Through the fall, Booth added David Herold, George Atzerodt, Lewis Powell, and John Surratt to his team. Another Maryland native, Surratt served as an agent for the Confederate government. His mother, Mary Surratt, owned a tavern south of Washington, as well as operated a respectable boarding house on H Street, which became a frequent meeting place for the conspirators. The kidnapping plot increasingly consumed Booth and he spent the bulk of his personal fortune financing the conspirators' activities. In addition, he scouted escape routes through southern Maryland and into Virginia.
As the winter of 1865 passed, Booth's men became increasingly agitated by their lack of action. With Arnold and O'Laughlin threatening to desert, Booth announced that they would attempt to capture Lincoln on March 17 as he returned from a performance of Still Waters Run Deep at the Campbell Military Hospital. Assuming positions along the road, the conspirators waited in vain for the president's carriage. They later learned that Lincoln's plans had changed and that the president had instead attended an event at Booth's hotel with the governor of Indiana. In the wake of the failed attempt, the team began to break up with Arnold returning to Baltimore, Surratt leaving on Confederate business, and O'Laughlin simply wandering away.
On April 10, 1865, after hearing news of General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Booth began to contemplate changes to the plan. With the war winding down, Booth came to the conclusion that the only hope for the Confederacy would be to decapitate the Union government by killing Lincoln and his associates. This belief was reinforced the following day after Booth heard a speech by Lincoln in which the president stated that he intended to give former slaves the right to vote.