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

by Louis J. Weichmann

Book Overview

Published almost 75 years after the author's death, the extraordinary eyewitness account by the young friend of John Surratt who was a boarder at Mary Surratt's rooming house in Washington, DC during... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394493192
• ISBN13: 9780394493190
• Release Date: January 1975
• Publisher: Alfred A Knopf
• Length: 508 Pages
• Weight: 2.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

In Defense of Weichmann

OP has called Weichmann a liar . Maybe he held some things back. I'm sure i couldn't say . There were rumours at one time that he was gay. Now that could make a person want to hide certain details , esp back then. You could end up looking secretive and sketchy without really meaning to. But a well known Lincoln scholar (was it Swanson ?) questioned Louis's veracity bc Weichmann had said he read an important story BEFORE the assassination happened ; he named the newspaper and gave a date , but he accidentally gave the wrong date. So , said historian combed all old newspapers looking for this story ; he came up dry . He called Weichmann a liar as a result and thereafter considered him a purjurer. Much later, the scholar found the exact news story , just as Weichmann had related it ; only the date was off by a few weeks. This tells ME something about Louis Weichmann ; on this small detail , he was completely truthful. A person like that tends more toward honesty than dishonesty , imo. So i find him credible. Now mind you , as a PERSON , he can come off a bit weasely /do-goody/ kind of a suck up. I don't know if i'd hand out with him , but i don't view him as a purjurer and a liar.

this book answers all the questions that pop into ones mind

it is a first hand account by an observer, who didnt know exactly what he was witnessing until it was over. he gives an honest and heartfelt accounting of what he experienced before, during and after the assassination. he fills in details about meetings, conversations and actions just by virtue of the fact that he was there. he provides most of the known information about louis powells involvement and whereabouts prior to the asassination, and makes the allegation that john surratt was much more involved than other authors admit to. he places surratt in washington, in fords theater the afternoon of good friday, actually being the one to carve the peephole in the door and make the preparations for booth to jam the door of the presidents box. he also alleges that surratt was in front of the theater, calling out the time to booth prior to the shooting. he also clarifies ned spanglers part in helping to aid booths escape from the theater by creating obstacles for anyone who would try to follow booth out the back door after the assassination. i would recommend this book as a means to roundout the other information written about the lincoln assassination.

Fascinating...if not entirely reliable

Louis Weichmann's account of the conspiracy does give us an exceptionally detailed, first-hand account of the conspiracy of 1865, and hence is invaluable despite his omissions and blatant lies. Weichmann's choice of recollections gives us a better understanding of his moral character, his fears, his friends, and his mistakes. Weichmann recounts the events of 1865 in flowery, dramatic style; and he extensively quotes contemporary accounts of the assassination in order to support his own arguments (many of the documents he quotes do not survive in any other published form). Whether or not he truthfully recounts his personal story, Weichmann does make a genuine effort to write his book in proper scholarly fashion. Certainly Louis Weichmann's memoirs, biased as they are, would serve as a poor introduction to the Lincoln Assassination; but for a true understanding of the assassination conspiracy, this book is indispensible. --Kara Sowles & Suzanne Davies

One of the best books on the Lincoln assassination

Over 100 years after the assassination of President Lincoln, the words of Louis Weichmann finally reveal the true events of the day. This is an invaluable work as a first-hand, true accounting of the conspiracy and its aftermath. Told not for profit or personal recognition (the book was not published for nearly 75 years after the author's death), this work seeks to preserve for history an intimate record of the words and deeds of the conspirators. It seals the fate, once and for all, of the Surratts and Booth, as the testimony of Weichmann did originally at their trial. Furthermore, the work relies not only upon the recollections of Weichmann, but is supported by historical documents and testimony of his contemporaries. It is a book not to be missed by anyone interested in the facts about what happened the day that Lincoln died.