After the fall of the Confederate capital at Richmond (April 4) and General Lee's large-scale surrender of Confederate forces (April 9), Booth decided to kill Lincoln instead of kidnapping him. According to Booth's former friend, Louis Weichmann, Booth may have made the decision to kill the President after hearing Lincoln deliver a speech on April 11 urging Negro suffrage. Weichmann spoke of his viewing of the President's speech with Booth: 