Michael O'Laughlen, Jr. (pronounced Oh-Lock-Lun; June 3, 1840 – September 23, 1867) was an American Confederate soldier and conspirator in John Wilkes Booth's plot to kidnap U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, and later in the latter's assassination, although he ended up not directly participating.

At the start of the Civil War O'Laughlen joined the Confederate Army, but was discharged in June 1862.

In the fall of 1864 O'Laughlen agreed to become a co-conspirator in the plot to kidnap President Abraham Lincoln.

On the night of March 15, 1865, O'Laughlen met with Booth and other conspirators at Gautier's Restaurant on Pennsylvania Avenue to discuss the possible abduction of the President.

Basically, the plan was to abduct Lincoln and take him to Richmond, Virginia for the purpose of making the Union government exchange prisoners with the Confederacy.

Booth learned that Lincoln was scheduled to attend a matinee performance of the play Still Waters Run Deep at the Campbell Hospital on the outskirts of Washington on March 17, 1865.

But the president had changed plans and the carriage was possibly that of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase.

Among the film's many historical inaccuracies, O'Laughlen is portrayed as a middle-aged man (he was actually 24 years old in April 1865), and a member of the Knights of the Golden Circle.