April 19, 1965

Dear Auntie Elizabeth,

I’m sure you and Uncle John are still devastated by the loss of our great President Lincoln. I wanted to let you know that I was actually in attendance at “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater on Friday evening (April 14) when the shooting occurred. My friends and I had been wanting to see this play and we had fabulous seats four rows from the stage. To our surprise, Lincoln arrived at the play, but was about 30 minutes late. The play was paused for his arrival and the crowd was excited to see him waving down to everyone from the top viewing box.

As soon as the excitement of Lincoln’s arrival settled down, we enjoyed the funny and delightful play. But around 10:00pm, chaos developed. We didn’t know what was happening. The crowd was applauding the scene that had just finished but then a terrible sound overcame my ears. It was like a cannon had gone off. People started screaming and a man (John Wilkes Booth) jumped from the balcony box where Lincoln was sitting. Booth tumbled onto the stage below and screamed “Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged!” and rushed back stage while swinging a knife. It wasn’t long before we all realized what happened: Booth shot Lincoln!

As a resident of the District of Columbia, I have seen a new faith in humanity by ending slavery and slave states. All of this was an effort started by President Lincoln with the Emancipation Proclamation just two years ago in January 1863. Lincoln believed that all people, including slaves, should be “free” and that any act to defy this was against the Constitution. Lincoln knew that standing up for these human rights was a complex battle, but he knew it was the right one to fight. Booth was clearly against Lincoln’s objectives and was upset that the Confederate states had surrendered to the Union. He wanted to continue to fight, even in a cowardly way. It is so upsetting how Booth completely acted against the core of humanity by shooting our President in the back of the head! Oh the horror! I do hope they find Booth soon and punish this awful man!

Throughout the time of the war, Lincoln saved the Union, ended slavery and ultimately, helped bring our country together into one great nation. When Lincoln arrived on Friday night, the people in the theatre knew they were in the company of a truly great leader. The war is over and so much has been accomplished. It is a shame that the evening ended in such tragedy. I do hope that everything Lincoln fought to save will stay intact, despite the efforts of one person to bring it all down.

Please send my thoughts and prayers to Uncle John and my dear cousins, Clementine, Sophia and William.

With love from your nephew,

Zacharias