The Day Lincoln Was Shot

The Day Lincoln Was Shot is a 1998 American television film based on the book by Jim Bishop. It is a re-creation of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, co-written and directed by John Gray, and stars Lance Henriksen as Abraham Lincoln and Rob Morrow as John Wilkes Booth.

The book had previously been adapted in 1956 as a live television play directed by Delbert Mann and starring Raymond Massey as Lincoln, Lillian Gish as Mary, and Jack Lemmon as John Wilkes Booth. It was telecast on the CBS anthology series Ford Star Jubilee.

The film shows the events leading up to and after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln as well as a look into the personal lives of both men.

Plot
Abraham Lincoln is relieved that Richmond has fallen and the U.S. Civil War is effectively over. He has contentious discussions with his Cabinet about the treatment of the defeated Confederacy. Many members of his cabinet want the Confederates punished, but Lincoln argues for mercy. He is despised by many Confederates and receives numerous death threats. Lincoln has a rather fatalistic attitude about them but as a disturbing dream about hearing cries in the White House and seeing a coffin in the East Room surrounded by mourners crying out that an assassin has murdered the President. Booth is the most popular actor in the country (it is pointed out that only Lincoln has his picture taken more often).

Coming from an acting family, he feels overshadowed by his father and brother and longs to make his mark on history. A fanatical Confederate sympathizer, Booth sees Lincoln as a tyrant and slavery as a proper way of life and assembles a motley group of Confederates, including former Soldier Lewis Powell and simple-minded David Herold. They form a plot to kidnap the President, but the war ends on April 9. Two days later, on April 11, Booth is outraged when he hears Lincoln making a speech promising African-Americans citizenship and the vote. His changes his plot from kidnapping to murder.

Eventually, on April 14, Booth decided to assassinate Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, orders Powell to kill Secretary of State William Seward, and orders another henchman, George Adzerodt, to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson at the Kirkwood Hotel. Later that night, during the performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater, Booth shoots Lincoln and escapes after stabbing the left arm of Major Henry Rathbone, a substitute guest, and landed awkwardly on the stage. Almost the same time that happens, Powell attacks Secretary Seward at his mansion. Though seriously disfigured by Powell, the metal canvas split saved Seward's life. Meanwhile, at the Kirkwood Hotel, Vice President Johnson is unharmed because Adzerodt couldn't have the courage to shoot him. Back at Ford's Theater Lincoln is attended by the doctors who were actually in the theater. After being examined by Dr. Charles Leale and two other doctors, Lincoln is then carried across the street to the Petersen House, where he died the following morning at 7:22 A.M. surrounded by his friends and family for the remaining 8 hours. After an intense manhunt for two weeks, Boston Corbett shoots Booth inside a burning barn surrounded by federal troops. After clinging to life for less than three hours, Booth dies on the front porch after saying that he died for his country.

The credits reveal that four of Booth's henchmen and Mary Surratt were put on trial and hanged. Ironically, Lincoln's successor Johnson was much harsher on the defeated South than Lincoln would have been.

Cast
• Lance Henriksen as Abraham Lincoln

• Rob Morrow as John Wilkes Booth

• Donna Murphy as Mary Lincoln

• Jean Louisa Kelly as Lucy Hale

• Wil Wheaton as Robert Lincoln

• Titus Welliver as Lewis Powell

• Jaimz Woolvett as David Herold

• Kirk B. R. Woller as George Atzerodt

• Eddie Jones as Edwin M. Stanton

• Jeremy Sisto as Frederick W. Seward

• John Pleshette as William H. Seward

• Gregory Itzin as William Crook

• Adam Lamberg as Tad Lincoln

• John Ashton as Ulysses S. Grant

• Nancy Robinette as Mary Surratt

Home releases
The film was first released on VHS in 2000 from Warner Home Video. The film is now available on DVD via the burn-on-demand Warner Archive service.