Tell mother, tell mother, I died for my country... useless... useless.

Joseph E. Author Jim Bishop wrote that Booth "developed into an outrageous scene stealer but he played his parts with such heightened enthusiasm that the audiences idolized him. Rathbone's fiancée Clara Harris who was also present in the box was unhurt.

Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had surrendered four days earlier Booth believed the American Civil War was not yet over because Confederate General Joseph E. He was also a Confederate sympathizer vehement in his denunciation of Lincoln and strongly opposed the abolition of slavery in the United States. C.