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.

It’s fall, 1812, in St. Petersburg, Russia. Louisa Adams is grieving the loss of her only daughter and the two sons she was forced to leave behind in America. But when her husband, John Quincy Adams, asks her to join him in Paris, Louisa and her young son must cross a war-ravaged continent, unaware that Napoleon has just escaped exile and is on the same road to Paris. The journey will test her courage and reveal what she is truly capable of — if she can survive the road.

This is the true story of Louisa Catherine Adams, future First Lady of the United States, and her extraordinary journey during one of the most turbulent moments in European history. Told in an immersive, Audible-style narrative, this 45-minute episode brings her experience to life with the intimacy and drama of a historical audiobook.

Based on sources including Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams by Louisa Thomas and A Traveled First Lady: Writings of Louisa Catherine Adams by Louisa Catherine Adams, Margaret A. Hogan, C. James Taylor, and Laura Bush.

From 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.