apr 14, 1865 - Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

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Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was assassinated by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, while attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Shot in the head as he watched the play, Lincoln died the following day. Lincoln's funeral and burial marked an extended period of national mourning. Occurring near the end of the American Civil War, the assassination was part of a larger conspiracy intended by Booth to revive the Confederate cause by eliminating the three most important officials of the United States government. Co-conspirators were assigned to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward and Vice President Andrew Johnson. Beyond Lincoln's death, the plot failed. After a dramatic initial escape, Booth was killed at the climax of a 12-day manhunt.

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