William Seward Is Key to Understanding the 'Manhunt' Conspiracy
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THE NEW APPLE TV+ series Manhunt dramatizes the immediate aftermath of one of the most infamous moments in American history: the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln five days after the end of the Civil War. The show follows Edwin Stanton (Tobias Menzies), the Secretary of War and friend of the late president, as he vows to track down assassin John Wilkes Booth (Anthony Boyle) and his co-conspirators in order to bring them to justice.
Created by Monica Beletsky and based on James L. Swanson's book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase For Lincoln's Killer, this show incorporates many of the same key details that have been depicted in film and TV for years. But in addition to the familiar story of the shooting in Ford's Theater, Manhunt zooms out to show the days leading up to the assassination and myriad characters involved, before then getting on with the chase.
One political figure who forms a lesser-known part of the story is William H. Seward. The premiere episode of Manhunt depicts an attack on Seward the same night that Booth shot Lincoln, and illustrates the wider political tensions that culminated in the death of the president.
Who was William H. Seward?
Seward served as the Secretary of State during Abraham Lincoln's presidency. Seward was a part of the abolition movement, and along with his personal friend Harriet Tubman, worked towards ending slavery, thus making him a target of Booth and his co-conspirators.
Played in Manhunt by Larry Pine (Succession, The French Dispatch), we first meet Seward discussing the end of the war with Stanton. While Stanton advises caution, Seward is eager to celebrate the North's victory.
However, unbeknownst to Seward, he has become the target of an assassination plot: on the same night that Booth enters the Ford theater, ex-Confederate soldier Lewis Powell (Spencer Treat Clark) attempts to kill him in his home on Lafayette Square.
Seward had been in a carriage accident the day before, and Powell gains entry under the pretense of delivering medicine, stabbing him multiple times in the face and neck before making his escape. However, due to the metal brace Seward was wearing as a result of the injuries he sustained in the accident, most of Powell's blows were deflected, saving Seward's life.
Seward continued his duties as Secretary of State under Lincoln's successor, the newly sworn-in Andrew Johnson—although the two were not as close as Seward had been to Lincoln, and Seward's recovery meant he was largely absent from both the hunt for Booth and the early months of Johnson's presidency.
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