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Loading... Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killerby James L. Swanson
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. This book, an historical fiction, follows John Wilkes Booth from his plotting and eventual assassination of President Lincoln. Suggests that Booth's plan wasn't very well planned out at all - and that he was lucky to stay hidden for so long after the trigger was pulled. (  ) purkskis | Nov 28, 2009 |  This is an excellent, fast-paced history of the pursuit of John Wilkes Booth after his assassination of Abraham Lincoln. It nicely puts to rest many of the myths that I learned as a kid. ( ) wanack | Sep 27, 2009 | The perfect book to follow up Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. It pretty much picks up on the story. The book almost plays out like a fictionalized story, but as the author says at the beginning of book: What happened in Washington D.C., in the spring of 1865, and in the swamps and rivers, and the forests and fields, of Maryland and Virginia during the next twelve days, is far too incredible to have ever been made up. However, due to many documentaries and other readings, I believe some of the facts here to be a bit embellished. Not false, just glamorized. They do serve their purpose, though. (  ) runaway84 | Aug 11, 2009 | I was born and raised in Washington DC, so I knew all about the Lincoln assassination... or so I thought, until reading this book. "Manhunt" provides a thorough (in some instances, excruciatingly so) account of not only the assassination, but the subsequent search for John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators. ( ) greglief | Aug 6, 2009 | This 2006 book is meticulously researched and most ably relates the events surrounding the assassination of Linclon and what Booth did after and how he was caught and killed. I read Ameican Brutus on Dec 20, 2004, and think this was a better book. This book's author is a lawyer and a specialist in Lincoln things. I liked the way he gave details on so many things of interest One of the best books I have read this year. (  ) Schmerguls | Apr 18, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
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| Book description |
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The Greatest Manhunt in American History
For 12 days after his brazen assassination of Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth was at large, and in Manhunt, historian James L. Swanson tells the vivid, fully documented tale of his escape and the wild, massive pursuit. Get a taste of the daily drama from this timeline of the desperate search.
April 14, 1865 Around noon, Booth learns that Lincoln is coming to Ford's Theatre that night. He has eight hours to prepare his plan.
10:15 pm: Booth shoots the president, leaps to the stage, and escapes on a waiting horse.
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton orders the manhunt to begin. April 15 About 4:00 am: Booth seeks treatment for a broken leg at Dr. Samuel Mudd's farm near Beantown, Maryland. Cavalry patrol heads south toward Mudd farm.
Confederate operative Thomas Jones hides Booth in a remote pine thicket for five days, frustrating the manhunters. April 19 Tens of thousands watch the procession to the U.S. Capitol, where President Lincoln lies in state. Wild rumors and stories of false sightings of Booth spread. 
April 20 Stanton offers a $100,000 reward for the assassins, and threatens death to any citizen who helps them.
After hiding Booth in Maryland, Jones puts him in a rowboat on the Potomac River, bound for Virginia. More than a thousand manhunters are still searching in Maryland. In the dark, Booth rows the wrong way and first ends up back in Maryland. April 20-24 Booth lands in the northern neck of Virginia, and Confederate agents and sympathizers guide him to Port Conway, Virginia. April 24 Booth befriends three Confederate soldiers who help him cross the Rappahannock River to Port Royal and then guide him further southwest to the Garrett farm.
Union troops in Washington receive a report of a Booth sighting. They board a U.S. Navy tug and steam south, right past Booth's hideout at the Garrett farm. April 25 The 16th New York Calvary, realizing their error, turns around and surrounds the Garrett farm after midnight that night. 
April 26 When Booth refuses to surrender, troops set the barn on fire, and Boston Corbett shoots the assassin. Booth dies a few hours later, at sunrise. April 26-27 Booth's body is brought back to Washington, where it is autopsied, photographed, and buried in a secret grave. 
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:17 -0400)
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