The 12-Day Hunt for President Lincoln's Assassin

A new series on AppleTV+ called Manhunt follows the search for John Wilkes Booth after he assassinated President Lincoln on April 14, 1865. The first two episodes of the seven-episode miniseries are already available for streaming. The series focuses on John Wilkes Booth, of course, but also on Lincoln's Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who was very close to the president and directed the search for Booth, involving both the Union Army and detectives from New York City. Stanton also offered $100,000 in reward money for the apprehension of Booth and two of his accomplices.

Despite the intense efforts of the federal government, Booth wasn't located until April 26, 12 days after the crime. How could a renowned actor, who face was recognizable up and down the Atlantic seaboard, kill the president in front of a theater full of people and evade capture for so long? It was because Booth had plenty of support from Confederates and Confederate sympathizers who were not ready to face the fact that they had lost the Civil War. Read the historical facts behind the show about the hunt for John Wilkes Booth at Smithsonian.