Grover Consulting Services has a branch in Washington, D.C. One of the major landmarks of the city is Ford’s Theatre. The theatre gained nationwide prominence and eternal fame on April 14, 1865, when President Abraham Lincoln was shot there while watching a play. Lincoln was carried to Petersen’s Boarding House across the street, where he died the following morning.
Ford’s Theatre was originally constructed in 1833 as a meeting house for the First Baptist Church. John Ford bought the building in 1861, after the church moved elsewhere, and turned it into a theatre. The following year, it burned to the ground, but Ford rebuilt it and reopened it in August of 1863.
In 1865, the war was finally over (with a few skirmishes still arising here and there). Lincoln, finally able to relax after the overwhelming responsibility of overseeing a nation at war, went to the theatre with his wife, Mary, and two friends (Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée, Clara Harris), in the same general area where Stephen and Ashley Grover would later open a business. Lincoln did not feel like attending the play, but he had promised his wife he would go. General Ulysses S. Grant and his wife had originally intended to be present, but Mrs. Grant and Mrs. Lincoln were not on good terms. (The conspiracy to kill Lincoln included the assassination of Grant, but he and his wife took a train to Philadelphia, and the would-be assassin was unable to gain access to the Grants’ car, which was under guard.)
During the play, which was titled Our American Cousin, John Wilkes Booth slipped into the presidential box while the guard was having a drink at a nearby tavern. He shot Lincoln behind the left ear, then pulled a knife and attacked Major Rathbone, who fought back vigorously. Booth jumped to the stage, catching his spur on the American flag below the Presidential box, and breaking his leg. Standing on the stage, he shouted out “Sic semper tyrannis!” before limping away. Outside the theatre, a young boy was waiting with a horse. Booth struck the boy with the handle of his knife, mounted the horse, and escaped.
Nothing could be done for Lincoln except to make him as comfortable as possible. The only place to take him, since a large crowd had formed, was the boarding house across the street. He was placed on a bed in a small back room, where various government officials and his son, Robert, kept watch until he died. The theatre and the boarding house are now National Historic Sites.
Ford’s Theatre was originally constructed in 1833 as a meeting house for the First Baptist Church. John Ford bought the building in 1861, after the church moved elsewhere, and turned it into a theatre. The following year, it burned to the ground, but Ford rebuilt it and reopened it in August of 1863.
In 1865, the war was finally over (with a few skirmishes still arising here and there). Lincoln, finally able to relax after the overwhelming responsibility of overseeing a nation at war, went to the theatre with his wife, Mary, and two friends (Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée, Clara Harris), in the same general area where Stephen and Ashley Grover would later open a business. Lincoln did not feel like attending the play, but he had promised his wife he would go. General Ulysses S. Grant and his wife had originally intended to be present, but Mrs. Grant and Mrs. Lincoln were not on good terms. (The conspiracy to kill Lincoln included the assassination of Grant, but he and his wife took a train to Philadelphia, and the would-be assassin was unable to gain access to the Grants’ car, which was under guard.)
During the play, which was titled Our American Cousin, John Wilkes Booth slipped into the presidential box while the guard was having a drink at a nearby tavern. He shot Lincoln behind the left ear, then pulled a knife and attacked Major Rathbone, who fought back vigorously. Booth jumped to the stage, catching his spur on the American flag below the Presidential box, and breaking his leg. Standing on the stage, he shouted out “Sic semper tyrannis!” before limping away. Outside the theatre, a young boy was waiting with a horse. Booth struck the boy with the handle of his knife, mounted the horse, and escaped.
Nothing could be done for Lincoln except to make him as comfortable as possible. The only place to take him, since a large crowd had formed, was the boarding house across the street. He was placed on a bed in a small back room, where various government officials and his son, Robert, kept watch until he died. The theatre and the boarding house are now National Historic Sites.
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