At about 10:25 PM, President Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth; he never regained consciousness and died the next morning. Booth's plan was to "paralyze the nation by a simultaneous striking down of all its executive forces." It had been announced in the paper that General Grant would be at Ford's Theater with the President and Mrs. Lincoln, but he left town and did not attend. An accomplice, Louis Powell, attacked and seriously injured Secretary of State William H. Seward and two of his sons. Another conspirator was expected to kill Vice President Johnson, but he lost his nerve and did not.