In 1864, during the American Civil War, John Wilkes Booth, actor with links to the underground Southern movement in the North, came up with a plan to kidnap President Abraham Lincoln, while the latter was attending a theatre performance. In OTL Booth's associates dismissed his plan as impractical. Booth was to then follow a course of action which led to him assassinating Lincoln on 14 April 1865. This is done, and, shortly before the 1864 election, Lincoln is kidnapped and a ransom put to the authorities in Washington. Much consternation ensues - there is no historical precedent on what to do.