Summary Of Killing Lincoln By Bill O Reilly

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Killing Lincoln, written by Bill O’Reilly uncovers the mystery behind the killing of one of our most famous Presidents. As the Civil War begins to come to its final resolution, General Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant have one last showdown. As the Union begins to converge on the southern forces, not only are is Lee severally outgunned and out manned, but he is outwitted and out lasted. President Lincoln takes refuge on a boat during his “working vacation”, and diligently keeps track of his army via telegram. The president has come so far in his efforts to put down this secession, he has informed Grant to give a lenient surrender to the south. The main reason why the south has become so depleted of men and food rations is the north has strategically …show more content…

One Southern sympathizer in particular would raise a hate for the President so great, he would plan to ruin his entire life and then end it. This man was John Wilkes Booth. As the country began to see an end coming to the Civil War, Booth began to plan his revenge on the one man responsible for the fall of the South. What began as a hate, became an obsession. Booth practically devoted what would be the rest of his life, to finding a way to kill the President. He assembled a team of other Southern sympathizers and got to planning. Although his plan is not clear until later in the book, it degrades from a kidnapping to a point blank shot murder. Along with Booth, a group called the Confederate Secret Service was formed by Jefferson Davis that planned to dismantle the Union as well. Booths original plan was to take some of the money he had received from a coconspirator and assemble his group of Southerners to kidnap Lincoln and kill his Vice President Andrew Johnson and the Secretary of …show more content…

When the celebration in Washington DC had broken out due to the new peace, Lincoln refused to make a statement or a lasting appearance for the crowd. Although he was right, people were out for him he was not sure when they would strike. Because of this, Lincoln had several times changed his agenda at the last second, which involuntarily threw off Booths kidnapping plot. Although the President had involuntarily evaded his death, it would only postpone it. As Booth and his conspirators became more and more frustrated with their failed attempts, many of them packed up and went home due to the growing unrest of Lincolns assumed assassination. Taking matters into his own hands, Booth used some of his earned blood money to seek out purchasing a weapon to go through with an assassination rather than a kidnapping. As the North continued to celebrate and attempted to rejoin with the south, the President and his staff were engulfed in the paranoia and reliance that an assassination would take place in the near