wilkes booth's motivation behind the kidnapping was largely due to determination of exchange between prisoners of war of the north and south. lincoln implemented this at the gesture of grant to wear down the manpower of the confederacy. if this had been successful, is john wilkes booth had successfully kidnap lincoln, he may thereby be able to reverse the plan and keep the war going on in definitely. here we have 1865. a depiction of a theater box where lincoln was seated on that night. you notice, frame is a print of george washington. that print was placed there by the ford brothers in order to -- it would have served as more or less the presidential field, like we have today, but since i did not exist in 1865. that is one of the few original artifacts that we still have in the theater itself. many of the original artifacts are down in our museum. we do have some artifacts across the street from the fords theatre, in what is called the center for education as well. resident lincoln would have been seated here in the rocking chair. that rocking chair is now in t a museum. it made it possible way to the -- it's way to the museum. mary lincoln sitting right here. there were two guests in the boxes on the night of april 19. president lincoln was watching a comedy. the play, "american cousin -- ," was essentially a satirical comedy and the leading actress, laura keene, that particular night it was the 1000 performance. harry hawk played the american cousin. he was the only one on the stage when john's book whose -- john wilkes booth left on the stage about halfway during the play. here we are showing you the rear side of the fords theatre. the alley is still there. this was taking many -- taken many years after 1855. bay windows here. originally this window here would have been a doorway and that would have been where john wilkes booth escaped and had a horse waiting for him in alley. an area of major activity on the night of april 14 1865. john wilkes booth, when he came to fords theatre on the morning of the 14th at around 11:00 to get his mail, he would go there frequently to get his mail because that is frequently where actors would pick up their correspondents, where they worked. he was informed that abraham lincoln would be at the play that night which upon knowing this, set in motion his plans methodically, involving not only assassinating lincoln, but also assassinating his secretary. you all know, of course, john wilkes booth was successful. right here, the location of the kirkwood house at 12 and pennsylvania avenue, that is where johnson was staying. during the afternoon of the 14th, john wilkes booth did stop at the kirkwood house and asked the clerk to stick a card in johnson's box where he wrote, don't wish to disturb you, are you at home? some historians think that booth did that in order to frame johnson in case george did not carry out his plan to kill johnson, which in fact he did not. here's the theater. the house across the street, is where lincoln died. george has a difficult feat and never carries it out. he was staying in the same house where johnson was, was supposed to go up to his room that same night and shoot him. instead, he flees, goes to german town, and weapons were found in his room with a 24 hours of president lincoln's assassination. up here, this was the roger's house, where the secretary of state was recovering from a carriage accident. this is where lewis powell, who along with david harrelold waiting outside, did successfully make it inside the home of seward, with the pretense of carrying medicine was able to get inside his room first clubbing his sign with the but of his revolver. once he gets into his room where seward is in bed, he stabs him repeatedly. a neck brace that he was wearing from the accident is what saves them. at the same time, president lincoln was shot. altogether, about five people were assaulted. powell flees out of the house. david harold, hearing all the commi commotion, gets spooked and leaves pal. -- powell. powell will wind up at the boarding house of mary surat and looks very suspicious being taken in for questioning. this right here, the herndon house, just east of the fords theatre is where the conspirators had their final meeting that evening given their assignments. it is where there is now a jw marriott building. this over here -- the national hotel no longer stands. it was torn down in 1942, but that is where john wilkes booth stayed on a number of occasions. it is believed that that is where he woke that morning of the 14th, and also where john wilkes booth met on a number of occasions with johnson aren surat and another conspirator in the plan to abduct lincoln. two people in the theater box with the lincolns, major henry out of the union army and his fiancee, clara harris. they were invited at the last minute by the lincolns. originally, the lincolns had invited the grants to be in the theater box with them that night. grant regretfully informed lincoln that they would not be able to attend, they had taken a train up to new jersey. there was a reason for this. mrs. grant and mrs. lincoln didn't get along very well. in fact, they couldn't stand each other. [laughter] mrs. grant had made it known to mr. rap that she would not be cooped up with mary lincoln. there had been some disagreements back in february of 1865. once again, showing you in the immediate aftermath of lincoln's assassination, again, clara harris was seated here. behind her, on a love so fafa was the major. here we have, showing you at the moment, john wilkes booth entered in act iii scene two. people thought when he arrives that maybe he would pay his respects to mr. lincoln. there was no systematic presidential protection. there was no secret service. it was more customary than mandatory for guard to be outside lincolns box that night. using his fame to his advantage, he talked his way and. if you go, there is a invest vestibule hall. i think most likely booth would have gone through the door marked box eight, based on a goal from which lincoln was shot. only one shot. he has the backup, the knife in case that failed. he was hoping grant would be there, because he wanted to take out grant as well. the major -- when booth fire the weapon, it was during the funniest line of the play -- the bullet muffles the line. he took the knife and stabbed the major. when lincoln is shot, he is immediately knocked out. mary doesn't realize what happens until shortly afterwards. this all happens very quickly. she thought initially that presently can had dozed off. john wilkes booth leads over the baluster -- leaps over the baluster after stabbing the major. the major tries to grab them by his coat. he falls on stage and possibly breaks his leg, or something in his leg, and with the bloody dagger in his hand, he utters the words tyrannosaus -- making a public utterance letting it be known that it was he. that is what is so unique of his assassination. when you think of assassins, you think of snipers, people who conceal their identity. booth wants it to be known that it was him because he thinks he will be held as a hero from people of the south. what is interesting about this -- and no better historian has delved into this more than michael kaufman is the analogy to brutus going back in agent history. john wilkes booth is very much influenced by the analogy of brutus who stabs julius caesar to prevent the country becoming an empire. he tries to save his beloved republic from tyranny. he hoped -- it backfired. we all know this was done on good friday. the timing of the assassination was totally opposite from anything that booth could have done. here we have booth fleeing on the stage. people see john wilkes booth. this is not very accurate because when people saw him on the stage, as the fleet off they thought it was part of the play. all recognize that he was an actor. they had no idea what had happened. dr. charles leale, he is the first to treat president lincoln. after booth fleed altogether, no more than probably 15 or 20 seconds had a elapsesed. the major had shouted, stop that man, but it was too late. he is the first to enter into the theater box, sees the blood on the floor -- he sees the unconscious lincoln, lays it down on the floor, sees the stab wounds, can't find anything, and he is the one who discovers the bullet wound in the back just above the left ear. he examines the point of entry, and admid immediately knew they were was fatal. they had to get him to a bed, otherwise, he would die in the theater. they did not know he wouldn't linger on as long as he did nine hours, so the decision was made to carry him to the closest place they can find with a bed. a surgeon also assisted in the box, laura keene, the actress was also believed to come. they step out, just in front of fords theatre dark at night, they see some row houses in front, the doctor pondering if there was a spare bed. they walked presently can body up and back down. henry stafford, a house owned by the petersons. as he sees the unconscious lincoln being held across the street from the fords theatre he cries out to the men, bring him in here. so sp spontaneously, the 16th president would be carried up the stairs there, and at the end of the first floor of the house, a bed readily available, but too short for president lincoln, he would be placed diagonally. this room normally was occupied by a union clerk, who was out that night, celebrating the end of the war. the bed frame was six feet, lincoln was 6'4". his torso would be propped up on the pillows, feet hagan off the other corner. the doctors monitoring his vital signs throughout the night. several doctors would come and go including lincoln's personal physician, surgeon barnes. he wouldn't make an attempt, with a pro to extract the bullet from lincoln's head where it is lodged behind his right eye. that may have hastened lincoln's death. the next morning, he would draw his last breath. there we have an actual photo of the room, the bed, the bloodstained pillow just hours after lakin is carried out of the house, directly out of the hall in a makeshift coffin. lincoln was unconscious about nine hours and dead about two hours before he was taken out of the house. secretary of war stanton will launch the investigation into lincoln's murder. secretary of war stanton is one of the first to arrive at the peterson house along with the secretary of navy. he sets himself in an adjoining room and is essentially the acting president that night, and interviewed witnesses in the early morning hours. telegrams are sent out, anyone resembling booth to be taken in. al qaeda people are also -- all kinds of people are also taken in who have connections to the theater. the theater, as you can see, where literally placed under guard. union soldiers for weeks on end. you have the freight idea of what it looks like for the weeks following. once again stanton puts out the reward notice. a major manhunt, the largest in u.s. history, commences from the peterson house. stanton is actually in the room at 7:22t in the morning when lincoln passes. there was a pastor. i believe james tanner was also in the room. he was the one who said as he was ready very quickly, the tip of his pencil broke, so he was never able to ascertain when lincoln passed in now he belongs to the ages or to the angels. john wilkes booth is on the run for the next 12 days when he escapes he will flee eastward down pennsylvania avenue towards the capital, then takes the navy yard bridge and proceeds to the serversurat tavern. this is around midnight, and he teams up with david harold, who also meets him in the course of his run. by this time, john wilkes booth has a broken left leg. i am of the opinion that he broke his leg during his escape because the left leg was injured -- the fibula. the left side of the horse that booth was on was actually also injured. though booth claimed in his diary that while he was on the run, he broke it when he jumped onto the stage when he read the reaction too lincoln's death. he has done that everyone is in mourning about it. he writes about how he went out of his way, breaking his leg carrying out his duty as a patriot. then, on to the home of a doctor on early april 15. he will spend a night, again, as i mentioned in his conspiracy to kidnap lincoln would fix his leg. the doctor learns and town of what has happened, he has no idea when john wilkes booth arrives that presently get has been shot by hand. when he learns of this and there is this major manhunt for booze he says he can't stay there and he must move on. he moves on through the thickets . he will be for several days in a swamp with david harold hiding. they get over to where they do have a confederate contact that they do run into who does a system that provides them hiding places. this, in fact, would have been the route that booth would have more or less used to kidnap lincoln, taking himself to virginia. they are provided with a boat where they cross over here. they lose their way trying to get over to virginia. vital time is lost here, going out of their way. getting back over to virginia and caroline county with the tide of the potomac, and making their way to the lucas farm on april 23. caroline county, here, where they wind up at the garris farm. when they cross into king george county is where they meet up with three confederates, one of which was willie who directs them to the gear and farm where they can stay. the confederates however, they were part of the ninth virginia calvary, when they learn booth shot lincoln, they don't want to have anything to do with ruth. they continue on. willie would proceed on to bowling green in caroline county, a little ways west of the garrett farm. it is ultimately willie, union calvary are chips off that a man with crutches was seen with confederates, and one of which new that willie was staying at a place called the star hotel is bowling green. union calvary will go there on the early morning hours of april 26. with a gun to willie's head they tell him, tell us where booth is hiding. john wilkes booth and david harold were hiding in a tobacco farm of the garretts. a sergeant, something of a fanaticical new england figure, a religious zealot he is the one who ultimately takes aim at john wilkes booth, as the farm was going up in flames. the garrett's informs them that they were hiding in the farm. john wilkes booth wouldn't come out of the farm. in order to force them out, the union troops set the barn on fire. corbett sees john wilkes booth inside and shoots him through the neck, paralyzing him, and about two hours later, booth will die from his gunshot wound on the sports here just outside where the barn burns. they wanted to break him back alive and are unsuccessful. booth dies around 7:00 that morning, april 26. there are two things that they say his last words were. when he looked up at his hands, he said, useless. the other thing they think he said was, tell mother i died for my country. with booth's death, a quick overview of those who were somehow or another involved with john wilkes booth in the attempt to kidnap. several of the conspirators were rounded up. they are taken in the old capital prison and are locked up. a military trial will commence for them. military is a time of war, as opposed to civilian courts. the conspirators found guilty of conspiracy to assassinate, and the other for a conspiracy to kidnap. spangler here was given six years hard labor in his role for making the horse weight behind the theater, just before booth escapes. john the son of mary surat was actually the last of the conspirators to live into the 20th century until 1960. he fled to new york, and then to canada which was actually elusive for the next two years. he served as a public art, -- poapel guard, and was rather fortunate, not meeting the faith that others did. george, again, he is picked up in germantown about 48 hours after the assassination for his part. testimony is given convicted him of his attempt to kidnap president lincoln. a woman, along with george, will be executed because weapons are found in her home. the circumstantial evidence wasn't enough in the military court to do her, put the nail in her coffin. michael, a boyhood friend of booth from baltimore, involved in the scheme to a of ducks lincoln. a shark of a man. the last of the group of conspirators to join. i actually served in the -- he actually served in the confederate army, successfully was a floridian. he will be heading. david harrell will be hung. and others in the kidnapping scheme would be given life sentences. guilty of conspiracy, since it's to prison. spangler, six years. dr. mark, life sentence which is pardoned by johnson in 1859. i enter, johnson is going out of office. he pardons those four. michael actually did live. he died in 1867 of typhoid. the doctor, while in prison down in florida save lives due to the yellow fever dec epidemic. before being sentenced to hanging in 1865 at fort mcnair -- i believe it is. with that, i will close and open it up to questions. >> [indiscernible] on the building of fords theatre. the old picture of it. there were light structures three of them. do you know the use of them? where they used for cooling? drawing cool air through the building? eric: on top? >> yes. eric: the question was -- i'm not sure what the term is. there were these cubicles that allowed cool air to get into the buildings in the sweltering heat. three or four on the roof. >> thank you. >> [indiscernible] what was the significance of the attack on secretary stewarteward? part of the general conspiracy? eric: john wilkes booth -- it is very logical and methodically planned. the same night he knew the president would be there, he wanted to take out seward, and the vice president johnson. if those three were altogether assassinated, there would be no line of session -- succession to the present day, throwing the country into turmoil. that was the motive the hind booth's thinking. booth is not a crazy guy. he has that things out. many people talked about john wilkes booth being crazy or insane. again, no historian has really corrected the record on this. you can see, from john wilkes booth perspective, more than anyone. kaufman's work is the best piece of literature. >> on the same lines, i may have missed this myself, could you elaborate on the conspiracy to of doug. turning into an experience to of ducks. was that booth's idea, did he put it into motion himself? eric: the difference between the conspiracy to abduct a lincoln and the conspiracy to assassinate. the conspiracy to kidnap lincoln -- keep in mind, during the war booth is very anti-lincoln. iccs more and more things changing as a result of the war, he built up his hatred. booth, again, the initial motivation behind his plan with other conspirators to kidnap lincoln is a result around the middle of 1864 when general clemen grant offers to exchange prisoners of war in order to diminish the manpower of the confederacy. booth gathers his own people, as well as agents that he kept in touch with up in canada, who were looking to kidnap lincoln. basically, he gets his own group of people who do not have direct contact with the confederate states of america that they are representing to undertake this kidnapping. it is a crazy idea, the way that thbooth wanted to do it. if he could of ducks lincoln, hold him hostage, bring him down to richmond, the idea was keep this going on indefinitely. one idea was trying to kidnap him from the theater, in the box. they would plan it out, the lambps would all go out, they would play some rags over lincoln's head, and forcibly carried him out. no one would see them as they lowered lakin's body onto the stage. [laughter] there was another incident on march 17 1865 where they hated waiting for it lincoln to show up at a crossroads, a couple miles north of where the theater was. lincoln never showed up at this point because he was at the national hotel presenting a flag for their competence. when that went out, lincoln never showed up. a couple conspirators got spooked that word got out that they were planning this. they would never get back with booth. it is late march 1865. things began moving very quickly that booth would change his plan . it is not one exact day that we know, but two things transpire in that spring that will determine the outcome of war and what happens at fords theatre on april 14. that is the fall of richmond on april 3. union troops march in. jefferson davis is committed to keep the war going. robert you be surrenders on april 9, commencing the end. certainly, with those events, on april 9, booth is just waiting for the right opportunity to present itself. yes, sir. >> [indiscernible] eric: do i believe very mayrry surat deserve to be hung? i think she got a bad rap. i'm skeptical that she had direct knowledge of booth's plan to assassinate. whereas, the other three new they met with news that night -- with booth that night. she was really set up. nbooth plan things so that if things failed, she would be implicated as well. i think it is problematic that she knew that afternoon that this was going down. we never know for sure. [applause] eric: thanks for coming. >> today, american history tv is marking the 150th anniversary of the lincoln assassination. you can find hundreds of programs on presently can in c-span's video library at c-span.org. here is a brief look at one of them. [video clip] >> i thought a lot about how we turn our place into a shrine because we know what happened there. there are a lot of places where we do not know what happened there. it is a big thing -- mixed thing. james has a line in the play where he says, god and give us our beloved ones. we make them are idols, and then they are taken from us. i think about that. i think when i look at the box making him an idol. of course, he is a great idol it is just that we have participated in that veneration, if that makes any sense. >> you have worked with the theater for a while now, you are accustomed to it to some degree, but does ever faze you being that close to the box? >> no. in this case, lincoln actually incorporates fords theatre into the play. there is a sort of double experience going on. you are watching married mary lincoln remembering that night, and we are in fords theatre with their remembering that night. that is a very unique experience for me as a writer. i think some type fords theatre, if i can speak for them, it have to sometimes denied the box. because you are doing a played a has nothing to do with lincoln and yet, you can cover it up you can't not lighted. it is there, ever present. in "the widow lincoln" what is difficult in some way is that it is meant to be present, it is meant to be part of the play. sitting in the audience, realizing that there was a night in april 1865 when a president and his wife sat in the box, watching a play, just like we will be watching a play, and this terrible thing happened. >> you are watching american history tv. 48 hours of programming on american history every weekend on c-span3. follow us on twitter for information on our upcoming programs and to keep up with the latest history news. >> up next on american history tv natalie zanin tells the story of an american war and board woman who became a spy. name cynthia she gave valuable information during wars. and one mission, she gave secret codes. from the international spy museum, this is about one hour. >> i am the executive