Of course, everyone knows that John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in April of 1865...but, what most people don't know is that the assassination was part of a much larger plan to disrupt the Union Government and win the war through terrorist activities.
In February of 1864, Confederate President Jefferson Davis adopted a plan to strengthen ($5M) the activities of spies, secret agents, terrorists through the "Confederate Secret Service" mainly based in Richmond, Washington, D.C., Canada, and NYC.
Acts of terrorism that were planned include:
1. Starting arson fires in NYC buildings and hotels.
2. Poison the water supply of NYC.
3. Infect Union soldiers' clothing with small pox and other biological weapons.
4. Attack and blow up the White House.
5. Kidnap (later turned to assassination plot) Abraham Lincoln.
6. Assassinate Lincoln, VP Johnson, Sect. of War Stanton, Sect of State Seward, Gen. U.S. Grant
The Confederate Plan to Kill President Lincoln:
Fall 1864- Booth and other conspirators meet with Confederate Secret Service Agents (CSS) twice in Canada to discuss "activities".
October 1864- Booth receives a secretly coded letter from Richmond (Jefferson Davis) notifying Booth that "their friends would be set to work as he had directed."
November 1864- Booth begins recruiting a team to kidnap Lincoln.
January 1865- Jacob Thompson (Head of the CSS) talks about "a group of blood men" willing to kill Union leaders and "leave the government entirely without a head."
March 1865- large numbers of Confederate troops were sent to protect the planned route of bringing President Lincoln to Richmond.
March/ April 1865- Conspirators have several meetings in Richmond, Washington, D.C. and Canada to finalize plans.
April 19, 1865- Jefferson Davis receives a telegram that announces the death of Abraham Lincoln and responds, "If it were to be done, it was better to be done well...if the same had been done to Andy Johnson (VP), the beast, and to Secretary Stanton, the job would then be complete."
Judge Advocate John Bingham, in his closing arguments (a 1.5 month trial) during the Lincoln Assassination Trials clearly implicates Jefferson Davis as a guilty party to Lincoln's murder...
"What more is wanting (as far as evidence to convict the conspirators)...Jefferson Davis is as clearly proven guilty of this conspiracy as John Wilkes Booth, by whose hand Jefferson Davis inflicted the mortal wound on Abraham Lincoln."
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