The Miss of a Bullet

John Wilkes Booth slowly opened the door to Lincolns Balcony. He heard a recognizable scene from "Our American Cousin", the perfect scene to do it. The laughter would muffle the sound of the bullet. As he opened the door, he had a clear view of the Balcony. The President was sitting on the far left, with his wife to his right, as well as Mrs. Clara Harris and Major Henry Rathbone.
"Just one shot." Boothe thought to himself as he approached the chair slowly. As the laughter started, he quickly checked his Philadelphia Deringer Pistol before taking aim.


30 Second Earlier...

"This way gentlemen, I saw him come through here." said a man with a heavy Virginian accent. He pointed towards the door. Following the mans finger, they ran into the room and started up the stairs, all of them with Union uniforms, and John Parker, the Presidents Guard who was at a tavern was leading.

They quickly continued up the stairs, trying not to make any noise. Each step they made would alert the would be assassin, but Boothe was too concentrated on Lincolns cranium to think about the noise.

"There he is!" Parker yelled as he darted through the door into Lincolns Balcony. He tackled Boothe. Boothe turned around as Parker tackled him. Boothe was surprised, and shot into a random direction as he hit the ground, hitting the First Lady's chest.

"She's been hit!" yelled one of the guards as Parker let go of the assassin. Boothe jumped up to the ledge balcony, hitting Abraham Lincoln with the butt of his pistol before he jumped onto the stage.

The commotion caught the attention of the crowd. President Lincoln was now at the side of his dying wife as he heard Boothe yell "Sic Semper tyrannis!", then "The South is Avenged!".

Both Lincolns were taken out of the balcony. The President's forehead, which took the brunt of Booth's hit, was turning black and a small bump was forming above the right eye. A small cut also appeared in that region as well. He held the First Ladies hand the entire way across the street, where they went to an apartment and layed her down.

She was still breathing. The bed was rather small, but small enough to hold the rather portly First Lady. She jokingly said to her husband "If this were you, you wouldn't even fit on this bed."

Doctors quickly arrived on the scene, most poking their tools in the First Ladies wound, the President trying to comfort her from the pain. After several minutes three of the eight doctors left the room.

"Mr. President?" one of the doctors asked. "Could you come with us for a moment."

"Whats the problem?" Lincoln asked rather calmly. "Will she live?"

"Mr. President..." said one of the Doctors, seeing the expression on the Presidents face. "We determined that she will live through the night, but would be lucky to live by the end of tomorrow night."

The President stayed calm. Although devastated on the inside, he knew that he had to keep calm for the nation. He had to decide how to inform the people of the assassination of the First Lady.

After several moments, a Union soldier approached the President in the hallway outside of the room Mrs. Lincoln was in.

"Mr. President!" yelled the soldier saluting the President. "We have just heard that Secretary Seward was assassinated several hours ago."

The President this time showed more shock. "Who is responsible?" Lincoln asked.

"We are unsure. We know that the bullet destined for you was shot by John Wilkes Boothe, as reported by many of the actors and audience members, it is highly likely that they were involved with one another, a possible plot. General Grant assigned me to defend you until the perpetrators are captured, and tried." the soldier replied, brushing his eyebrows. The soldier spoke with a New York accent, he looked of Irish descent.

"Very well, Ulysses knows whats best." Lincoln said as he turned to the door. "Whats your name soldier, and where did you serve, I might as well know the man I might have defending me for a good length of my second term."

"Corporal O'Mally sir." he said quietly. "I served at Gettysburg and at the Wilderness."

"A field man..." said Lincoln. "Good, you served your country, you'll have to serve it again."

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Saturday, April 15th, 1865, 2 PM

"Mr. President!" yelled O'Mally running through a corridor to Lincolns room in a nearby room. He quickly opened the door, catching Lincoln fixing his hair in a mirror. He was going to give a speech in nearly an hour, commemorating the Officer that saved his life. He was not going to mention the First Lady at all until she was dead, or confirmed to live, since he did not want to scare the nation, but rumors spread like wildfire. People in New York were hearing that the President and the First Lady were dead, Ohio, Illinois, and other states heard that only the President was dead. Only those near Washington knew the truth about what happened. Across the South, Union soldiers were giving candlelight vigils for the President they believed was dead.

"Sir, the First Lady passed away ten minutes ago." he said, scared to even mention her condition, but now he had to announce she was dead. He was afraid her death would interfere with rebuilding the Union after the disastrous Civil War. He knew all of the things he had to handle without the First Lady dead, but now he would have to deal with a dead child, who died the previous year, a dead wife, and the weight of the healing nation on his shoulders. The thought of resignation came up in his mind, even suicide at several points, but he knew that the only lady he could truly love was his wife, and America. He knew to keep his wife's honor for the love of the nation, he had to love America twice as much as before. He knew the First Lady would be looking over America with America's other heroes.

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-To be continued...

Any Ideas for Part II.
 

The Vulture

Banned
Why did the Seward assassination succeed if the POD is Booth getting tackled to the ground? Other than that little detail, I will certainly watch with interest.
 
Thanks. I will explain it in the next part in a flashback. The Point of Divergence was the guard thing, but the Seward part I just added to have not only the First Lady dead, but his Secretary of State dead as well, trying to juggle both with failing approval from the long war, and the stress of rebuilding the nation, but I will dramatize it.
 
Looks pretty good.

I'm looking forward to more updates.

50th post! (Yes, I know, it's nothing too much to celebrate about, but it hasn't been that long since I joined.)
 
Very very interesting. I am looking forward to more.

Did George Atzerodt go through with his attempt on Johnson?


I actually haven't considered that yet. I will do some research later tonight on that.

Also, sorry about the delay, I am finishing up a paper for my History Class (It is Ironically a What If Paper on a Victorious Stalingrad for the Germans), so I will have to delay my posting until 5 PM EST Tomorrow. I have most of it done, so it might be possible of a later posting for the Seward Assassination, and tomorrow will be the Jackson one, as well as Abraham Lincoln in the following weeks mourning his wife's death, as well as working quickly to rebuild the Union from a possible Confederate uprising amounst Boothe supporters and former slave owners, I will dive into detail when I post it.


If anyone would like to suggest anything please feel free to post it or PM me. If you would like to criticize it, go ahead, after all, I want to improve my writing so that you can enjoy the reading.
 
Ironically,
Had this happened, it may have garnered Lincoln more support- as Mary Todd Lincoln was from a Kentucky slaveholding family and several brothers and brothers-in-law served in the Confederate Army! I wonder how much the missed shot would have upset John Wilkes Booth- and whether it would have affected those who would have otherwise helped him out! Good job!
 
The night of the attempt Grant was on his way North with his Family on a train. How and why would he assign a guard to Lincoln, and only one man?????
 
I saw this thread and immediately thought of this gif:

Lincoln.gif
 
I actually haven't considered that yet. I will do some research later tonight on that.

Also, sorry about the delay, I am finishing up a paper for my History Class (It is Ironically a What If Paper on a Victorious Stalingrad for the Germans), so I will have to delay my posting until 5 PM EST Tomorrow. I have most of it done, so it might be possible of a later posting for the Seward Assassination, and tomorrow will be the Jackson one, as well as Abraham Lincoln in the following weeks mourning his wife's death, as well as working quickly to rebuild the Union from a possible Confederate uprising amounst Boothe supporters and former slave owners, I will dive into detail when I post it.


If anyone would like to suggest anything please feel free to post it or PM me. If you would like to criticize it, go ahead, after all, I want to improve my writing so that you can enjoy the reading.

We're still waiting...
 
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