Tag: John Wilkes Booth

On this day, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington. The president died of his wounds the following day at 7:22 a.m. in the Petersen House opposite the theatre. The assassination was part of a larger political conspiracy that Booth hoped would revive the Confederate cause, but apart from Lincoln’s death, the plot failed. After a dramatic initial escape, Booth was killed at the end of a 12-day chase and his collaborators were later hanged for their roles in the conspiracy. Lincoln was the first U.S. president to be assassinated and his funeral and burial were marked by an extended period of national mourning.