Ford's Theater Lincoln Museum

At Ford's Theater, I also had enough time to go down into the lower realms and tour the Lincoln museum there. Lots of placards, images, maps, statues, videos, interactive displays and recreations in what really is a very cramped and poorly lit space--like trolling through the streets of 1862 DC at night... And those assassins--que guapo! I had no idea that they were such a fetching bunch of co-conspirators.

You descend a set of narrow stairs down into the basement of the theater and discover this display first before entering the museum through a rail car like the one Lincoln traveled to DC in on his first arrival in the capital.

This display spoke of the state of the nation's capital in the winter of 1861 and reminded most effectively that the capitol itself was unfinished at the time of Lincoln's inaugural.

This map showed the extent of the district in 1860.  The White House looked  out on the  Potomac River with a boat dock where today stands the Washington Monument.

General McClellan was the namesake of my Great Grandfather.  My Great-great Grandfather died at the battle of Antietam, and his unborn son was then christened with the name of the general who led the battle.

Goodness weren't those rogue conspirators a handsome bunch of fellow--no doubt their good looks emboldened their arrogance at attempting such a bold-faced endeavor...