All language subtitles for Killing.Lincoln.2013.1080p.BluRay.x264-ROVERS

Hello, John.

(ACTOR SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

(HUMMING)

(ACTOR CONTINUES SPEAKING)

MAN: I am harmless
except to myself.

WOMAN: I hear you.

WOMAN 2:
You will please recollect

you are addressing my daughter,
and in my presence.

MAN: Yes, I'm offering her
my heart and hand

just as she wants them...
with nothing in 'em.

WOMAN 2: I am aware,
Mr. Trenchard,

you are not used to the manners
of good society,

and that, alone,
will excuse the impertinence

of which you have been guilty.

MAN: Don't know the manners
of good society, eh?

I guess I know enough to turn
you inside out, old woman,

you sockdologizing old man-trap.

(DISTANT EXPLOSIONS)

TOM HANKS:
On the evening of April 13th, 1865,

John Wilkes Booth initiates his plan

not only to kill Abraham Lincoln,

but to decapitate the government
of the United States.

A civil war that has lasted four years
is drawing to an end.

While Washington City celebrates
the surrender

of Robert E. Lee's Confederate army,

Booth and his co-conspirators plot
a carefully coordinated triple murder.

And...

- Mr. Powell.
- MAN: I ain't Powell.

It's Payne.

Reverend Payne, James Wood, or Mosby.

Mind your aliases, Mr. Powell.

Pick one, lest the others trip you up.

POWELL: The Secretary of State
ain't going nowhere soon.

Confined to his bed and slow to recover.

Got hisself a nurse.

A little slip of a man named Robinson
who tends to him now mostly.

And there's a nigger butler.

The doctor, name of Verdi,
makes his calls mornings and evenings.

Mr. Herold,
when working at the pharmacy,

do you have occasion to deliver
medicines to patients

at the request of their physicians?

And with personal instructions

as to the administration of the medicine?

Um, yes. For certain,
it's a common thing.

Common enough, yes.

Prepare a package for Mr. Powell,

the Reverend Payne,
James Wood or Mosby here,

to deliver, tomorrow night,
to Secretary of State William Seward.

Number 17 Madison Place,
Lafayette Square.

Yes, sir. I'll do it.

Mr. Atzerodt, you will check
into the Kirkwood tomorrow morning.

Vice President Johnson's suite
is on the first floor.

No.

- No?
- ATZERODT: No.

I do not wish... I cannot.

It is too late, George.

We have... all of us, conspired together.

To capture, yeah.

To kidnap one man, not to murder.

This is an act of war,
and you are stuck to it.

It is a tar pit from
which you cannot pull away.

And when tomorrow night
is through and our deed is done,

we will... all of us,
be known as its authors.

I have seen to it.

And we will be hailed as heroes.

We will meet back here
tomorrow night at nine o'clock.

Powell and Herold will pay
a visit to the Secretary of State,

Mr. Atzerodt will go to see
the vice president,

and I will go to Grover's Theatre

for a performance of Aladdin!
Or His Wonderful Lamp.

And there...
I will kill a tyrant.

This is the true story
of the killing of Abraham Lincoln,

the first assassination
of an American president,

and what might be
the most resonant crime

in the history of the nation.

John Wilkes Booth's
plan to kill Lincoln

isn't the first black-flag operation

to target the 16th president
of the United States.

From 1861 through March of 1865,
at least five kidnapping

or assassination schemes are hatched,
although none are attempted.

None... save, perhaps, one.

Abraham Lincoln is riding alone,
as is his custom,

from the War Department
to the Soldiers' Home

where the family stays
during the hot summer months.

- (GUNSHOT)
- (HORSE SCREAMS)

- Whoa! Whoa!
- (HORSE WHINNIES)

(LINCOLN GRUNTING)
Help me, son!

- Whoa, whoa! Whoa!
- (HORSE SQUEALS)

(SNORTS, WHINNIES)

Steady. Steady now, steady.

I, uh, I heard a rifle shot.

Yes, down by the bottom of the hill,
that is what frightened him so.

And, uh, he bucked

and separated me
from my eight-dollar plug hat.

(PANTING) Private Nichols,
I'm much obliged to you.

NICHOLS: Your hat, sir.

I found it at the bottom of the hill.

It is properly ventilated
for these hot summer months.

Likely, some fellow returning
from a day's hunt discharged his gun

in a precautionary measure of safety

before bringing it into his home.

I assure you, I am in greater
danger from a rumor of snipers

than I am from your silence
in this affair.

I would ask that you tell no one

of this adventure.

Sir, I...

I will be doubly... obliged to you.

Yes, sir.

HANKS: That is Abraham Lincoln,

a self-educated statesman
who has abolished slavery

and will go on to end the war
and save the Union.

Yet, during his four years
and 41 days in office,

the intensity of the hatred
leveled toward him,

even by members of his own party,
is extreme, even by today's standards.

But while the killing of Abraham
Lincoln serves to sanctify him,

to transform a controversial president
into a dearly beloved martyr,

it also serves to pervert
the truth about his killer.

John Wilkes Booth, a passionate
and well-admired man,

on the path to become one
of the greatest actors of his time,

is reduced by history
to a two-dimensional scoundrel

and dismissed as a madman.

Harder. Faster! Come on!

(LAUGHS) Ah!

Whoa...

- (GRUNTING)
- (AUDIENCE GASPS)

- Good God!
- It's all right, old man.

Come on hard, for God's sake,
and save the fight.

- (AUDIENCE CHEERS)
- (BOOTH YELLS)

(AUDIENCE SCREAMS, GROANS)

(AUDIENCE MURMURING)

Now... let one spirit of the first-born Cain

reign in all bosoms,

that the rude scene may end,

and darkness be the burier of the dead.

- MAN: Curtain! Pull the curtain.
- (AUDIENCE CHEERING)

- Mr. Booth?
- Why, Mr. McCollum!

- Mr. Booth, I am so very sorry.
- Come, come, old fellow.

You look as if you had lost
the blood. Not another word.

Now, if you'd have gotten my eye,
that would have been bad.

But you didn't, and it was...

(CHUCKLES) Well...
it was splendid!

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

Allow me to buy us all a drink!

(LAUGHS)

HANKS: That is John Wilkes Booth,

the third son of an acting dynasty.

He has set out not only to play the roles

that made his father and brothers famous,

but to bring to the stage
a new style of acting,

an in-the-moment naturalism
and realism all his own.

Born and raised in Maryland,
a border state,

a slave state that did not secede
from the Union,

John Wilkes Booth is also a Southern zealot,

whose hatred of Abraham Lincoln
is nothing less than fanatical.

(CRICKETS CHIRPING)

HANKS: In October of 1864,

Booth makes contact with
the Confederate Secret Service.

And shortly after Lincoln's re-election,
he determines to kidnap the president.

He stops in Philadelphia
to visit his sister, Asia,

and there, he writes a letter.

BOOTH:
To Whom it May Concern:

Right or wrong,
God judge me, not man.

My love is for the South alone.

Nor do I deem it a dishonor
in attempting to make for her

a prisoner of this man to whom she owes

so much misery.

Edwin, our brother, voted for him?

- Yeah.
- For a false president.

A tool of the North
who means to crush out slavery

by robbery, raping and slaughter!

Oh, God grant that I may see the end.

This country was formed for the white man

and not for the black.

Asia... lock this in your safe for me.

I may come back for it.

But if anything should happen to me,
open it alone,

and send the letters as directed.

For brother Junius and sister Rosalie

and one other...
To Whom it May Concern.

A Confederate doing duty
upon his own responsibility.

J. Wilkes... Booth.

(BOOTH HUMMING "DIXIE")

♪ Is this your liberty

♪ Oh sacrificial lamb?

♪ Bow down and bless
the kingdom coming

- ♪ In the reign of Abraham ♪
- Please!

When will your child be born?

(SOBS)

In five months, maybe less.

God bless you, sister mine.

Take care of yourself.

Try to be happy-

(SOBBING) I shall never be happy
until I see your face again.

- (PENCIL TIP SNAPS)
- Hmm...

I will fix that for you, son.

We'll put a fine point on it.

HANKS: On February 5th, 1865,
Abraham Lincoln visits

Alexander Gardner's photographic studio.

Are we ready, Mr. Gardner?

Aye, that I am, Mr. President.
Now, if you wouldn't mind

moving to the other side of the table,
that angle favors you.

HANKS: After four years,
and more casualties than in any conflict

in the nation's history,
the Civil War is almost over.

But the image made on this day will be
the last official portrait ever taken

of the 16th president of the United States.

Abraham Lincoln has six weeks to live.

Taddie.

LINCOLN: With malice toward none,
with charity for all,

with firmness in the right,

as God gives us to see the right,

let us strive on to finish
the work we are in,

to bind up the nation's wounds,

to do all which may achieve

and cherish a just and a lasting peace

among ourselves and with all nations.

HANKS:
Booth is there, a face in the crowd,

on the steps of the east portico.

He has resolved to kidnap Lincoln,

to hold the president hostage in exchange

for Confederate prisoners of war.

But his only known attempt is
an anti-climatic failure.

On March 17th, 1865,

Booth and two boyhood friends,
Michael O'Laughlen and Sam Arnold,

along with Confederate agent, Lewis Powell,

and smuggler, George Atzerodt,

lay in wait along the president's route
to visit the Campbell Military Hospital.

Pharmacist assistant, David Herold,

waits in southern Maryland at a tavern owned

by the mother of Confederate
courier John Surratt.

And provisions have been sent ahead
to the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd,

which lies along
the escape route to Richmond.

But Lincoln cancels the hospital visit.

It is not known when
Booth's plot to abduct Lincoln

became a plan to kill him,

but the very next night,
Booth plays the villain Pescara

in a benefit performance
of The Apostate at Ford's Theater.

And the last words spoken
on stage by Booth, as an actor,

delivered within meters
of the presidential box,

tempt us to imagine that Booth
might have had an epiphany.

- (BELL RINGS)
- That sound has raised me to the sun.

Well, infernal villain.
Well may'est thou stand amazed.

Thy hour is come.

Thou art enclosed
in thy own den of blood.

This, this is left me still.

And within my grasp I clutch it
like a fierce and desperate joy.

Look here.

Look here!

Despite of fate
I still shall triumph over thee.

(AUDIENCE CHEERING, CHANTING)

Come, John, they're mad for you.

In spite of the audience's
overwhelming response, on this night,

Booth uncharacteristically refuses
to respond during the curtain call.

Booth then travels to New York,

where he learns
of a Confederate plot to kill Lincoln

by planting explosives in the White House.

- (WOMAN SOBBING)
- (WIND HOWLING)

(SOBBING GROWS LOUDER)

LINCOLN: Who is dead
in the White House?

The president.

(ECHOING) He was killed by an assassin.

(WOMAN'S SOBS ECHOING)

(CLOCK CHIMING)

HANKS: Lincoln awakens
from a dream of his own death.

According to one account,

it is in the early morning hours
of April 2nd,

and Lincoln is aboard
the steamship River Queen.

He has left Washington to visit the war-front

where General Ulysses S. Grant
is poised to capture

the Confederate capital
of Richmond, Virginia.

(DISTANT EXPLOSIONS)

HANKS: Abraham Lincoln has
13 days to live.

(WOMAN SINGING INDISTINCTLY)

HANKS: On April 3rd, 1865,
Confederate forces set fire

to their own capital of Richmond, Virginia,

before evacuating ahead
of advancing Union troops.

Confederate President Jefferson Davis
escapes by train,

abandons his White House of the Confederacy.

And Abraham Lincoln lands in Richmond to view

the devastated ruins of this American city.

(MAN SHOUTS ORDERS)

MAN:
Form up!

Do any of you know the way
to General Weitzel's headquarters?

Yes, sir, Master Lincoln.
I know the way.

MAN: Fix bayonet!

MAN 2: Come on, come on.

(DISTANT EXPLOSIONS)

- Look.
- (MAN WHISTLES)

MAN: Window.

Thank God I have
lived to see this day.

On we go.

TAD: Papa day.

May the good Lord bless
and keep you safe, Master Lincoln.

You are a free citizen of this republic.

Kneel to God, only, and thank him...

...for the liberty that is yours.

HANKS:
It's one of the most unforgettable scenes

in American history:
an American president walking the streets

of a fallen rebel capital,
in the midst of a civil war.

Scarcely 36 hours
after Jefferson Davis has fled his capital,

Abraham Lincoln arrives
at the surrendered home

of the Confederate president.

I am informed that General
Weitzel is on his way, sir.

And this is Mrs. O'Melia,
the housekeeper.

Ma'am.

Might you direct me
to President Davis' desk?

So this... must've been
President Davis' chair.

HANKS: Jefferson Davis will
soon be captured in Georgia.

He will die 24 years later at the age of 81.

This is whence...
Mr. Jefferson Davis...

...has conducted his war, Tad.

HANKS: But Abraham Lincoln
has less than 11 days to live.

Might I have a glass of water?

HANKS: Ironically, on this day,
Ted's 12th birthday, April 4th, 1865,

the immediate danger to the president
is not in Richmond.

It's on its way to Washington.

Sergeant Thomas Harney,

an explosives expert
with the Confederate Torpedo Bureau,

has already been dispatched
on a secret mission

to blow up the White House and Lincoln in it.

And there was sound evidence
that John Wilkes Booth

learns of the plot while in New York

at the same time that Abraham Lincoln

is walking the streets of Richmond.

Sgt. Harney is with Colonel
Mosby in Virginia as we speak.

So he can infiltrate Washington
at the earliest convenience.

And Jefferson Davis has sanctioned
this harebrained, incendiary scheme?

I see.

And it is true that President Davis
escaped intact from Richmond?

MAN: Yes. Thank heaven,
he is safely bound for Danville.

You seem troubled.

Troubled? I?

For four years I have lived
not daring to express

my thoughts or sentiments,
even in my own home.

Constantly hearing every principle dear
to my heart denounced as treasonable.

And I have cursed my willful idleness,

begun to deem myself a coward...

...and to despise my own existence.

Richmond has fallen in a war
against the Constitution,

against states' rights, against
Southern rights and institutions.

And a malignant tyrant,

a half-breed, low-mannered country buffoon

is threatening to proclaim himself king!

I should have killed him on Inauguration Day.

I could have.

I was that close.

And now if the South is to be aided at all,
it must be done quickly,

and it may already be too late.

Troubled, gentlemen...

When Caesar conquered the enemies of Rome

and the power that was his
menaced the liberties of the people,

Brutus arose... and slew him.

Troubled? Not at all.

I stand with Brutus.

HANKS:
Lincoln might have remained in Virginia

on the battlefront with General Grant.

He might even have been
present to witness

Robert E. Lee's surrender on April 9th.

But, as fate would have it,

Secretary of State William Seward
and his son, Frederick,

are victims of a carriage accident
in Washington.

- LINCOLN: William.
- Mr. President.

- Mr. Lincoln, sir.
- Frederick.

Is your father able
to tolerate a friend?

This way.

HANKS: Seward's jaw is broken in two places,
and his right arm is fractured.

So, on April 9th, unaware of Lee's surrender,

Lincoln returns to Washington
to visit his injured Secretary of State.

I think we near the end at last.

Richmond is back
in the arms of the Union.

I walked her streets.

I sat in Jeff Davis' own chair.

(LINCOLN CHUCKLES)

- Miss Fanny.
- Thank you for coming, Mr. President.

How could I stay away
when my Secretary of State

is rendered in such a way
as he cannot but listen? (CHUCKLES)

I have worked my own hand
as hard as at sawing wood,

so many others' hands have I shaken.

I've been to Libby Prison.

General Weitzel asked me point-blank

how to treat the defeated
Confederate soldiers.

I told him to let them up easy.

My old friend.

It is close to 10:00 p.m.

when Secretary of War Stanton
delivers to Lincoln the telegram

reporting that Robert E. Lee has surrendered.

The next day,
Washington City is in full celebration.

A crowd gathers in front of the White House

to serenade Lincoln
and to call for him to speak.

He politely promises
a speech the next night,

and requests that the band
play the Confederate anthem.

- ("DIXIE" PLAYS)
- He asks them to play "Dixie."

(GUNSHOT, METALLIC CLANK)

POWELL:
A fine shot with a parlor pistol.

Thank you, Mr. Powell.

Payne. It's Payne.

Not Powell. I ain't going
by Powell no more.

(GUNSHOT, TARGET CLANKS)

Booth is armed and headed
towards the White House.

He is just two blocks away when he is stopped

by the managing director of Ford's Theater,

who invites him for a drink.

Booth replies,
"Anything to drive away the blues."

(CROWD MURMURING)

HANKS: On Tuesday, April 11th,
faithful to his promise,

Lincoln speaks from the north portico
of the White House.

Journalist Noah Brooks holds
a candle to illuminate Lincoln

and to provide light by which to read.

Mary Todd Lincoln is present,
along with her friend Clara Harris,

and seamstress and confidante,
the former slave, Elizabeth Keck/ey.

Lincoln surprises the crowd
by outlining a generous

and compassionate policy
toward the South,

and then introduces
the idea of black suffrage.

Booth is there.

LINCOLN:
It is also unsatisfactory to some

that the elective franchise
is not given to the colored man.

I would myself prefer...

That means nigger citizenship.

LINCOLN: ...on the very intelligent
and on those who serve our cause

as soldiers, some 12,000 voters.

Shoot him.

Draw your revolver
and shoot him now.

- There's people.
- There are always people.

I wonder, Mr. Powell, or Mr. Payne,

in spite of your reputation,
if you have what it takes.

I already suspect
that Mr. Herold here does not.

HEROLD:
There's no call for that.

Oh, I got what it takes.

Now, by God,
I will put him through.

That is the last speech
he will ever make.

HANKS: Abraham Lincoln
has less than four days to live.

Washington City celebrates
Robert E. Lee's surrender

with a grand illumination.

Candles burn in every window,
public and private.

Fireworks and cannon volleys
proclaim victory.

(FIREWORKS CRACKLING)

On April 13th,
Booth visits Grover's Theatre

and learns that a production
of Aladdin! Or His Wonderful Lamp

is planned for the next night,
April 14th, Good Friday,

and that the president
has been invited to attend.

Booth arranges for a ticket
to the box adjoining the president's,

and informs his co-conspirators
that the plan has changed

from kidnapping... to murder.

That, on April 14th,

Lewis Powell will kill
Secretary of State Seward.

David Hero/d will accompany Powell

and lead him across the Navy Yard Bridge
and into Maryland.

George Atzerodt will kill
Vice President Johnson

in his room at the Kirkwood House Hotel.

And Booth will kill Lincoln

during the performance
of Aladdin at Grover's Theatre.

HANKS: With little more
than 24 hours to live,

Abraham Lincoln rises at 7:00 a.m.

and writes four brief messages,
including one instructing

acting Secretary of State
Frederick Seward

to calla Cabinet meeting for 11 a.m.

Then, joins his family at breakfast

to find his eldest son, Robert,

just returned from witnessing
the surrender at Appomattox.

ROBERT:
General Lee, stately, elegant.

His uniform, spotless,
with a jeweled sword and shining spurs.

And General Grant, so shabby
in a muddy blue uniform,

- borrowed from a private.
- (CHUCKLES)

It was great. Oh! And...

Here... is... Lee.

TAD: Papa day, let me see!

- Can I see it? Can I have it?
- MARY TODD: Wait a moment, Tad.

LINCOLN: Now, that is
the face of a noble man.

And brave.

Listen to me, Robert.

You must lay aside
your uniform...

...return to college...

...read law for three years,
and at the end of that time,

I hope that we will be able to tell
whether you will make a lawyer or not.

Yes, sir. And I will, sir.

HANKS: Shortly before 11 a.m.,

Lincoln sees Secretary of War
Edwin Stanton at the War Department.

Mr. Stanton.

Mrs. Lincoln has invited
General and Mrs. Grant

to join us at the theater this evening.

And... General Grant
already hints that they will decline

in favor of taking a train to New Jersey
to visit with their children.

I trust that you
have had no occasion

to encourage this desertion
in the face of entertainment?

Had I the occasion,
I would have seized it.

I am sorry, sir,
but it is a fact

that rumors of assassination
schemes are everywhere now.

It remains a constant subject of concern
between myself and Mr. Seward,

even in the face of his recovery.

The doors to the White House stand open,

to one and all, day and night, Stanton.

My life is within reach
of anyone, sane or mad.

By the hand of a murderer,
I can die but once.

But to go continually in fear...

...why, that is to die
over and over...

...and over again.

Will you be attending
the theater tonight?

Aladdin is playing at Grover's.

No, sir.
I'm afraid not, sir.

Pity. There will be
some fine acting there tonight.

MAN: The officers could
keep their sidearms.

And what terms did you make
for the common soldiers?

I told them to go back
to their homes and families.

With a promise to not again...

...take up arms against
the United States of America.

Quite simple,
and quite right.

Which brings to mind
how very providential it is

that this rebellion was crushed
just as Congress has adjourned.

(MURMURS OF AGREEMENT)

There are men in Congress
who harbor feelings of hate

and vindictiveness
toward the South.

But there will be no persecution...

...when this war is over,
no bloody work.

We must bend every effort
to reanimate the South,

to put her state
governments in order,

and to re-establish the Union
before Congress reconvenes.

Still no word
from General Sherman?

We are hourly expecting it.

It will be good news.

General Sherman will have
secured Johnston's surrender.

I... I know this

because I have had
the dream... last night.

I've had it before,
it's always the same

and invariably followed
by favorable news.

As Secretary of the Navy,

it has to do with your element,
Mr. Welles. Water.

I am in... some kind
of vessel in the dream.

And always moving with rapidity
toward an indefinite shore.

Lincoln explains
that he has had this dream

before the battles
of Fort Sumter, Bull Run,

Antietam, Stones River,
Gettysburg, Vicksburg and Wilmington.

Grant replies that Stones River
was not a victory.

And then, in an aside, that his wife
insists upon them leaving

on the afternoon train,
they will not be attending the theater.

Shortly before noon,

John Wilkes Booth
stops at Ford's Theater,

as is his daily custom,
to pick up his mail.

Well, here's the man who don't like
General Lee, here for his mail.

I told you, Harry, I don't
like the way he surrendered.

Given his sword
by the Senate in Richmond

and swearing an oath
never to give it up,

he should have died on the battlefield

before rendering his Southern
manhood to the butcher Grant.

That's what I said, Harry,
and it's what I meant.

Now, let's just hope he's not
paraded through the streets

as the Romans did their captives, huh?

- (CHUCKLING)
- Thank you, Raybold.

Well, I'll be sure to ask the
president his plan in that regard.

The president?
You mean the buffoon

who walked into Jeff Davis'
house in Richmond,

threw his legs over the chair,

and spit tobacco juice
all over the place?

(LAUGHTER)

He don't chew tobacco, John.

Or I would've put a spittoon
in the presidential box tonight.

A messenger from Mr. Lincoln
called this morning for tickets,

for them and General and Mrs. Grant.

Maybe we'll have Robert E. Lee
and old Jefferson Davis himself

in another box,
both of them in chains.

I thought he was
attending Grover's tonight.

(SINGING PLODDING MELODY)

HANKS: Booth goes to Pumphrey's stable
to reserve a horse.

Then to write a letter,
a confession, an explanation.

A manifesto signed by him
on behalf of himself,

Lewis Powell, David Herold
and George Atzerodt.

Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln
take a carriage ride alone.

According to Mary Todd Lincoln,
she has never seen her husband

so supremely cheerful.

They talk about the past,

about the death of their son,
Willie, three years before,

about the future, traveling abroad,

and Lincoln's plan
to return to his law practice.

Lincoln tells Mary
that on this particular day,

he feels that the war
has come to a close.

They end up
at the Washington Navy Yard

where Lincoln summons a young
naval officer, William H. Flood.

Mrs. Lincoln.

Mother, the last time we saw young
Flood, here, we were in Springfield.

I was a lawyer and he was
but knee-high to a grasshopper.

His mother was kin
with Governor Carlin.

- I remember Priscilla Flood.
- And his father served with me

in the Illinois state legislature.

A Democrat, but a friend
and a good man,

despite his fervent support
of my opponent for the presidency.

- Sins of the father, sir.
- (LINCOLN CHUCKLES)

Never a sin to stand up
for what you believe.

Now, Flood, tell me...
which is the vessel with a history?

Well, Mr. Lincoln...

...they've all been mussing
around under fire quite a lot.

But... I guess you mean
the Montauk over there.

- (WHISTLE BLOWS)
- She got the hardest hitting,

been in the tightest spots.

The very one, Flood,
show her to me. Mother.

HANKS: At 4:30, a group
of Confederate prisoners of war

is being escorted from the Navy Yard
and up Pennsylvania Avenue

when Booth encounters his friend,
the actor, John Matthews.

BOOTH: Great God!
I have no longer a country!

What's the matter, John?

Matthews, I have a favor
to ask you. Will you grant it?

I may have to leave town tonight.
I have a letter here

which I desire to be published
in the National lnte//igencer.

Please attend to it for me

unless I see you before
ten o'clock tomorrow.

- Why, there goes General Grant.
- Where? Come on.

HANKS: The General and Mrs. Grant
will later recall

the horseman who peered
into their carriage twice

on its way to the train station.

The actor, John Matthews, will be
on stage that evening at Ford's Theater.

The next day,
he will burn the letter,

the signed confession given to him
by John Wilkes Booth.

Abraham Lincoln has less
than 15 hours to live.

(LAUGHTER)

You see, I gave her a draught that cured
the effect of the draught.

And that draught was a draught
that didn't pay the doctor's bill.

Good gracious.
What a number of draughts.

You have almost
a game of draughts.

- What's the matter?
- That was a joke, that was.

- Where's the joke?
- She don't see it.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

Why, anybody can see... that.

(AUDIENCE MURMURING)

(APPLAUSE, CHEERING)

(ORCHESTRA PLAYS
"HAIL TO THE CHIEF")

(LOUD CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

HANKS: At roughly 8:30 p.m.,
the Lincolns arrive at Ford's Theater,

driven by coachman Francis Burke
and footman Charles Forbes.

Mr. Forbes. Mr. Parker.

I hope that you both
might enjoy the play.

HANKS: Since November of 1864,

four officers of the Metropolitan Police

have been detailed
to protect the president.

On this night,
John Parker is on duty.

As last-minute replacements
for General and Mrs. Grant,

Mrs. Lincoln invites her
dear friend, Clara Harris,

in the company of her fiance',
Major Henry Reed Rathbone.

(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

Our American Cousin
is a farce in three acts

about Asa Trenchard, an American
country bumpkin who comes to England

to claim an aristocratic inheritance.

And tonight is advertised

as Miss Laura Keene's 1000th
and final performance

of the role of Florence Trenchard,

opposite the actor Harry Hawk
as Asa Trenchard.

The famously self-educated Lincoln
is an enthusiastic lover of theater.

But during the war,
he is drawn to comedy,

telling Noah Brooks that,
"A farce or comedy is best played.

A tragedy is best read at home."

A last-minute meeting with Lewis Powell,
David Hero/d and George Atzerodt

has just concluded.

The coordinated attack
that Booth outlined on April 13th

is to go into effect immediately.

At 10:15, Lewis Powell is to kill
Secretary of State Seward

in his home on Lafayette Square.

David Hero/d will guide
Powell out of the city

via the Navy Yard Bridge.

George Atzerodt is to kill
Vice President Johnson

at the Kirkwood House Hotel.

The only change in the plan

is that Booth will not be
attending Aladdin at Grover's.

Hello, John.

HANKS: He will kill Lincoln
at Ford's Theater.

MAN: I am harmless
except to myself.

WOMAN: Speak on, sir. I hear you.

HANKS: it is still early in act two.

Booth has calculated
that the appointed time of 10:15

will fall at the beginning of act three
of Our American Cousin,

and there will be an
intermission between the acts.

Booth retrieves his horse
from Pumphrey's stable.

(KNOCK ON DOOR)

(WHISPERS) Mr. Spangler, hold
this mare for me ten or 15 minutes.

Mind you,
she's a bad little bitch.

I can't, Mr. Booth,
it's almost intermission.

I gotta shift scenery.

May I cross backstage?

You're gonna have to cross under.
And I can't keep the horse.

Just go with him, Debonay,

and tell Peanuts to come here
and hold his damn horse.

FLORENCE: Mr. Asa Trenchard,
our American cousin.

This young gentleman
has carried off the prize

by three successive shots
in the bull's-eye.

WOMAN: I congratulate you,
sir, and am happy to see you.

Why have you left the archery, Florence?

FLORENCE: Because,
after Mr. Asa's display,

I felt in no humor for shooting.

HANKS: Booth heads next door
to Peter Taltavu/'s Star Saloon.

Whether or not Francis Burke, the man
who drove the Lincoln carriage,

and John Parker, the man detailed
to protect the president,

are drinking at the Star Saloon
when Booth enters

will never be known with any certainty.

Mr. Taltavul.

(MEN SINGING INDISTINCTLY)

HANKS: But the urge, somehow,
to be a pan' of, or a witness to,

the killing of Abraham Lincoln
will prompt many to make claims

that are impossible to substantiate.

The remark allegedly overheard
during intermission

by orchestra conductor
William Withers is a prime example.

You're a fine tragedian, John.

But... you'll never be
as great as your father.

When I leave
the stage for good,

I'll be the most
talked about man in America.

In the aftermath of the assassination,

of the many witnesses
who claimed to know Booth,

or to see him on the evening
of April 14th, 1865,

Booth's friend and fellow actor,
John Matthews, later said:

"Those who were the wisest
knew the least."

And the stage is set
for the most dramatic

and resonant crime
in American history.

WOMAN: Mr. Trenchard?

ASA: Nary red, it all comes
to their barking up the wrong tree

about the old man's property.

Yes, sir?

POWELL: I have here
medicine for Mr. Seward,

from his surgeon, Dr. Verdi.

I don't know that we are
expecting any such thing,

but I'll see to it that he gets it.

No. I gotta take it
to him myself, personal.

- ASA: He thought better on it.
- WILLIAM: Please, sir.

Uh, the house
is mostly asleep now,

and you don't want
to be waking them.

ASA: Oh, no, which
he meant to leave to me,

and left it to his granddaughter,
Miss Mary Meredith.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

Who is this, Bell?

Mr. Frederick, this man
says he's from Dr. Verdi.

I have medicine here
for Mr. Seward

with instructions
on how he must take it.

I'm sorry, but you
cannot see him now.

My sister and his nurse
are endeavoring

to compose
my father to sleep now.

- But I must. Dr. Verdi's orders.
- Wait. Wait.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

As I thought and as I said...

...it's not worthwhile
to talk about this any further.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

WOMAN: Miss Mary Meredith!

What will Miss Harris think
of my hanging on to you so?

ASA: ...and mothers would
go away from a fellow

when they found that out,
but you don't valley fortune.

She won't think
anything about it.

- WOMAN: You had better go.
- ASA: You crave affection, you do.

Go back and tell the doctor
that Mr. Seward's son

refused to let you see him

if you think I cannot be
trusted with the medicine.

Very well then.

- You son of a bitch!
- (GUN CLICKS)

- (AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
- WOMAN: Mr. Trenchard,

you will please recollect you
are addressing my daughter...

(GRUNTING)

ASA: I'm offering her
my heart and hand

just as she wants them...
with nothing in 'em.

(GRUNTS)

(SCREAMS)

(SCREAMING)

- WOMAN: ...nasty beast.
- (AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

WOMAN 2: I am aware, Mr. Trenchard,

you are not used
to the manners of good society,

and that, alone,
will excuse the impertinence

of which you have been guilty.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

ASA: Don't know the manners
of good society, eh?

I guess I know enough to turn
you inside out, old woman,

you sockdologizing old man-trap.

- (GUNSHOT)
- Sic semper tyrannis!

(FABRIC TEARS)

(AUDIENCE MURMURING)

Sic semper tyrannis!

- Stop that man!
- Stop him!

Let me pass! Let me pass!

WOMAN: Murder! Help! Murder!

Give me that horse, boy!

- (HORSE WHINNIES)
- (BOOTH GRUNTS)

WILLIAM: Murder!
Stop that man! Murderer!

John Wilkes Booth
has less than 12 days to live.

(sesame)

- MAN: What's happening?!
- The president! He's shot!

(CHATTERING)

(WOMAN SCREAMING)

(DOOR RATTLING)

- MAN: Open it!
- (GRUNTING) Back away!

(CLAMORING)

- I've been stabbed! Please!
- WOMAN: Help us! Someone, please!

- You're in no immediate danger.
- WOMAN: Please, help us!

- Please, help us!
- Mrs. Lincoln?

Mrs. Lincoln, I'm Dr. Leale,
a United States Army surgeon.

(SOBBING) Doctor,
Doctor, is he dead?

(CLAMORING)

MARY TODD: Help him!
Help him, please!

Bring water and brandy!

On the floor. I want him
recumbent. One, two, three.

Watch his head.

He might've been stabbed.

We need to cut the shirt and coat
away from the neck to the elbow.

- MAN: Dr. Charles Taft.
- MARY TODD: Help him!

MARY TODD: Someone!

(SOBBING) Help him!

(SOBBING) God!

Checking for hemorrhage...
from the subclavian artery.

Wait. I found it.

A hole, and... there's a clot.

(CLAMORING)

It's a bullet wound,
occipital bone, here.

Removal of the clot, it's
putting pressure on the brain.

Ladies, gentlemen! The president
is being attended by a physician!

Please make your way,
in orderly fashion, to the street!

Opening up his larynx
for free passage of air.

I need you and you
to lift his arms

and manipulate them back and forth,
up and down, to expand his thorax.

(sesame)

He's feeble. Respiration,
not that satisfactory.

(MARY TODD SOBBING)

MAN: Here! Here's brandy!

May I... hold his head?

MARY TODD: Tell me!

Tell me, is he alive?!

HANKS: At 10:35, 20 minutes
after shooting the president,

Booth arrives at the Navy Yard Bridge,
his escape route into Maryland.

Sergeant Silas T. Cobb
of the 13th Regiment,

Massachusetts Heavy Artillery,
is on sentry duty.

- Halt. Who goes?
- Friend.

- Name?
- My name... is Booth.

- Where from?
- I'm from the city.

- Where are you headed?
- Down home, Charles County.

- What town?
- I don't live in a town.

I live near Beantown.

I don't know
where that place is, friend.

But do you know it's against the law
to cross here after nine o'clock?

What is your object to be in town
so late when you got so far to travel?

It is a dark road.
I thought if I waited till now,

I should have the light of this moon
to help me see my way.

Well, I will let you pass...

...but I don't know as I ought to.

Hell... there'll be
no trouble about that.

MAN: Make way. Make way.

To the White House. We must
take him to the White House.

No, he will die on the way.

The saloon, here, next door.

No! it should not be said that
the President of the United States

died in a saloon.
Not even my own.

Doctor, give me your commands,

and I will see to it
that they will be carried out.

As I said, across the street
to the nearest house.

Make a path! Let us pass!

Stop, stop.

(LINCOLN GASPING)

The house opposite is closed.

Here! Here.
Bring him here.

Go. Go, go.

Step away, please.
Back away, please.

HANKS: Lincoln is taken
to a boarding house

directly across the street
from the theater.

And due to his
193 centimeter height,

laid diagonally on the bed
of absent boarder William Clark.

Shortly after 11 p.m.,
Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton,

sets up a headquarters
in the back parlor of the house,

and establishes relays between there and
the War Department telegraph operators.

He alerts General Grant
and calls him back to Washington,

issues emergency directives
to police and military authorities,

orders the National Detective Police
to initiate a manhunt

for the as-yet unknown assassin,

and notifies Vice President Johnson
that the president is dying.

And, shortly before midnight,
Chief Justice David Kellogg Cartter

begins to hear eyewitness
testimony of the crime.

But the appointed stenographer
cannot write fast enough.

Is there anyone here

who knows the practice
of shorthand writing?

Here! There's a boarder
here who does.

Tell him that his services are
required here... immediately.

Jim? It's General Augur.
They want you next door.

Tell them...
I'll be right there.

HANKS: Minutes after John Wilkes Booth
crosses the Navy Yard Bridge,

Sergeant Cobb stops David Herold,
riding a grey roan horse.

Hero/d asks if a rider has passed here

and Cobb tells him yes
and lets him pass.

David Herold's job on April 14th

is to guide Lewis Powell
out of Washington

after killing Secretary of State Seward.

But hearing the cries of "Murder!"
from Seward's house...

Murder! He's killing my father!

...Herold flees the scene,
not waiting for Powell.

He catches up with Booth
at Soper's Hill,

and it's a little after
midnight when they arrive

at a safe house
for Confederate spies.

HEROLD: For God's sakes, Lloyd,
make haste and get the things.

HANKS: A tavern where weapons
have been stored.

Lloyd, the things!

HANKS: A tavern owned by the mother
of Confederate courier John Surratt.

I cannot carry a carbine.

This little bitch fell on me.

Stumbled while jumping.
I broke my damn leg.

I need a surgeon.
We'll go to Sam Mudd's.

But no. We ought to get down
south across to the river,

- cross into Virginia.
- I cannot go on without a doctor.

' Lloyd. Lloyd!
- Huh?

I am fairly certain we have
assassinated the president

and Secretary Seward.

Mind your damn horse,
Davey, let's go!

Meanwhile,
at the Petersen Boarding House,

Corporal James Tanner,

who has lost both legs
at the second battle of Bull Run,

and is just ten days
past his 21 st birthday,

is about to take
the first eyewitness testimony

in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

(SOBBING HYSTERICALLY)

- (WHISPERING INDISTINCTLY)
- MARY TODD: No!

Pulse: 48, rising.

Respiration: 21.

Ecchymosis is setting in.

Who are you?

I'm Corporal
James Tanner, sir.

- You're in need of a phonologist.
- What?

- A shorthand, sir.
- Yes. In here.

Mr. Hill will be asking
questions of the witnesses

before Chief Justice Cartter.

(sesame)

The assassination
of Abraham Lincoln is witnessed

by more than 1500 people,
yet no two accounts match.

Even now, scarcely two hours
after Booth pulls the trigger,

the details fail to correspond.

Mark Twain once wrote that the very ink
with which all history is written

is merely fluid prejudice.

And so it is that an objective
account of any historical event

simply does not exist.

- A.M.S. Crawford.
- William Henry Hawk.

James P. Ferguson.

I thought, at first,
he was intoxicated.

There was a glare in his eye.

I turned to Captain McGowan,

intending to say something
in reference to this man's manner.

I was looking
with an opera glass

to see which citizen it was
with the president.

The next instant,
the shot was fired.

I said, at once, it was the president's
box and jumped to the door.

I was on stage
at the time of the firing.

- (GUNSHOT)
- And he put his hands

on the cushion of the box,
and he threw his feet right over.

He pulled part of a state flag off.

HA WK: And as I looked towards him,

he came in the direction
in which I was standing.

Can you describe the man's form
that jumped from the box?

Yes, sir. I saw him
as he ran across the stage.

As he ran across,
he looked right up in my face.

I pulled the lady
down behind the banister.

As he went through the scene...

...threw his hand behind him...

...and the knife was up in sight.

He made some expression
when he came on the stage.

BOOTH: The South shall be free!

But I did not understand what.

- He stopped as he said...
- I have done it!

He shook the knife.

His face was towards me.

He did not say a word that I heard,

but very strongly
resembled the Booths.

HA WK: I believe,
to the best of my knowledge,

that it was John Wilkes Booth.

Still... I'm not positive.

(LINCOLN GASPING)

HANKS: At 4:30 a.m., April 15th,
Booth and Hero/d arrive

at the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd.

Either during his jump from
the presidential box to the stage,

or as a result of his horse falling,

Booth has sustained
a clean break of his fibula,

four centimeters above
the instep of his left foot.

(GROANS, MOANS)

At the same time that Dr. Samuel Mudd
is tending to John Wilkes Booth,

5O kilometers away,
Abraham Lincoln is dying.

I am inserting the Nelaton probe.

Pulse: 60.

Respiration: 24.

At three inches, following
the track of the ball...

...there is a bone plug...

...driven in from the skull.

I can feel the ball, at five inches.

And...

...two inches further, fragments.

LEALE:
The orbital plate?

Undoubtedly.

LEALE: Perhaps...
we should summon Mrs. Lincoln.

Barely perceptible.

(sesame)

It's your Mary.

Mother. Your Molly.

I'm here, Little Puss.

Your Child Wife.

Oh, my love...

...live but one moment...
to speak to me once.

To speak to our children,
you'd speak to little Tad,

wouldn't you, Father?
You love him so.

(GASPING)

Mary Lincoln screams and faints,

and Secretary of War Stanton orders
that she is to be removed from the room.

As she is led away, Corporal Tanner,
transcribing his shorthand

in the back parlor,
overhears her to say:

"Oh, my God, and I have
given my husband to die."

Dr. Charles Augustus Leale,
the 23-year-old surgeon

who has been by the president's
side for nine hours,

has scarcely let go of Lincoln's hand,

for no other reason than to let him
in his blindness know

that he was in touch
with humanity and had a friend.

At 21 minutes and 55 seconds
past 7:00 a.m.,

on Saturday, April 15th, 1865,

Abraham Lincoln
draws his last breath.

Fifteen seconds later,
his heart stops.

The Reverend Phineas Gur/ey
would recall that those present

remained motionless and silent
for several minutes

after Surgeon General Barnes
says, simply, "He is gone."

(TICKING)

Now... he belongs to the ages.

(sesame)

"Angels." According to Corporal Tanner,
Stanton said,

"He belongs to the angels now."

But Tanner was unable
to record the moment.

His pencil had broken.

(CRIES QUIETLY)

(ROOSTER CROWS)

HANKS: His leg splinted,
and with the aid of a crutch,

Booth leaves Dr. Samuel Muddfis home

late on the afternoon
of Saturday, April 15th.

Already, members
of the 13th New York Cavalry

have been ordered to southern Maryland
in search of Lincoln's killer.

What will soon become
the largest manhunt

in American history at that time,

begins with troops searching
scarcely seven kilometers

from Dr. Mudd's farmhouse.

Lost in the dark
and on the edge of the Zekiah Swamp,

Booth and Hero/d have promised
to pay tobacco farmer Oswell Swann

$12 to lead them
to the home of Samuel Cox,

a leader in the Confederate underground.

BOOTH: How is it
that you know Captain Cox?

Oh, we all know
Captain Cox, sir.

He a true man of the South.

He a hard man, beat a nigger
to death hisself. Mm-hm.

- You... you a free nigger?
- We alls free now, sir.

Thanks to Master Lincoln.
Lord rest his soul.

But I ain't no nigger.
I's a Wesort.

- What?
- A Wesort.

You know,
we sort of folks.

Nigger, lnjun, white man,
all mixed up, you know.

- You have heard about Lincoln?
- Yes, sir.

He in the arms of the Lord.

(KNOCKING)

Um, my friend and I,
we're in need of some shelter.

Food. Not the nigger.

Name?

My friend, he's hurt his leg.

You're John Wilkes Booth.

I think I know what you have done.

HANKS: They have arrived
at about 1:00 a.m. on Easter Sunday.

After talking until dawn,
Cox is sympathetic, but no fool.

He will put Booth and Herold
in touch with a Confederate smuggler,

who will get them across
the Potomac and into Virginia,

but Cox will not allow
Lincoln's assassin to stay in his home.

So Booth and Herold are
directed to wait in a pine thicket,

just across Cox's property line.

They don't know it yet,

but they will wait there
for the next five days and four nights.

Davey, don't you know
I can't get on?

HEROLD:
Help him on his horse.

(GROANS)

- Twelve dollars?
- Yes, sir.

I thought you said Captain Cox
was a man of Southern feeling.

You say anything about this
and you won't live long.

HANKS: John Wilkes Booth
has ten days to live.

On April 17th,
Colonel Lafayette Baker,

the head
of the National Detective Police,

asks Alexander Gardner
to make copies of three pictures.

It is the first time in history

that photographs have been
used on a wanted poster.

Thanks in pan' to papers found in
Booth's room at the National Hotel,

Lewis Powell and Mary Surratt
are jailed in Washington.

And George Atzerodt,
who simply got drunk

and wandered away
from the Kirkwood Hotel,

rather than attempt to kill
Vice President Andrew Johnson,

is discovered hiding out in his cousin's
home in Germantown, Maryland.

Elements of the 8th Illinois Cavalry
and the U. S. 22nd Colored Troops

join the 13th New York Cavalry
in southern Maryland.

And two members
of the National Detective Police,

Lieutenant Luther Baker
and Colonel Everton Conger,

accompany 26 members
of the 16th New York Cavalry,

under the command
of Lieutenant Edward Doherty.

BOOTH:
Our cause, being almost lost,

something decisive
and great must be done.

I struck boldly,
and not as the papers say.

I shouted sic semper before I fired.

In jumping broke my leg.

This night before the deed,

I wrote a long article
and left it for one of the editors

of the National lntel/igencer,

in which I fully set forth

the reasons... for our proceedings.

(RAPID TAPPING)

(INSECTS CHITTERING)

(WOODPECKER TAPPING)

He or the government...

(WHISTLING)

HANKS: The first of Booth 's
two journal entries ends there.

He is interrupted by Thomas Jones,
Samuel Cox's foster brother.

Cox has asked Jones to see to it

that Booth gets across the Potomac
to Virginia.

In spite of the $100,000
bounty being offered,

Jones keeps Booth
and Herold hidden and fed

while government troops occupy
and sweep through the region.

Later, Jones will claim that Booth's
singular desire was for newspapers.

So, it is here, in the pine thicket,

that Booth reads the horrific accounts,
the lurid details, and bloody result

of Lewis Powell's attack
on Secretary of State William Seward.

(GRUNTING)

(GRUNTING)

(GRUNTS)

(SCREAMS)

(SCREAMING)

(SCREAMING)

Murder! He's killing my father!

Help!

(SHOUTS INDISTINCTLY)

- (WOMAN SOBBING)
- (GRUNTING)

(WOMAN SOBBING)

I'm mad.

I'm mad!

I'm mad!

(SCREAMS)

WILLIAM: Murder!
Stop that man! Murderer!

Miraculously, Secretary of State
William Seward is still alive,

as are all the victims
of Lewis Powell's savage attack.

And George Atzerodt's intended victim,
Vice President Andrew Johnson,

has been sworn in as
the 17th President of the United States.

But as Abraham Lincoln's
body lies in state

in the East Room of the White House,

John Wilkes Booth lies
on a bed of dirt and pine needles,

and reads the worst reviews of his life.

A man who was raised on Shakespeare

is brought to his knees
by his own hubris.

In one fell swoop,
with one grand gesture,

he has changed the course
of American history

and dramatically jeopardized the fate
of the South that he loved so dearly.

(HORSE WHINNIES)

(HOOFBEATS APPROACHING)

Booth's tragedy is nearly complete.

On the night of April 20th, Thomas Jones
leads Booth and Hero/d to a boat.

The current is strong.

There are naval patrols searching
the Potomac for the fugitives.

John Wilkes Booth
has less than six days to live.

On April 18th, Abraham Lincoln's dream
of an assassinated president

lying in state in the East Room
of the White House is fully realized.

On April 21 st, Lincoln's body
leaves Washington by train,

to travel 2, 662 kilometers to Oak Ridge
Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.

After one failed attempt,
it's in the early morning hours

of April 23rd that John Wilkes Booth
and David Hero/d

finally cross the Potomac
and land in Virginia.

As he writes in his diary:
"With every man's hand against me

for doing what Brutus was honored for,

looked upon as a common cutthroat,

abandoned with the curse
of Cain upon me."

On April 24th, Booth and Herold
arrive at the farm of Richard Garrett.

Booth presents himself as James W. Boyd,

a Confederate soldier wounded
at the Battle of Petersburg,

and the family takes them in.

But the very next day, Booth is writing
in his diary when word comes

that Union cavalry are heading
toward the Garrett farm.

Booth tells Herold to get his pistols.

The two men flee to hide in the woods.

When they return, Garrett's
suspicions have been aroused.

Tonight, they will not be
welcome to sleep in the house.

Tonight, they will sleep
in the tobacco barn.

Tonight I tried to escape

these bloodhounds...

MOHCE more.

I have too great a soul...

...to die... a criminal.

I don't want to die, Booth.

I don't want to kill no one.

I do not wish to shed a drop

of blood...

...but I must fight the course.

'Tis all that's left to me.

HANKS: At 2:30 a.m.
on the morning of April 26th,

the tobacco barn at Garrett's farm

is surrounded by 26 members
of the 16th New York Cavalry,

under the command
of Lieutenant Edward Doherty,

along with Lieutenant Luther Baker
and Colonel Everton Conger

of the National Detective Police.

Booth's location has been betrayed

by an 18-year-old Confederate soldier
named William Jett.

MAN: We know who you are!

Who are you? What do you want?

MAN: We want you,
and we know who you are.

Give up your arms
and come out directly.

- Well, my boy...
- We have no choice.

You goddamn coward!
You would leave me now?

Go! Go on, I would not
have you stay with me.

This is a hard case!

It may be that I am
to be taken by my friends.

MAN: Be assured,
we are not your friend.

You have the sound of a brave man,
an honorable man.

I am a cripple.
I've got but one leg.

If you will withdraw your men
in line 100 yards from the door,

I will come out and fight you!

MAN: We did not come here to fight.
We came to make you a prisoner.

You put any more kindling there,
I'll put a ball through you.

I could've picked off three or four of
your men by now, if I wished to do so.

Draw off your men 5O yards.

- MAN: I will not!
- Well, my brave boys,

you can prepare a stretcher for me.

Go. Go on.

Save yourself if you can.

Captain,
there is a man in here

who wishes to surrender awful bad.

MAN: Let him hand out his arms!

You carry a carbine
and you must hand it out!

I declare before my maker

that this man
is innocent of any crime.

Upon the word and honor
of a gentleman, he has no arms.

The arms are mine,
and I've got them.

MAN: Show your hands!
Put out your hands!

- Now what?
- (GRUNTS)

One more stain on the old banner!

(CHUCKLES)

Make quick work of it, Captain.

Shoot me through the heart.

(GUNSHOT)

- He shot himself!
- No, he did not.

Quick, get him out.
Get him out of here!

Private Perry!

Pick him up.

Speak. Speak.

(FAINTLY) Tell my mother...

...that I died for my country.

For your country,
is that what you say?

Yes.

Here, get him away
from the fire. Let's go.

MAN: Let's go. Let's move!

- Go!
- Set him against the wall, soldier.

Prop him up. Get him up.

- Where's he shot?
- In the neck.

- I told you, he shot himself.
- No, Corbett did.

Give me that.

I saw him through
the barn planks.

He was claiming he was
raising his rifle against us.

Sergeant Boston Corbett shot him.

HANKS: In Washington,
Lewis Powell and George Atzerodt

will soon be joined by David Herold,
and all of them will be held in custody

aboard the ironclad monitors
USS Saugus and USS Montauk.

And, tomorrow,
their photographs will be taken,

and the public will see,
for the first time,

the faces of the men
who conspired to decapitate

the government of the United States.

Now it is the morning of April 26th,

and John Wilkes Booth
has only hours to live.

(BOOTH GURGLING, GASPING)

MAN: There's nothing
in your throat. No blood.

HANKS: The ball that passes through
Booth's neck severs his spinal cord

between the fourth and fifth
cervical vertebrae,

paralyzing him
from the neck down.

(MUMBLING INDISTINCTLY)

Kill... me.

MAN:
We don't want to kill you.

We want you to get well.

(GASPING)

Hands... (MUMBLING)

Lift them... let me see...

...my hands.

MAN:
He's asked to see his hands.

Useless...

...useless.

(GASPS)

(EXHALES)

HANKS: Shortly after dawn,
on Wednesday, April 26th, 1865,

John Wilkes Booth
draws his last breath.

His belongings are wrapped in paper.

His body is sewn into a saddle blanket
and loaded onto a wagon,

then a steamer, then a tugboat
bound for the Washington Navy Yard.

Alexander Gardner
and Timothy O'Sullivan

board the ironclad monitors
USS Saugus and Montauk

to make col/odion glass plate
photographs of the men

who conspired first to kidnap
and then to kill Abraham Lincoln.

Michael O'Laughlen,
Booth's childhood friend,

will be convicted of participating
in the conspiracy

and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Samuel Arnold admits to conspiring
to kidnap the president,

but denies involvement
in the assassination.

He is sentenced to life in prison.

All right, take him away.

Next. Have a seat, man.

(SHIP HORN BLARES)

HANKS: George Atzerodt,
who lost his nerve

and got drunk
rather than attempt to kill

Vice President Johnson,
is condemned to die.

GARDNER: Mr. Lewis Powell.

Have a seat.

HANKS: After his savage
but failed attempt

on the life
of Secretary of State Seward,

Lewis Powell hides
in Washington for three days

before wandering
into Mary Surratt's boarding house

and into the arms of the police.

Don't you move now, laddie.

HANKS:
Powell is sentenced to death.

On April 27th, David Hero/d
is brought aboard the USS Montauk.

The young man who followed
John Wilkes Booth to the bitter end...

...is condemned to die.

And at the request
of Secretary of State Stanton,

Alexander Gardner takes
one more picture on April 27th.

Dr. Frederick May...

...can you positively identify the body?

Is there a scar
upon the back of its neck?

MAN: There is.

Let me describe it
before it's seen by me.

It's on the left side

and has the appearance more
like the cicatrix of a burn

than that of a surgical operation.

It was occasioned when I removed
a fibroid tumor from his neck.

MAN: It is exactly
as you have described it.

Yes.

That is he.
That is John Wilkes Booth.

GARDNER: Gentlemen, please,
stand where you are.

And perfectly still.

One... two... three.

HANKS: James Wardell,
one of Lafayette Baker's detectives,

takes the single glass plate
and delivers it to Lafayette Baker.

It is presumed that Baker
gives it to Secretary of War Stanton.

But no one knows.

Alexander Gardner's photograph

of the autopsy of John Wilkes Booth
has never been found.

The trial of the conspirators
is a military tribunal.

Three hundred and sixty-six
witnesses testify.

And all of the defendants are found guilty.

And in attempting to create
a definitive record

of the people and events surrounding
the assassination of Abraham Lincoln,

Alexander Gardner and Timothy O'Sullivan

are given extraordinary and exclusive access.

On July 7th, 1865,
the sentences are carried out

for the first assassination of a president

in the history of the nation.

And Mary Surratt becomes
the first woman ever to be executed

by the United States federal government

when she joins Powell,
Atzerodt, and Herold on a scaffold

at the Old Arsenal Penitentiary.

(HINGED FLOOR CLATTERS)

In an interview ten years later,

the former president of the Confederacy,

Jefferson Davis, states simply,

"Next to the destruction of the Confederacy,

the death of Abraham Lincoln

was the darkest day
the South has ever known."

Tad Lincoln learned
of his father's assassination

while attending Aladdin at Grover's Theatre.

He died of heart failure six years later.

Briefly committed to an asylum
by her only surviving son, Robert,

Mary Todd Lincoln died in Springfield

17 years after the assassination
of her husband.

John Wilkes Booth's body
was buried in a storage room

at the Old Arsenal Penitentiary,
then, in a warehouse,

and, finally, interred in Green Mount
Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland,

four years after the killing
of Abraham Lincoln.

Ten weeks after the president's death,
the Civil War was over,

and Lincoln's Gettysburg
declaration was realized:

that government of the people,
by the people, for the people

shall not perish from the earth.

English - US - PSDH