April 14, 1865. Five days after the Civil War effectively ended, Abraham Lincoln went to Ford's Theatre expecting a night of laughter.

Washington, D.C. was in full celebration mode. Saloons were packed. Victory drinks were flowing. And next door to the theater, at the crowded Star Saloon, two men connected to history's most infamous crime moved through the same room: Lincoln's bodyguard and his killer, John Wilkes Booth.

This week on A Drinking Story, we examine how alcohol didn't cause the assassination—but helped create the conditions around it. From Booth's heavy brandy habit, to a policeman drinking instead of guarding the President, to a co-conspirator who got drunk and lost his nerve, this is the story of one of America's darkest nights through the lens of what everyone was drinking.

A Drinking Story — when history was drunk, and what they were drinking when they were.

Sources & Further Reading

• Ford's Theatre. History of Ford's Theatre / Lincoln's Assassination. https://fords.org/lincolns-assassination/history-of-fords-theatre/
• Smithsonian Magazine. Lincoln's Missing Bodyguard. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/lincolns-missing-bodyguard-12932069/
• Oakland University Digital Collections. Archival PDF Collection Related to Lincoln Assassination Era Sources. https://digitalcollections.library.oakland.edu/files/original/26011c0b48717f53765b209aa645cf76d504bc4f.pdf
• Playbill. The Night Lincoln Was Shot: Minute by Minute Backstage with John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre. https://playbill.com/article/the-night-lincoln-was-shot-minute-by-minute-backstage-with-john-wilkes-booth-at-fords-theatre-com-346483
• National Park Service. Ford's Theatre Frequently Asked Questions. https://www.nps.gov/foth/learn/historyculture/faq-fords-theatre.htm
• History.com. What Lincoln Said in His Final Speech. https://www.history.com/articles/what-lincoln-said-in-his-final-speech
• NAACP. Legislative Milestones: Voting Rights Act of 1965. https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/legislative-milestones/voting-rights-act-1965/