March 6, 1866 Official Andrew Johnson Presidential Government Request Imprint “the distribution of rewards offered for the arrest of the assassins of the late President Lincoln”
(ABRAHAM LINCOLN ASSASSINATION) March 6, 1866-Dated, Official Government Imprint Ex. Doc. No. 63., regarding the Rewards Issued per the Wanted Posters / Broadsides for the Capture of John Wilkes Booth and Associates for the Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.


An original Government Imprint, 2 pages (back to back), measuring about 9” x 5.5” being well printed in black type upon the correct Congressional Imprint wove period paper, disbound, Choice Extremely Fine. The paper is very crisp having a slight handling crease to the upper right corner tip and a faint humidity tone at bottom right outer edge and traces from being disbound, far from any text. This imprint is directly related to one of the most historic and widely recognized printed pieces in American history, the $100,000 Reward Wanted Poster / Broadside for the Capture of John Wilkes Booth and Associates for the Assassination of the late President Abraham Lincoln. Here, on March 5th, 1866, the newly sworn United States President, Andrew Johnson, requests the status of the Rewards offered for the assassins capture. This is that official request. It was presented to the House of Representatives, the War Department and states that the answers would be forthcoming, this being the true official request for information. Rare. This is the first example we have offered.

Only five days prior to President Lincoln’s assassination, Confederate General Robert E. Lee had signed the papers of Surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, thus technically ending the Civil War. The John Wilkes Booth Wanted $100,000 Reward Broadside for the Assassin(s) of President Abraham Lincoln is certainly the most famous of its Civil War Era and the tragic events surrounding Lincoln’s visit to Ford’s Theatre on that fateful night of April 14th, 1865.

After Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton authorized this Reward to be issued, along with the specific text to be printed, several printers in the local Washington, DC area produced about ten slightly different variations. Today, only about fifty examples, including of all types and quality are known of the original Reward Broadside. Of those, about one third are forever locked away within the collections of various institutions. The Reward Broadside itself offers $100,000 in reward money from the War Department for the apprehension of Lincoln’s Murderers. $50,000 for (The Murderer - John Wilkes Booth), $25,000 for John H. Surratt, and $25,000 for David C. Harold. This amount was the largest Reward ever offered bu the United States in its history up to that time!

(See a Full Description of the historic Broadside is presented on our online Auction site at: www.EarlyAmerican.com)


The Reward Broadside itself offers $100,000 in reward money from the War Department for the apprehension of Lincoln’s Murderers: $50,000 for (The Murderer - John Wilkes Booth), $25,000 for John H. Surratt, and $25,000 for David C. Harold. This amount was the largest Reward ever offered by the United States in its history up to that time.

This famous, historic $100,000 Reward Broadside reads, in full:

“War Department, Washington, April 20, 1865,

$100,000 REWARD

THE MURDERER

Of our late beloved President, Abraham Lincoln,

IS STILL AT LARGE.

$50,000 REWARD

Will be paid by this Department for his apprehension, in addition to any reward offered by Municipal Authorities or State Executives.

$25,000 REWARD

Will be paid for the apprehension of John H. Surratt, one of Booth’s Accomplices.

$25,000 REWARD

Will be paid for the apprehension of David C. Harold, another of Booth’s Accomplices.

LIBERAL REWARDS will be paid for any information that shall conduce to the arrest of either of the above-named criminals, or their accomplices.

All persons harboring or secreting the said persons, or either of them, or aiding or assisting their concealment or escape, will be treated as accomplices in the murder of the President and the attempted assassination of the Secretary of State, and shall be subject to trial before a Military Commission and the punishment of DEATH.

Let the stain of innocent blood be removed from the land by the arrest and punishment of the murderers.

All good citizens are exhorted to aid public justice on this occasion. Every man should consider his own conscience charged with this solemn duty, and rest neither night nor day until it be accomplished.

EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.

DESCRIPTIONS.--- BOOTH is Five Feet 7 or 8 inches high, slender build, high forehead, black hair, black eyes and wears a heavy black moustache.

JOHN H. SURRAT is about 5 feet, 9 inches. Hair rather thin and dark; eyes rather light; no beard. Would weigh 145 or 150 pounds. Complexion rather pale and clear, with color in his cheeks. Wore light clothes of fine quality. Shoulders square; cheek bones rather prominent; chin narrow; ears projecting at the top; forehead rather low and square, but broad. Parts his hair on the right side; neck rather long. His lips are firmly set. A slim man.

HAROLD is a little chunky man, quite a youth and wears a very thin moustache.”