The monthly program sponsored by the Volunteer Millers of De Immigrant windmill will feature a PowerPoint program entitled “The Lincoln Assassination: Manhunt and Trial” presented by Ronald H. Koehn. It is scheduled for 2:00 PM on Sunday, November 5, 2017, at the Windmill Cultural Center, 111 10th Avenue in downtown Fulton, across the street from the authentic Dutch windmill.
As the bloody Civil War ended with a Union victory, the celebratory mood of the United States was quickly altered by the murder of its Chief Executive. On the evening of Good Friday, April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor and Confederate sympathizer. Dying the following morning, Lincoln became the first of four assassinated presidents in American history.
Part of Koehn’s focus will be the manhunt for Lincoln’s assassin and his alleged co-conspirators. Although Booth was killed before he could be charged with murder and brought to trial, eight other individuals were taken into custody: David Edgar Herold, Lewis Thornton Powell (alias Lewis Paine and Lewis Payne), George Andrew Atzerodt, Mary Elizabeth Surratt, Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd, Michael O’Laughlen, Samuel Bland Arnold, and Edmund “Ned” Spangler. Each was charged with conspiracy to murder the President and tried before a military commission composed of nine colonels and generals from the ranks of the U.S. Army, handpicked by the Secretary of War. Another focus of Koehn’s presentation will be the seriously flawed trial of the eight defendants who were tried together in Washington, D.C.
Ron Koehn earned both of his degrees from Illinois State University at Normal: a Bachelor of Science in Education with a history major and political science minor, and a Master of Science in history. From 1974 until 2003 when he retired early, Koehn was employed as a social studies instructor at Fulton High School, primarily teaching U.S. history, sociology, and American government.
This program is supported by a grant from the D.S. Flikkema Foundation, and it is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served following the presentation. The facility is accessible to persons with disabilities. For more information, visit The Windmill Cultural Center and de Immigrant Windmill Facebook page or call (815) 589-3925.