On April 14, 1865, the sixteenth President of the United Sates was Assassinated. He was shot point-blank in a balcony seat of Ford's theatre, while attending a play. He was killed by a well known actor of his time, John Wilkes Booth who slipped by one or two guards, snuck into the Presidential box, and shot the President. After shooting the President, Booth leaped from the box to the stage breaking one of his legs. While making his exit through the stage and backstage, Booth yelled, " Sic semper tyrannis," or, "thus ever to tyrants," which is the state motto of Virginia. The assassination plot of Lincoln had many other officials in mind in order to eliminate the threat to the South. After the death of the President and assassinations attempts to several other officials, John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators became America's most wanted criminals at the time. .
Lewis Powell, one of Booth's co-conspirators had been directed to kill Secretary of State William Seward. He tried to kill Seward with a knife, stabbing him many times but Seward miraculously survived the assassination attempt and lived to remain Secretary of State into the Andrew Johnson administration. George Atzerodt, another co-conspirator of Booth, was to target Vice President Andrew Johnson, but failed in his mission and did not go through with the assassination. The man hunt for John W. Booth and his co-conspirators that followed, was the biggest criminal dragnet in American history. There are many conspiracy theories surrounding this. For example, Andrew Johnson, an independent small Booth conspiracy, a Confederate Government plot, an international bankers' conspiracy, a plot by the Catholic Church, a conspiracy hatched with the aid of Edwin Stanton, the Secretary of War, or one by disaffected northerners conspiring to kill President Lincoln. Of all these several seem easy to eliminate. .
Johnson who was disliked by Mrs.