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The Troubled Life of John Wilkes Booth From His Childhood to His Death at The Hands of The Federal Troops. 

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From his birth on his parents’ farm in Maryland and his father’s alcoholism and madness, John Wilkes Booth lived a hard and troubled life until his death at the hands of the Federal Troops. 

John was sent to private and boarding several schools in Maryland until his teens when he was sent to the military academy St. Timothy’s. 

It is here when he joined the Know Nothings, a vocal group at the time who were advocated for slavery and the betterment of American born white men. 

John was attending school at St. Timothy’s when his father died and he quit school to help his family on the farm and pursue a career in acting.

By the time he was 17 he landed a role in a Shakespeare play, his first of many to come. 

John Wilkes Booth became a very famous actor of the time often times acting in plays at the Ford Theater where he would eventually assassinate Abraham Lincoln. 

John was very verbal about his dislike for Abraham Lincoln and his movement to free the slaves and he believed that every white man deserved to own slaves. 

He was very vocal in the community about his dislike for Lincoln and was even arrested for his anti government rants. 

John Wilkes Booth began to plan kidnapping Abraham Lincoln from his farm, as he wanted to use Lincoln as collateral to get confederate troops back who were being held prisoner by the Federal troops. 

He and his friends had several failed attempts at kidnapping Mr. Lincoln and it was quite by accident that he came upon Mr. Lincoln’s whereabouts on the night that his assassination plans would be played out. 

He was picking up his mail at the Ford Theater where he was an actor when he learned of Mr. Lincoln’s appearance for a play at the theater. 

Mr. Booth used his knowledge of the theater to find his way to President Lincoln’s booth where he killed him with one shot to the head.

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After the Assassination

After killing Mr. Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth spent several days on the run through Maryland in an attempt to get across the Potomac River into Virginia.

The Federal Troops placed posters with a one hundred thousand dollar for the capture of John and his accomplices. 

He hid in the swamps until he was able to charter a boat to cross the river into Virginia. He went to the Garrett farm where he entered the barn to hide.

The troops knew of his whereabouts and they surrounded the bars, set it ablaze and shot Mr. Booth in the neck. 

They then dragged his body out to the steps of the Garrett farm where they watched as he bled out. 

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Was John Wilkes Booth Killed on the Garrett Farm 

Many theorists feel that Mr. Booth was not killed on the Garrett Farm.

The man that was killed and pulled from the burning building on that day was wearing a uniform which Mr. Booth did not have at the time of the Lincoln assassination. 

Friends that actually saw the body that was removed from the barn also say that it was not the body of John.

This combined with the fact that people who viewed the mummified remains of the body from the Garrett farm say it was not John. 

Some believe that John lived to an old age and escaped the troops. It is one theory that can never be proved.

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