It's Good Friday, April 14th, 1865, in Washington, D.C. As celebration sweeps the capital at the end of the Civil War, a group of strangers unknowingly move toward a single, fateful night. Julia Grant senses something is wrong and cannot shake it. Five-year-old Samuel Seymour arrives in the city for the first great adventure of his young life. Mary Todd Lincoln allows herself to believe that heartbreak might finally be behind her.

But behind closed doors, actor John Wilkes Booth is preparing to leave his mark on the nation, and by nightfall, their paths will converge at Ford's Theatre in an act that will change the course of American history.

This is the true story of the last day of Abraham Lincoln's life, and the ordinary people whose lives collided with it. Told in an immersive, Audible-style narrative, this episode brings their experiences to life with the intimacy and drama of a historical audiobook.

Based on the following sources:

• Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant
• “Lincoln” by David Herbert Donald
• “I Saw Lincoln Shot,” by Samuel J. Seymour as told to Frances Spatz Leighton. Published in “The American Weekley magazine on February 7, 1954.
• "Through Five Administrations: Reminiscences of Colonel William H. Crook, Body-Guard to President Lincoln,” by William H. Crook
• “The Night Abraham Lincoln Was Assassinated: What happened on that fateful Good Friday evening” Doris Kearns Goodwin; Interactive by Esri Smithsonian Magazine
• US Grant’s Memoir
• Ward Hill Lamon’s 1872 memoir

Through Their Eyes, the podcast that brings the past to life with true stories from throughout history, through the eyes of those who lived long ago.