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Manhunt: An Edgar Award Winner Hardcover – Deckle Edge, February 7, 2006
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“A terrific narrative of the hunt for Lincoln’s killers that will mesmerize the reader from start to finish just as the actual manhunt mesmerized the entire nation. It is a triumphant book.”—Doris Kearns Goodwin
The murder of Abraham Lincoln set off the greatest manhunt in American history--the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth. From April 14 to April 26, 1865, the assassin led Union cavalry troops on a wild, 12-day chase from the streets of Washington, D.C., across the swamps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia, while the nation, still reeling from the just-ended Civil War, watched in horror and sadness.
Based on rare archival materials, obscure trial transcripts, and Lincoln’s own blood relics Manhunt is a fully documented, fascinating tale of murder, intrigue, and betrayal. A gripping hour-by-hour account told through the eyes of the hunted and the hunters, it is history as it’s never been read before.
- Print length464 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherMariner Books
- Publication dateFebruary 7, 2006
- Dimensions6 x 1.41 x 9 inches
- ISBN-109780060518493
- ISBN-13978-0060518493
- Lexile measure1060L
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Bloody Crimes: The Funeral of Abraham Lincoln and the Chase for Jefferson DavisPaperback
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
The Greatest Manhunt in American History
For 12 days after his brazen assassination of Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth was at large, and in Manhunt, historian James L. Swanson tells the vivid, fully documented tale of his escape and the wild, massive pursuit. Get a taste of the daily drama from this timeline of the desperate search.
April 14, 1865 Around noon, Booth learns that Lincoln is coming to Ford's Theatre that night. He has eight hours to prepare his plan.
10:15 pm: Booth shoots the president, leaps to the stage, and escapes on a waiting horse.
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton orders the manhunt to begin. April 15 About 4:00 am: Booth seeks treatment for a broken leg at Dr. Samuel Mudd's farm near Beantown, Maryland. Cavalry patrol heads south toward Mudd farm.
Confederate operative Thomas Jones hides Booth in a remote pine thicket for five days, frustrating the manhunters. April 19 Tens of thousands watch the procession to the U.S. Capitol, where President Lincoln lies in state. Wild rumors and stories of false sightings of Booth spread. April 20 Stanton offers a $100,000 reward for the assassins, and threatens death to any citizen who helps them.
After hiding Booth in Maryland, Jones puts him in a rowboat on the Potomac River, bound for Virginia. More than a thousand manhunters are still searching in Maryland. In the dark, Booth rows the wrong way and first ends up back in Maryland. April 20-24 Booth lands in the northern neck of Virginia, and Confederate agents and sympathizers guide him to Port Conway, Virginia. April 24 Booth befriends three Confederate soldiers who help him cross the Rappahannock River to Port Royal and then guide him further southwest to the Garrett farm.
Union troops in Washington receive a report of a Booth sighting. They board a U.S. Navy tug and steam south, right past Booth's hideout at the Garrett farm. April 25 The 16th New York Calvary, realizing their error, turns around and surrounds the Garrett farm after midnight that night. April 26 When Booth refuses to surrender, troops set the barn on fire, and Boston Corbett shoots the assassin. Booth dies a few hours later, at sunrise. April 26-27 Booth's body is brought back to Washington, where it is autopsied, photographed, and buried in a secret grave.
From Publishers Weekly
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Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.
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Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
“James Swanson has written a terrific narrative . . . a triumphant book.” — Doris Kearns Goodwin
“Brilliant! Absolutely haunting. . . . This historical book is almost impossible to put down.” — Patricia Cornwell
“A gripping page-turner . . . Riviting . . . Booth comes across as viscerally real.” — Entertainment Weekly (Grade: A)
“Told expertly . . . Swanson’s moment by moment account of the 12-day chase is compulsively readable.” — Wall Street Journal
“Extraordinary . . . Brilliant . . . As gripping as any tightly scripted crime drama” — Boston Globe
“An action-adventure . . . infuse[d] with high drama. . . . A multifaceted chronicle.” — New York Times
“Vividly readable example of the you-are-there genre . . . managed with ‘CSI’ immediacy.” — Washington Post
From the Back Cover
The murder of Abraham Lincoln set off the greatest manhunt in American history -- the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth. From April 14 to April 26, 1865, the assassin led Union cavalry and detectives on a wild twelve-day chase through the streets of Washington, D.C., across the swamps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia, while the nation, still reeling from the just-ended Civil War, watched in horror and sadness.
At the very center of this story is John Wilkes Booth, America's notorious villain. A Confederate sympathizer and a member of a celebrated acting family, Booth threw away his fame and wealth for a chance to avenge the South's defeat. For almost two weeks, he confounded the manhunters, slipping away from their every move and denying them the justice they sought.
Based on rare archival materials, obscure trial transcripts, and Lincoln's own blood relics, Manhunt is a fully documented work, but it is also a fascinating tale of murder, intrigue, and betrayal. A gripping hour-by-hour account told through the eyes of the hunted and the hunters, this is history as you've never read it before.
About the Author
James Swanson is the Edgar Award-winning author of the New York Times bestsellers Manhunt and its sequel, Bloody Crimes.
Product details
- ASIN : 0060518499
- Publisher : Mariner Books; First Edition (February 7, 2006)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 464 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9780060518493
- ISBN-13 : 978-0060518493
- Lexile measure : 1060L
- Item Weight : 1.7 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.41 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #146,291 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #166 in American Civil War Biographies (Books)
- #350 in Criminology (Books)
- #390 in Crime & Criminal Biographies
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

James L. Swanson is the author of the New York Times bestseller Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer. He is an attorney who has written about history, the Constitution, popular culture, and other subjects for a variety of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, American Heritage, Smithsonian, and the Los Angeles Times. Mr. Swanson serves on the advisory council of the Ford's Theatre Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Campaign and is a member of the advisory committee of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.
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And it is in these prodigiously researched details culled from primary source materials that author James L. Swanson weaves a two-pronged tale of intrigue and betrayal that is as riveting as a well-written thriller or murder mystery.
Southern sympathizer John Wilkes Booth was a famous stage actor, and many people nationwide knew well his handsome face. How did he manage to elude authorities for so long—from April 14 to April 26, 1865—with only a horse while suffering excruciating pain from a broken leg? This is the enthralling story, told from his point of view as the hunted prey, but also from that of the often hapless hunters.
This book not only details the fascinating, frustratingly slow, and often fruitless search for Booth and his accomplices, but also gives an hour-by-hour account of the assassination and Lincoln's activities that day. The details are so vivid—the sights, the scents, the sounds—that I felt as if I were there on the scene, from the ill-fated box in Ford's Theater to the wilds of Maryland as Booth valiantly tried to escape. The writing and the research are truly exceptional.
Find out:
• The detailed planning of Lincoln's murder, including the conspirators' plot to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward and Vice President Andrew Johnson at the exact same time Lincoln was killed.
• How Booth viewed the entire event as a perverse kind of Shakespearean drama that he scripted and performed as the leading man.
• How Booth escaped wearing dress clothing and carrying no supplies while galloping through the streets of Washington, D.C. on a skittish horse and was never stopped.
• How Booth broke his leg, who fixed it, and how much pain he suffered.
• Where Booth and his accomplice, David Herold, hid for days on end and who tended to them. For years, this was a mystery—a lost week. Now we know what happened and where, and it's an astonishing story.
• How Booth's escape both incensed and thrilled the country, as well as the horrifying penalty for everyday citizens who said anything against Lincoln after his death.
• They may not have been able to find Booth and Herold for 12 days, but authorities rounded up, arrested, and threw into prison more than one hundred suspects, including Booth's brother Junius and his brother-in-law John Sleeper Clarke, as well as a strange Portuguese sea captain, Confederate sympathizers and agents, and anyone else who expressed disloyal sentiments.
• The surprising way Booth was finally found after 12 long days and the bizarre details of his death.
Bonus: After you read this book, treat yourself to the historical novel "Booth," by Karen Joy Fowler that brilliantly and creatively explores the personal life story of John Wilkes Booth.
Of course I knew all that. A long time ago I had learned about it way back in elementary school. This was one of those facts that every American child has to memorize. But of course there was a story that made these facts come alive, a story that James L. Swanson meticulously researched and brought to light in a new non-fiction historical account of the events of those days. It was a book that pulled me to it. I wanted to know more.
John Wilkes Booth, a renowned actor with Southern roots had always hated Lincoln. Throughout the war he plotted to kidnap him and had a few cohorts willing to join this plot. But as the War came to an end and the Union victory was real, the plot changed from kidnapping to assassination. John Wilkes Booth planned carefully, and, drawing in a group of co-conspirators, actually accomplished this on the night of April 14, 1865 while Lincoln was celebrating his victory by attending a performance at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. Booth was an actor and knew the theater intimately. Lincoln wasn't expecting it and didn't stand a chance against the single gunshot wound to his head.
This book is the story of the assassination and of the 12-day manhunt for Booth. The details are all there, the planning, the horror of the act itself, the quick actions of the doctor to keep Lincoln alive through the night, and the mourning and outpouring of grief of the public. Also here is a thorough analysis of the mind of the killer and his attempts to get away. There's a whole cast of characters who helped Booth, some of them more willingly than others. The original plot also included the murder of Vice President Andrew Johnson, Secretary of State William Seward and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton but the attempts on their lives did not result in their deaths.
All these stories are interwoven, creating a fascinating mosaic of the United States in 1865. Each person involved, including the officers searching for the killer and the Southerners who gave Booth shelter are brought to life. Booth's leg was injured and he relied a lot on his companion David E. Herold. Their flight from justice took them through Maryland and to Virginia. Sometimes they were given food and shelter but for much of the time they had to live in the woods. Eventually Booth was gunned down and lived a few more hours in agony. Later, some of the people who had helped him were hanged.
I loved the book. I felt I was right there in 1865. I was there with Lincoln, I was there at the attack on Secretary of State Seward, I was in the farmhouses and fields with Booth. His diary says a lot about his state of mind and the newspapers of the time give the sense of what was going on in the country. And then there are some photos of Booth, the theater, and the people who were eventually arrested. It was all there in this one book. It put me in a time and place that I had never really understood before. This is a great story, well told. And the best part about it is that it is true. Highly recommended.
Top reviews from other countries
Through various sources we discover what made Booth want to kill the President, the people he brought into his plan, the excellent escape plan he had and the pretty stupid mistakes he made during it. We learn about his 12 days on the run and the people who both helped and betrayed him. We learn about the steps the Government took to try and capture this man, growing more desperate by the day!
This book is so well written you actually feel like you're there in the time, witnessing it all first hand. There is hardly a boring paragraph in the book and of you have a completely free day or two it will be easy to finish the book in that time, not because it's simply written but because you won't want to put it down.
The author himself I have seen on several documentaries on Lincoln and Booth and he, while I forget the details about what he does exactly, does, at least seem to, know what he is talking about. The man has done his research and presents it here as a thrilling read.
Highly recommended!
There is nothing more interesting than reading about characters like booth who we all are fascinated by. People love heroes but the villain most of the time have something about them that's more interesting to read. Booth was a young actor who had it all at the palm of his hands but gave everything up for what he truely believed in.
Highly recommended.











