Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James Swanson

The Civil War in the United States was a fight to retain the union. Even after Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Confederate Army, surrendered to Ulysses Grant on April 19, 1865, there were still major divisions in our nation. One such group was the band of men who wanted to kidnap President Lincoln.

In James Swanson’s book for young adult readers entitled Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, he details the plot which was originally designed to kidnap Lincoln to reveal when it changed to an assassination plot against Lincoln, his vice president, Andrew Johnson and his Secretary of State. John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor of the time period, was the mastermind behind the plot.

He and he alone shot President Lincoln in Ford’s Theatre in Washington as he was watching a play with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. Lincoln and his wife and another couple were seated in the balcony of Ford’s Theatre in a special Presidential theater box. The guard who was supposed to be stationed outside the Presidential box had left his post after the play started to have a drink in a local bar. John Wilkes Booth was able to easily gain entrance to the box and shoot Lincoln. The gunshot to his neck lodged in his brain and led to his death many hours later. Booth escapes by jumping from the box onto the stage of Ford’s Theatre. He breaks his leg in the fall. This does not deter him. He makes his getaway despite the pain he is suffering.

Swanson details the manhunt to find all of the coconspirators as they fled from Washington.

Swanson’s award winning adult title Manhunt is a more detailed version of this title. For students who enjoy Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, they may want to read the adult title for further information.

Personally, I loved this highly accessible account of the dark days following one of the darkest days in American history.