In the meantime, the governor and top officials relocated briefly to Danville. About a week after Richmond's evacuation, Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant, ending the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse. Within the same week, on April 14, 1865, President Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. by John Wilkes Booth. Northern leadership would deal much more harshly with the fallen states than Lincoln had planned.