A nation torn asunder through an internal upheaval had to be brought together and welded into one again.
Although Andrew Johnson had spent thirty years in public service, fighting for what he conceived to be right, his experience had not been of the type to furnish the subtle diplomacy or suave poise needed to handle successfully the great problems that now confronted him. It is doubtful if any man who participated in the political contests of that period, even the great, wise Lincoln, could have brought harmony out of the hysteria and chaos that prevailed in the nation on the morning of April 15, 1865.
Following his induction into office and his inaugural address, Johnson called his first Cabinet meeting at twelve o’clock on April 15th, at which two important measures were decided. These were the arrangements for the funeral of Mr. Lincoln and the appointment of Mr. W. Hunter as temporary Secretary of State pending the recovery of Secretary Seward. At this time the new President requested the members of the Cabinet to retain their portfolios.
In his first proclamation President Johnson expressed his horror of the crime and his resolve to punish the guilty participants. This document also offered rewards for the arrest of those believed to be implicated—one hundred thousand dollars for Jefferson Davis; twenty-five thousand dollars each for Clement C. Clay, Jacob Thompson, George N. Sanders, and Beverly Tucker; and ten thousand dollars for William C. Cleary, late clerk of Clement C. Clay.
It might be stated here that, despite the most exhaustive efforts, not the slightest evidence was produced to connect any of the Southern leaders with the crime of Booth. Jefferson Davis was captured May 10, 1865, at Irwinsville, Wilkinson County, Ga., and sent to Fortress Monroe. Although indicted for treason against the United States in the Federal Court for the District of Virginia, he was finally admitted to bail, one of his bondsmen being Horace Greeley, the abolitionist leader of the North, and released without trial.
Colonel Lafayette Baker, Chief of Secret Service, was out of Washington the night of the tragedy. On his return, he at once applied himself to the task of capturing Booth, Herold, and all others suspected by Secretary of War Stanton, for the apprehension of whom the latter had offered liberal rewards in a proclamation issued immediately following the tragedy. The Stanton proclamation stated that $50,000 would be paid by the War Department for the apprehension of the murderers of the late President. All persons were warned against harbouring or aiding them in any way on pain of being treated by the government as accomplices in the plot.
The City of Washington also offered a reward of $20,000 for the arrest of the assassin and his associates implicated in the crime.
These rewards stirred up extra zeal, and the army of searchers grew steadily.
The search for Booth through the swamps and the final scenes of his capture and death were most graphically told by George Alfred Townsend, a newspaper correspondent, in the New York World during that eventful period. “Gath,” as he was familiarly known, gathered his daily reports from the most reliable sources. Those bearing upon Booth’s wild act he later assembled in booklet form and published in 1865. From it this picture of Booth’s final stand is copied.
The assassin had been traced to the Garrett home on the Rappahannock, some distance from Bowling Green, by the little force sent out by Colonel Lafayette Baker, Chief of the Secret Service, with instructions not to return till they had their man. The company was in charge of Colonel Baker’s former Lieutenant Colonel, E. J. Conger, and of his cousin, Lieutenant L. B. Baker. At two o’clock, early morning, they approached the house.