The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln: The John Wilkes Escape Route

On the night of April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot by the dashing young actor, John Wilkes Booth, at Ford’s Theatre in Washington City. While Lincoln lay dying, his assassin was making his escape into Southern Maryland.

Over the next twelve days, Booth and his accomplice, David Herold, were tracked through the lower counties of Maryland and across the Potomac River into Viriginia. They were finally trapped at Garrett’s Farm near Bowling Green, Virginia, where Herold was taken prisoner and Booth was shot and killed by federal troops. Herold was hanged along with Mary Surratt on July 7, 1865.

The Surratt House Museum is the country home of Mary Surratt, the first woman to be executed by the United States government   after being found guilty of conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.  You can tour the house, where the guns were hidden (& one later found)