Young actor Edwin Thomas Booth, 1833-1893. Called the greatest tragedian of his day, the Shakespearean performed his debut in the role of Iago in Nevada City, also playing in Grass Valley and Rough and Ready. On the night of April 14, 1865, at approximately 11 o’clock, a single pistol shot startled the audience watching the British comedy “Our America Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.
When Lincoln Was Felled
(Gunman's brother starred on local stages)
By Bob Wyckoff
he Grass Valley Morning Union was a scant six months old on April 16, when news reached the West that Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States of America, was dead; shot by John Wilkes Booth, a member of a prominent theatrical family, whose older brother Edwin had acted in Nevada City, Grass Valley and Rough and Ready in the early 1850s.
By 1853, signs of permanent settlement slowly began to appear in the bustling mining camps of Grass Valley and Nevada City. The tents and rude shacks of the early settlers were being replaced with sturdy homes and stores. Residents began to demand amenities most had enjoyed back “in the States.” High on the list was entertainment — theatrical entertainment. Favorites were the plays of William Shakespeare. Following the gold seekers to California were the touring theatrical companies. They included plays by the Bard In their repertoire, and most traveled the gold country of the Sierra Nevada foothills.
One, the Willmarth Waller group, boasted a company member with the established theatrical name of Booth. Though only 19 and with limited experience, Edwin Booth was added to the group of seasoned actors. From San Francisco, Waller took his troupe by river steamer to Sacramento then up the Feather River to Marysville. By coach, they headed to Nevada City, Grass Valley and Rough and Ready, where they played to large audiences.
It was in Nevada City that Edwin Booth first acted the role of Iago, the villain of Shakespeare’s tragedy “Othello.” For the next 40 years, Booth was recognized as the foremost tragedian of the American stage and his portrayal of Hamlet, unparalleled.
An incident in a Philadelphia railroad station adds to the legend of the Booth name.
According to his biographer Eleanor Ruggles, Edwin saved the life of Robert Lincoln, son of the President, by grabbing him by the coat collar as he fell in the gap between two moving passenger cars and hauled him to safety. The event occurred in March 1865, a month before the assassination.
The martyred president and Nevada County enjoyed an interesting and vital relationship.
Lincoln’s goal throughout his presidency was “to preserve the Union... one and inseparable,” and Nevada County played a leading role in that endeavor. The rich gold mines of the western county supplied a large portion of the wealth necessary for the Union to carry the War of the Rebellion to a successful conclusion.In 1864, President Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act paving the way for a transcontinental railroad to be built. Nevada County was to be on the main line of the Central Pacific, the railroad stretching east from Sacramento. Charles Marsh, a surveyor and Nevada City resident, was one of that railroad’s original incorporators. Marsh would later become a principal in the South Yuba Canal Co. whose Nevada City building on Main Street is designated a California Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was unknown to Nevada County voters but not to Aaron A. Sargent, a pillar of the Republican Party. Sargent was the founder Nevada County’s arm of that party.During the Civil War, Southern sympathizers called Copperheads lived in both towns. In Grass Valley, the Allison Ranch precinct blanked Lincoln by voting 328 for George McClellan, the Democrat, and 0 for Lincoln. A published newspaper speculation was, “Such a vote only happens either in a dictated vote or a stuffed ballot box.”
The Civil War ended with Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender on April 9, 1865, news of which reached Nevada County the next day by transcontinental telegraph. According to contemporary reports, a mass celebration began immediately as church bells tolled continuously and cannon fire was heard intermittently.
The euphoria of the moment was short-lived, giving way to sorrow and disbelief when word of Lincoln’s death reached the local press on Sunday, April 16. Nevada County joined a stunned nation in mourning the loss of one who gave his life “that that nation might live.” Locally, all business houses and public buildings were closed. The entire community was, by newspaper accounts, overcome with the “deepest sorrow,” and bitterly denounced the act as “the result of dementia,” declaring “no sane friend of the south would have done such a deed.”
After the assassination, it is said that Edwin Booth never again spoke the name of his tormented brother, John Wilkes.
Bob Wyckoff is a retired Nevada County newspaper editor and publisher and an author of local history. His latest effort is “The Way It Was: Looking Back at Nevada County,” published by and available at The Union newspaper office 464 Sutton Way, Grass Valley. Contact him at bobwyckoff@sbcglobal.net or P.O. Box 216, Nevada City, CA 95959. (The article above was Published in the Union Monday April 13, 2009).
