Keys to the Abraham Lincoln Conspirators Prison Cells
Keys to the Abraham Lincoln Conspirators Prison Cells
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- Description
- Once captured, the Lincoln conspirators were closely and constantly guarded. During their trial, iron keys locked their prison cells.
- John Wilkes Booth’s attack on Lincoln was part of a larger plot to assassinate national leaders and throw the North into turmoil. The conspirators also planned to murder Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward. Besides Booth, eight individuals were charged. Because the plot was considered an act of war, a military commission tried the accused. The court sentenced four suspects to be hanged, and the others to prison.
- Transfer from the War Department, 1904
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- key
- associated date
- 1865
- associated person
- Lincoln, Abraham
- used in
- United States: District of Columbia, Fort Lesley J. McNair
- Physical Description
- iron (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 10 7/8 in x 4 in x 7/8 in; 27.6225 cm x 10.16 cm x 2.2225 cm
- ID Number
- PL.010238a
- catalog number
- 10238a
- accession number
- 42272
- Credit Line
- War Department
- subject
- Assassination
- Prisons
- Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
- See more items in
- Political and Military History: Political History, General History Collection
- Government, Politics, and Reform
- Selections from the Abraham Lincoln Collection
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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