A True History of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the Conspiracy Of 1865

by Louis J. Weichmann, Floyd E. Risvold (Editor)

Bound in publisher's original black quarter cloth and boards. Spine and cover stamped in gilt. Top edge stained red. Edited by Floyd E. Risvold.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Civil War, Biography

492 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

Reviews

[Tracy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have never not finished a book, and I didn't finish reading this one--couldn't take another page! This self-serving man talks too much.

[Nolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not part of the civil war cognoscenti, so if you’re looking for a thoughtful, erudite review of the book, I’m hopeful you find it, and I’m sure, sadly enough, you won’t find it in this review. Admittedly, I could have had Copilot craft something that would be over written, academically smug, and filled with any number of publisher’s marketing platitudes, but this is better.

The author knew Mary Surratt who operated the boarding house on H Street in the nation’s capital where the assassination of President Lincoln came into existence. He stayed in the house a good deal, and he knew all the players including the infamous Booth. When Booth shot Lincoln, Weichmann immediately agreed to become the government’s star witness. In the courtroom transcripts he makes available in the book, there seems to be very little he doesn’t spill his guts about. But his position as a star federal witness didn’t leave him immune from the cackles and barbs of those who wondered whether he ratted out the Surratt family to keep him from going to prison. Still, he insists throughout the book that he had nothing to do with the assassination other than to be aware that Booth, Mary Surratt, her son, John, and a host of other confederates spoke of it often. He maintains they kept much of the details away from him, since he had expressed reluctance earlier in their conversations.

You get a brief but thorough biography of Booth here including some of the background into his family. Naturally, you get details on Weichmann’s life as well. This feels like a decent blow-by-blow of the events of the assassination from the moment Booth fires the gun to the moment John Surratt surrenders after being on the lamb for some two years. If you read this, you’ll read the wording of the order that sealed the fate of Mary Surratt and the other participants in the assassination. Naturally, Weichmann emphasizes Booth’s cowardice and his propensity to bully others.

While you may already know this, if you read this, the author will remind you that, had the conspirators conducted their mission to the full, there would have been no head in the American government potentially for weeks. The conspirators had plans for everyone in the upper echelons of government.

This would have been a four-star book, but Weichmann gets deep in the weeds on some of the events he describes, at one point even providing names of jurors who participated on one of the trials. That’s fascinating stuff for the cognoscenti, but for the average, casual student of the civil war such as I am, it was a bit of a slog to get through some of the deeper, weedier details. That said, you shouldn’t let the details frighten you off. The chapters are short and manageable, and sometimes, Weichmann’s writing style feels like narrative nonfiction in a place or two. This isn’t a dry ultra-scholarly tome. Admittedly, he bogs down in the details in a few places, but it’s easy reading that won’t send you scurrying to the dictionary to look things up.

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this thick book at a library bag sale and just couldn’t say no. Published seven decades after the author’s death, “A True History of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln” was written by Louis Weichmann, a young man who was rooming in Mary Surratt’s D.C. boardinghouse while John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators (including Surratt herself, plus her son) plotted first to abduct and then to murder the president. Weichmann was initially a suspect, too, but then his testimony was key in the trials that followed. There’s been speculation that perhaps he was involved but was given a deal in return for his testimony against the others (and, in fact, some of his excuses for not knowing about the conspiracy were flimsy and usually hinged on his being easily “tricked”). That said, most of his reports are largely based on research such as any writer could’ve done. Weichmann wasn’t a writer by trade (he was in training to be a Catholic priest before ultimately taking a role in the War Department), but in the days before telecommunications people wrote letters frequently enough to need a good working knowledge of the language and a robust vocabulary. Weichmann was no exception. And his account of the months leading up to Lincoln’s assassination (and necessary biographical context for the major players) was absolutely riveting. I really enjoyed learning about it. I will admit, I had expected Weichmann to have a more intimate knowledge of the events, but perhaps it would’ve been less believable if it had all been written from his POV. Closeness to these events aside, the level of detail he includes is commendable. I can’t imagine any other book diving so deep while still covering so wide a scope as this. Sometimes too wide a scope, maybe, as he starts to repeat himself as he passes the 300-page mark. I wouldn’t be honest if I said I didn’t skim some of the chapters, and skip some of the many appendices. The inclusion of a lot of less-interesting material (including full speeches, papers, and statements from other people close to the case that the author found interesting, mostly tacked carelessly on the end) is why this isn’t a five-star review, but a shorter book with only the best chapters definitely would’ve been.

7/10

[Dave Estela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting to hear a first hand account of the conspirators from someone who knew most of them intimately.

[Dick · Rating 3 out of 5]

First person witness of the activities in the house of Mary Surratt. Weichman was a border here and knew all the participants. His testimony was very damaging to all, especially Mary Surratt.