Did John Wilkes Booth act alone?

Answer 1

John Wilkes Booth decided to become a Catholic in 1860. He received his holy sacraments from Archbishop Spaulding of Baltimore in March 1865. The Catholic Church believed that Abraham Lincoln was heretic and deserved death. Booth believed that that killing Lincoln was Gods will and God would protect him from harm. Booth said in his diary, "I cannot see my wrong…was not a wrong unless God deems it so."

Yes, John Wilkes Booth believed that he had the right and duty to kill Abraham Lincoln.

　

Source: Lincoln, Davis, and Booth

Answer 2

He had several accomplices: David Herald, Lewis Payne (AKA: Lewis Powell), George Atzerodt, and perhaps Mary Surratt, who's trial prejudice is still a matter of debate today.

2nd respondent

There were hundreds working separately to kill Lincoln.

Note: David Harold, George Atzerodt and Mary Surratt had nothing to do with the killing of Lincoln. David Harold and Lewis Payne tried to kill Secretary of State Seward. David Harold joined up with Booth 30 minutes after Booth killed Lincoln. Mary Surratt was executed but there is no proof that she conspired to kill Lincoln.

Answer 3

Booth acted alone at the theater when he killed Lincoln. His accomplices were supposed to kill other government officials or assist afterwards. Lewis Payne (also called Lewis Powell), who was an ex- Confederate soldier who was given the task of assassinating Secretary of State William Seward. Another accomplice was George Atzerodt, who was given the task of assassinating Vice-President Andrew Johnson. David Herald was supposed to act as a guide for the conspirators after they fled from the city of Washington into the Maryland and Virginia countryside. John Surratt was the son of Mary Surratt, the proprietor of the boarding house where Booth, Payne, Herald, and Atzerodt allegedly held meetings (John Surratt and Booth were said to be close friends.) Two men by the names of Samuel Arnold and Michael O'Laughlen may have been involved, but their roles are not known. Of these conspirators, Booth succeeded in his assassination of Lincoln, only to be killed in a barn two weeks later after a massive manhunt. Herald, who accompanied Booth in the barn, surrendered before Booth was shot and was later tried and hung. Payne tried to infiltrate the Seward residence posing as a doctor's orderly to deliver medicine to a bed-ridden Seward, but after failing to gain entry be means of deception, he charged up the stairs, butted Seward's son Frederick with his pistol, stabbed Seward's guard/ nurse, wrestled with the nurse and Seward's other son before stabbing a household servant and after leaping down the steps, calmly walked out the front door and rode his horse slowly down the street. He, too, was tried and executed. George Atzerodt lost his nerve and made no attempt to even attack the Vice- President. He was tried and executed. Mary Surratt, after an extremely biased (and illegal) trial by a military tribunal, was also executed by hanging the same day as the others, July 7th, 1865. John Surratt had escaped to Canada and discovered the news about his mother's death while casually reading a newspaper. Arnold and O'Laughlen were sentenced to life in prison, along with a Doctor Mudd, who splintered Booth's broken ankle. O'Laughlen died in prison, and in 1869 Mudd and Arnold were pardoned by President Johnson and released from prison. Several others may have known about Booth's plans, but they either didn't admit to knowing or their names have been lost to history.

For a interesting and well written account of these events, I highly recommend Manhunt by James L. Swanson.

Answer 4

While Booth alone shot Lincoln, that act was a part of a much larger conspiracy.

Answer 5

No, he did not work alone. He set out with some friends to murder more famous people, I don't exactly remember which ones, though.