Editing John Wilkes Booth (section)

===Plot to kidnap Lincoln===
As the [[1864 presidential election]] drew near, the Confederacy's prospects for victory were ebbing, and the tide of war increasingly favored the North. The likelihood of Lincoln's re-election filled Booth with rage towards the president, whom Booth blamed for the war and all of the South's troubles. Booth had promised his mother at the outbreak of war that he would not enlist as a soldier, but he increasingly chafed at not fighting for the South, writing in a letter to her, "I have begun to deem myself a coward and to despise my own existence."<ref name="Ward1990 pp361–363">{{cite book |first=Geoffrey C. |last=Ward |title=The Civil War&nbsp;– an illustrated history |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York City |year=1990 |isbn=0-394-56285-2 |pages=361–363}}</ref> He began to formulate plans to kidnap Lincoln from his summer residence at the [[President Lincoln and Soldiers' Home National Monument|Old Soldiers Home]], {{convert|3|mi|km|spell=in}} from the White House, and to smuggle him across the [[Potomac River]] and into [[Richmond, Virginia]]. Once in Confederate hands, Lincoln would be exchanged for Confederate Army prisoners of war held in Northern prisons and, Booth reasoned, bring the war to an end by emboldening opposition to the war in the North or forcing Union recognition of the Confederate government.<ref name="Ward1990 pp361–363" /><ref>Smith, p. 109.</ref><ref>Wilson, p. 43.</ref><ref>Kauffman, ''American Brutus'', pp. 131, 166.</ref>

Throughout the Civil War, the Confederacy maintained a network of underground operators in southern Maryland, particularly [[Charles County, Maryland|Charles]] and [[St. Mary's County, Maryland|St. Mary's]] Counties, smuggling recruits across the Potomac River into Virginia and relaying messages for Confederate agents as far north as Canada.<ref name="Toomey1983 pp149–151">{{cite book |first=Daniel Carroll |last=Toomey |title=The Civil War in Maryland |year=1983 |publisher=Toomey |location=Baltimore, MD |isbn=0-9612670-0-3 |pages=149–151}}</ref> Booth recruited his friends [[Samuel Arnold (conspirator)|Samuel Arnold]] and [[Michael O'Laughlen]] as accomplices.<ref name="Bishop1955 p72">Bishop, p. 72.</ref> They met often at the house of Confederate sympathizer Maggie Branson at 16&nbsp;North Eutaw Street in Baltimore.<ref name="SheadsToomey1997" /> He also met with several well-known Confederate sympathizers at [[Omni Parker House|The Parker House]] in Boston.
[[File:Soldiers-Home-Lincoln-Cottage.jpg|thumb|left|The Old Soldiers Home, where Booth planned to kidnap Lincoln]]

In October, Booth made an unexplained trip to [[Montreal]], which was a center of clandestine Confederate activity. He spent ten days in the city, staying for a time at St. Lawrence Hall, a rendezvous for the [[Confederate Secret Service]], and meeting several Confederate agents there.<ref>Townsend, p. 41.</ref><ref>Kauffman, ''American Brutus'', pp. 140–141.</ref> No conclusive proof has linked Booth's kidnapping or assassination plots to a conspiracy involving the leadership of the Confederate government, but historian [[David Herbert Donald]] states that "at least at the lower levels of the Southern secret service, the abduction of the Union President was under consideration."<ref>Donald, p. 587.</ref> Historian Thomas Goodrich concludes that Booth entered the Confederate Secret Service as a spy and courier.<ref>Goodrich, p. 61.</ref>

Lincoln won a landslide re-election in early November 1864, on a platform that advocated abolishing slavery altogether, by [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Constitutional amendment]].<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Philip B. |last=Kunhardt III |title=Lincoln's Contested Legacy |magazine=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]] |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]] |volume=39 |issue=11 |date=February 2009 |page=38}}</ref> Booth, meanwhile, devoted increased energy and money to his kidnapping plot.<ref name="Kauffman2004 pp143–144.">Kauffman, ''American Brutus'', pp. 143–144.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=John Wilkes Booth Letter February 1865: Lincoln Conspiracy, Fords Theatre |url=http://www.shapell.org/manuscript.aspx?john-wilkes-booth-fords-theatre |work=SMF Primary Resources |publisher=Shapell Manuscript Foundation |access-date=May 27, 2013 |archive-date=June 15, 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615193144/http://www.shapell.org/manuscript.aspx?john-wilkes-booth-fords-theatre |url-status=dead}}</ref> He assembled a loose-knit band of Confederate sympathizers, including [[David Herold]], [[George Atzerodt]], [[Lewis Powell (assassin)|Lewis Powell]] (also known as Lewis Payne or Paine), and rebel agent [[John Surratt]].<ref name="Toomey1983 pp149–151" /><ref name="Kauffman2004 pp177–184.">Kauffman, ''American Brutus'', pp. 177–184.</ref> They began to meet routinely at [[Mary E. Surratt Boarding House|the boarding house]] of Surratt's mother, [[Mary Surratt]].<ref name="Kauffman2004 pp177–184." />

By this time, John was arguing vehemently with his older, pro-Union brother Edwin about Lincoln and the war, and Edwin finally told him that he was no longer welcome at his New York home. Booth also railed against Lincoln in conversations with his sister Asia. "That man's appearance, his pedigree, his coarse low jokes and anecdotes, his vulgar similes, and his policy are a disgrace to the seat he holds. He is made the tool of the North, to crush out slavery."<ref>Clarke, p. 88.</ref> Asia recalled that he decried Lincoln's re-election, "making himself a king", and that he went on "wild tirades" in 1865, as the Confederacy's defeat became more certain.<ref>Clarke, p. 89.</ref>

Booth attended Lincoln's second inauguration on March 4 as the guest of his secret fiancée Lucy Hale. In the crowd below were Powell, Atzerodt, and Herold. There was no attempt to assassinate Lincoln during the inauguration. Later, Booth remarked about his "excellent chance...to kill the President, if I had wished".<ref name="Ward1990 pp361–363" /> On March 17, he learned that Lincoln would be attending a performance of the play ''Still Waters Run Deep'' at a hospital near the Soldier's Home. He assembled his team on a stretch of road near the Soldier's Home in hope of kidnapping Lincoln en route to the hospital, but the president did not appear.<ref name="Donald1995 p588">Donald, p. 588.</ref> Booth later learned that Lincoln had changed his plans at the last moment to attend a reception at the [[National Hotel (Washington, D.C.)|National Hotel]] in Washington — where Booth was staying.<ref name="Ward1990 pp361–363" />

[[File:LincolnJohn.jpg|thumb|President Lincoln and Booth are highlighted at [[Second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln's second inauguration.]]|alt=President Lincoln at his second inauguration with John Wilkes Booth looking onwards with many others]]