The Lincoln Assassination: Manhunt and Trial Presentation

Sterling-Rock Falls Historical Society invites you to the "Lincoln Assassination: Manhunt and Trial" presented by Ron Koehn

Ron Koehn is a retired social studies teacher from Fulton High School primarily teaching U.S. History, sociology and American government.
 
As the bloody Civil War ended with a Union victory, the celebratory mood of the United States was quickly altered by the murder of its Chief Executive.  On the evening of Good Friday, April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor and Confederate sympathizer.  Dying the following morning, Lincoln became the first of four assassinated presidents in American history.
   Part of Koehn’s focus will be the manhunt for Lincoln’s assassin and his alleged co-conspirators.  Although Booth was killed before he could be charged with murder and brought to trial, eight other individuals were taken into custody:  David Edgar Herold, Lewis Thornton Powell (alias Lewis Paine and Lewis Payne), George Andrew Atzerodt, Mary Elizabeth Surratt, Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd, Michael O’Laughlen, Samuel Bland Arnold, and Edmund “Ned” Spangler.  Each was charged with conspiracy to murder the President and tried before a military commission composed of nine colonels and generals from the ranks of the U.S. Army, handpicked by the Secretary of War.  Another focus of Koehn’s presentation will be the seriously flawed trial of the eight defendants who were tried together in Washington, D.C.
The program is free, everyone is encouraged to attend and light refreshments will be served!
For more information call Terry Buckaloo at 815-622-6215