Ford's Theatre (U.S. National Park Service) Contact Us Abraham Lincoln's Legacy Lives Explore Ford's Theatre NHS, discover Abraham Lincoln's life in Washington, D.C., the struggle for a united country, and the motivation behind Lincoln's assassination. The National Park Service and the Ford's Theatre Society present a variety of programs year round. Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination A+E Networks Introduction On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War. Google Abraham Lincoln’s killer, John Wilkes Booth , was a Maryland native born in 1838 who remained in the North during the Civil War despite his Confederate sympathies. As the conflict entered its final stages, he and several associates hatched a plot to kidnap the president and take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital.

However, on March 20, 1865, the day of the planned kidnapping, Lincoln failed to appear at the spot where Booth and his six fellow conspirators lay in wait. Two weeks later, Richmond fell to Union forces. In April, with Confederate armies near collapse across the South, Booth came up with a desperate plan to save the Confederacy. Did You Know? The search for John Wilkes Booth was one of the largest manhunts in history, with 10,000 federal troops, detectives and police tracking down the assassin. Learning that Lincoln was to attend Laura Keene’s acclaimed performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington , D.C., on April 14, Booth—himself a well-known actor at the time—masterminded the simultaneous assassination of Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward. By murdering the president and two of his possible successors, Booth and his co-conspirators hoped to throw the U.S. government into disarray.

Lincoln occupied a private box above the stage with his wife Mary, a young army officer named Henry Rathbone and Rathbone’s fiancé, Clara Harris, the daughter of New York Senator Ira Harris. The Lincolns arrived late for the comedy, but the president was reportedly in a fine mood and laughed heartily during the production. History Channel Online Course – Lincoln Assassination At 10:15, Booth slipped into the box and fired his .44-caliber single-shot derringer into the back of Lincoln’s head. After stabbing Rathbone, who immediately rushed at him, in the shoulder, Booth leapt onto the stage and shouted, “Sic semper tyrannis!” (“Thus ever to tyrants!”–the Virginia state motto). At first, the crowd interpreted the unfolding drama as part of the production, but a scream from the first lady told them otherwise. Although Booth broke his leg in the fall, he managed to leave the theater and escape from Washington on horseback. A 23-year-old doctor named Charles Leale was in the audience and hastened to the presidential box immediately upon hearing the shot and Mary Lincoln’s scream. He found the president slumped in his chair, paralyzed and struggling to breathe.

Several soldiers carried Lincoln to a house across the street and placed him on a bed. When the surgeon general arrived at the house, he concluded that Lincoln could not be saved and would die during the night. Vice President Andrew Johnson, members of Lincoln’s cabinet and several of the president’s closest friends stood vigil by Lincoln’s bedside until he was officially pronounced dead at 7:22 a.m. The first lady lay on a bed in an adjoining room with her eldest son Robert at her side, overwhelmed with shock and grief. The president’s body was placed in a temporary coffin, draped with a flag and escorted by armed cavalry to the White House , where surgeons conducted a thorough autopsy. Edward Curtis, an Army surgeon in attendance, later described the scene, recounting that a bullet clattered into a waiting basin during the doctors’ removal of Lincoln’s brain. He wrote that the team stopped to stare at the offending weapon, “the cause of such mighty changes in the world’s history as we may perhaps never realize.” During the autopsy, Mary Lincoln sent the surgeons a note requesting that they clip a lock of Lincoln’s hair for her.

News of the president’s death traveled quickly, and by the end of the day flags across the country flew at half-mast, businesses were closed and people who had recently rejoiced at the end of the Civil War now reeled from Lincoln’s shocking assassination. The president’s corpse was taken to the White House, and on April 18 it was carried to the Capitol rotunda to lay in state on a catafalque. On April 21, Lincoln’s body was boarded onto a train that conveyed it to Springfield, Illinois , where he had lived before becoming president. Tens of thousands of Americans lined the railroad route and paid their respects to their fallen leader during the train’s solemn progression through the North. Lincoln and his son, Willie, who died in the White House of typhoid fever in 1862, were interred on May 4, 1865, at Oak Ridge Cemetery, near Springfield. As the nation mourned, Union soldiers were hot on the trail of John Wilkes Booth, who many in the audience had immediately recognized. After fleeing the capital, he and an accomplice, David Herold, made their way across the Anacostia River and headed toward southern Maryland.

The pair stopped at the home of Samuel Mudd, a doctor who treated Booth’s leg. (Mudd’s actions earned him a life sentence that was later commuted). They then sought refuge from Thomas A. Jones, a Confederate agent, before securing a boat to row across the Potomac to Virginia. On April 26, Union troops surrounded the Virginia farmhouse where Booth and Herold were hiding out and set fire to it, hoping to flush the fugitives out. Herold surrendered but Booth remained inside. As the blaze intensified, a sergeant shot Booth in the neck, allegedly because the assassin had raised his gun as if to shoot. Carried out of the building alive, he lingered for three hours before gazing at his hands and uttering his last words: “Useless, useless.” Four of Booth’s co-conspirators were convicted for their part in the assassination and executed by hanging on July 7, 1865. They included David Herold and Mary Surratt , the first woman put to death by the federal government, whose boarding house had served as a meeting place for the would-be kidnappers. Tags Lincoln Papers: Lincoln Assassination: Introduction The Martyr of liberty... [n. p., n.

d.] (Library of Congress, Stern Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division.) On the evening of April 14, 1865, while attending a special performance of the comedy, "Our American Cousin," President Abraham Lincoln was shot. Accompanying him at Ford's Theater that night were his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, a twenty-eight year-old officer named Major Henry R. Rathbone, and Rathbone's fiancee, Clara Harris. After the play was in progress, a figure with a drawn derringer pistol stepped into the presidential box, aimed, and fired. The president slumped forward. The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, dropped the pistol and waved a dagger. Rathbone lunged at him, and though slashed in the arm, forced the killer to the railing. Booth leapt from the balcony and caught the spur of his left boot on a flag draped over the rail, and shattered a bone in his leg on landing. Though injured, he rushed out the back door, and disappeared into the night on horseback. A doctor in the audience immediately went upstairs to the box. The bullet had entered through Lincoln's left ear and lodged behind his right eye. He was paralyzed and barely breathing.

He was carried across Tenth Street, to a boarding-house opposite the theater, but the doctors' best efforts failed. Nine hours later, at 7:22 AM on April 15th, Lincoln died. President Lincoln's funeral procession in New York City. From Harper's Weekly, May 13, 1865. (Library of Congress, Stern Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division. ) At almost the same moment Booth fired the fatal shot, his accomplice, Lewis Paine, attacked Lincoln's Secretary of State, William Henry Seward. Seward lay in bed, recovering from a carriage accident. Paine entered the mansion, claiming to have a delivery of medicine from the Secretary's doctor. Seward's son, Frederick, was brutally beaten while trying to keep Paine from his father's door. Paine slashed the Secretary's throat twice, then fought his way past Seward's son Augustus, an attending hospital corps veteran, and a State Department messenger. Paine escaped into the night, believing his deed complete. However, a metal surgical collar saved Seward from certain death.

The Secretary lived another seven years, during which he retained his seat with the Johnson administration, and purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867. There were at least four conspirators in addition to Booth involved in the mayhem. Booth was shot and captured while hiding in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia, and died later the same day, April 26, 1865. Four co-conspirators, Paine, George Atzerodt, David Herold, and Mary Surratt, were hanged at the gallows of the Old Penitentiary, on the site of present-day Fort McNair, on July 7, 1865. Lincoln is shot - Apr 14, 1865 - HISTORY.com Lincoln is shot Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1865, John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally shoots President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War.

Booth, a Maryland native born in 1838, who remained in the North during the war despite his Confederate sympathies, initially plotted to capture President Lincoln and take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital. However, on March 20, 1865, the day of the planned kidnapping, the president failed to appear at the spot where Booth and his six fellow conspirators lay in wait. Two weeks later, Richmond fell to Union forces. In April, with Confederate armies near collapse across the South, Booth hatched a desperate plan to save the Confederacy. Learning that Lincoln was to attend a performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater on April 14, Booth masterminded the simultaneous assassination of Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward. By murdering the president and two of his possible successors, Booth and his conspirators hoped to throw the U.S. government into disarray. On the evening of April 14, conspirator Lewis T. Powell burst into Secretary of State Seward’s home, seriously wounding him and three others, while George A. Atzerodt, assigned to Vice President Johnson, lost his nerve and fled.

Meanwhile, just after 10 p.m., Booth entered Lincoln’s private theater box unnoticed and shot the president with a single bullet in the back of his head. Slashing an army officer who rushed at him, Booth leapt to the stage and shouted “Sic semper tyrannis! [Thus always to tyrants]–the South is avenged!” Although Booth broke his leg jumping from Lincoln’s box, he managed to escape Washington on horseback. The president, mortally wounded, was carried to a lodging house opposite Ford’s Theater. About 7:22 a.m. the next morning, Lincoln, age 56, died–the first U.S. president to be assassinated. Booth, pursued by the army and other secret forces, was finally cornered in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia, and died from a possibly self-inflicted bullet wound as the barn was burned to the ground. Of the eight other people eventually charged with the conspiracy, four were hanged and four were jailed. Lincoln, the 16th U.S. president, was buried on May 4, 1865, in Springfield, Illinois.

Related Videos Assassination of President Lincoln | Theatre Assassination Powered By VerisignTM Assassination of Abraham Lincoln On Friday April 14, 1865, the United States of America was shocked when President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The president was at Ford's Theater attending a play called Our American Cousin, and he was assassinated by an actor named John Wilkes Booth. But John Wilkes Booth was no ordinary actor at Ford's Theater. Booth was a highly respected actor who used his charisma, charm, and good looks to forge a very successful career on stages around the country. The assassination of the president was only one part of a conspiracy that Booth concocted to overthrow the entire United States government. Booth had targeted the vice president and several other members of the federal government for assassination by his cohorts on the same night he was to kill the president, but Booth would be the only person who would succeed in eliminating his target. Prior to the assassination, on March 17, 1865, Booth and his group attempted to kidnap President Lincoln as the president left Campbell Military Hospital after attending a play called Still Waters Run Deep.

But the plan was thwarted when the president decided to attend a different military ceremony instead of attending the play. It was at that point that Booth indicated that he had plans to kill the president as the president gave his inaugural address, but he could not get close enough to the president to pull off his plan. Booth vowed to get the job done, and he chose April 14 as his date. Approximately 10 days before the assassination, President Lincoln revealed to his wife, Mary Todd, that he had a dream about people weeping in the White House over the death of an important figure. When the president asked a soldier in his dream who everyone was crying about, the solider said, "the president." The timing of that dream was never lost on Mary Todd Lincoln, and she often referred to it when discussing the assassination in subsequent interviews. The day of the assassination, Booth had awoken at around midnight and started writing letters to his mother and other family members indicating that he was about to make a decisive move for what he called "their important cause." He spent the day making arrangements with his conspirators and then headed over to Ford's Theater to collect his mail and make his plans for the night.

The president had a very pleasant day leading up to the assassination, but he had been disappointed when his son decided to stay home for the night and sleep. Lincoln's son had fought in the Civil War and had just arrived home to the White House a few days earlier. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his wife were supposed to accompany the president to the theater that night, but they had to cancel for personal reasons. In the general's place was sent Maj. Henry Rathbone and his wife. While the major was not necessarily sent as a security guard, his military experience was thought to offer the president an additional layer of security. At approximately 10:25 p.m., Booth used his status as a familiar actor to the theater's staff to gain access to the outer lobby of the president's box. Booth was surprised to see that there were no security guards anywhere in the lobby, so he slowly opened the door to the president's box and prepared his Philadelphia Derringer pistol to be fired. Booth waited for a line in the play that elicited a particularly loud round of laughter from the audience, and that is when he lurched forward and shot President Lincoln once in the back of the head.

After firing the fatal shot, Booth leaped from the box to the stage shouting the Virginia state motto, "Sic semper tyrannis!", which is Latin for "Thus always the tyrants!" As Booth leaped to the stage, he caught the spur of his boot on the American flag that draped over the president's box and fell to the stage in an awkward manner. He broke his leg and limped off the stage as quickly as he could. The entire theater, audience and theater staff included, thought that what had happened was part of the show. But when Mary Todd Lincoln shouted out, "He's shot the president!" and Rathbone shouted, "Stop that man!", the audience and actors slowly realized that what had happened was real. By the time everyone was able to grasp the situation, Booth had escaped the theater and was headed for what he thought was safety in the former Confederate States of America. References To learn more about the Lincoln assassination, look at the following sites: The Peterson House : After Booth shot President Lincoln, the president was rushed across the street to the Peterson House, where he died the next morning.

Historical Medical Sites in the Washington, D.C., Area : It is not widely known that two years after the assassination of the president, the U.S. Army turned Ford's Theater into a temporary hospital. The Assassination of President Lincoln : This is a quick review of the assassination of the president using some of the more famous images inspired by the event. The Lincoln Assassination: Selected Images From the Library of Congress : It can be chilling to look at actual photographs and see the artists' renderings of the people and events that took place in Ford's Theater that night. The Case of Abraham Lincoln's Assassination Pistol : Even though the FBI was not operating in 1865, that did not stop the federal investigators of today from putting together a case file on the gun used in the assassination of President Lincoln. Andrew Johnson : Immediately after the assassination of President Lincoln, Andrew Johnson was sworn in as president of the United States. The Autopsy of President Lincoln : Read the actual autopsy report from the assassination of President Lincoln here. Death of Abraham Lincoln, April 15-26, 1865 : Sometimes, seeing the actual documents that were handwritten to announce the tragic death of President Lincoln can give a historical perspective on the event.

Biography of John Wilkes Booth : John Wilkes Booth enjoyed a life of fame and luxury before deciding to give it all up for a cause that only he believed in. Character and Death of Abraham Lincoln : You can get a very good understanding of how people felt about President Lincoln when you read newspaper accounts of his life and death from 1865. The Assassination of President Lincoln : The assassination of Lincoln was so enthralling to the public that it appeared in a chapter of the book "Behind the Scenes," published in 1868. The Lincoln Presidency: Last Full Measure of Devotion : When President Lincoln was assassinated, even the South realized it had lost someone who would fight for the rights of every human being. Diary Account of the Assassination of President Lincoln : Otis Keene was a Civil War veteran who wrote about the pain the whole country felt when President Lincoln was assassinated. Lincoln's Last Night : The Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association brings together a wide variety of resources to give as many details as possible about the life and death of President Lincoln. Theater Seating Lincoln's Assassination · Ford's Theatre Home Lincoln's Assassination It is one of the great crime stories of all time.

On April 14, 1865, in full view of a theatre audience packed to the walls and celebrating the impending end of a brutal war, the President of the United States was assassinated. The murderer was not only seen by all, he was instantly recognizable to most. And he got away. Today, Abraham Lincoln is remembered by Americans, and people around the world, as one of the nation’s greatest presidents. But the questions surrounding his assassination still fascinate and haunt us. Who would want to commit such an act? How could they have done it? And, most of all, why? Most of us know the basic facts of the crime. John Wilkes Booth, a popular 26-year-old actor who was also a Confederate sympathizer and white supremacist, had been plotting for months to abduct Lincoln and give the Confederacy another chance. But three days earlier, hearing the president talk of his plans to bring the nation together—in particular, his plans to grant some African-American men the right to vote—Booth’s plans turned murderous.

On the morning of April 14, Good Friday, he learned Lincoln would attend a performance of the comedy Our American Cousin that night at Ford’s Theatre—a theatre Booth knew very, very well. He realized his moment had arrived. By 10:15 that evening, the comedy was well into its last act. In the Presidential Box, President and Mrs. Lincoln and their guests, Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée, Clara Harris, laughed at the show along with the audience—not knowing that Booth was just outside the door. Don’t know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal—you sockdologizing old mantrap! Actor Harry Hawk, delivering the laugh line of Our American Cousin When actor Harry Hawk was left alone on stage, to speak the line in the play guaranteed to get the biggest laugh, Booth struck. Pulling the trigger of his small deringer pistol, he fired a single shot into the president’s head. Lincoln slumped over, never to regain consciousness. Major Rathbone rose to stop Booth, but Booth slashed him across the arm with a knife, then jumped out of the box onto the stage, 12 feet below.

Uncertain whether this was part of the play, the audience heard the actor shout: Sic semper tyrannis!” [Thus always to tyrants!] The South is avenged! John Wilkes Booth Suffering from a broken leg, the athletic Booth limped quickly across the stage, fought his way to the back door, and escaped into the alley, where a horse was waiting. By the time Mrs. Lincoln’s screams were heard from the Box, the assassin was gone. How could such a thing have taken place—and in Washington, D.C., the fortified capital of the nation? How did Booth gain such access to the theatre? Why didn’t Lincoln’s security people stop him? Was it a lone act, or part of a larger conspiracy? And, when all was said and done, what was the outcome—for those involved in the crime, for their victims, for the nation and even for Ford’s Theatre? Conduct your own investigation, beginning below! Uncover the History What Happened at Ford’s Theatre Follow the events of the night of April 14, 1865, when John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre. Crime scene photo by Mathew Brady, 1865.

Explore Now 8. “The Wound is Mortal.” Close 10:15 p.m.: Booth Enters the Presidential Box Booth hands his calling card to the president’s footman, Charles Forbes, and enters the vestibule of the box. He hides there, just steps from the president, waiting. Close The Laugh Line Alone on stage, actor Harry Hawk delivers the funniest line of the play, and the audience erupts in laughter. Close The Fatal Shot As the audience roars, Booth steps into the box. He fires a single bullet into the back of Lincoln’s head. The president immediately loses consciousness. Close Fighting with Rathbone One of the Lincolns’ guests, Major Henry Rathbone, sees what has happened and tries to stop Booth. Having dropped his pistol, Booth slashes Rathbone’s arm with a dagger. Close Booth Leaps onto the Stage Booth jumps over the box’s railing onto the stage, catching his spur on the Treasury Guard flag adorning the front. He lands awkwardly, likely breaking his leg. Close “Sic Semper Tyrannis!” Booth flashes his bloody dagger on stage. A surprised Harry Hawk flees into the wings.

Booth yells, “Sic semper tyrannis!” [Thus always to tyrants!] and “The South is avenged!” Close Booth’s Escape Booth hobbles to the back door of the theatre, where he pushes orchestra conductor William Withers out of the way. He jumps onto a waiting horse and rides away, hoping to outrun news of his deed. Close “The Wound is Mortal.” Drs. Charles Leale and Charles Sabin Taft get into the Presidential Box. After examining the president, Leale declares that Lincoln will die that night. Soldiers carry him out of the theatre. An Overnight Vigil on 10th Street Where should one take a dying president? That dilemma faced the doctors who made it into the Presidential Box at Ford’s Theatre. Dr. Charles Leale knew Lincoln would not survive , and many people at the time felt a theatre—an uncouth place in 1865—was no place for a president to die. Why not just take him to the White House? The White House was only six blocks away—but Washington’s streets were not paved. A bumpy carriage ride might kill Lincoln immediately.

Soldiers carried Lincoln down the stairs of the theatre, and out onto 10th Street. Where to go from there? Standing on a stoop across the street, Henry Safford had heard the commotion. He knew that Willie Clark , a fellow boarder at the Petersen family’s house, was out for the night—and his room vacant. Bring Him in Here! Henry Safford to the soldiers carrying Lincoln. At Safford’s direction, the soldiers carried Lincoln into the house and laid him in Clark’s bed. Doctors tended to Lincoln in that back room, trying to make him as comfortable as they could. But that was not the only business to tend to. The government needed to find out what was happening—and fast. Were there other targets? How far did the conspiracy go? Secretary of War Edwin Stanton arrived and set about figuring out the answers to those questions. He interrogated witnesses to the assassination. Quickly he learned that Booth had carried out the act. James Tanner, a War Department clerk and disabled soldier who lived next door, wrote down the witness statements . Outside, thousands of people crowded onto 10th Street and kept vigil through the night. Were the people who came in and out of the Petersen House suspects?

Mary Lincoln initially remained with the president, but Stanton, horrified by her cries, ordered her to the front parlor. She only occasionally returned to see her husband. Would Lincoln awaken and speak some last words? More than 40 people came in and out of the room, hoping to hear the president's famed wit and wisdom one final time, but in vain. President Abraham Lincoln died at 7:22 a.m. on April 15, 1865. Mary Lincoln was not in the room with him. Soldiers quickly removed his body to the White House for an autopsy and to prepare for a funeral. But the story was far from over. Where had Booth gone? What about others involved in the conspiracy? Where should Lincoln be buried? Continue the investigation below! Today in History - April 14 | Library of Congress Library of Congress Today in History - April 14 April 14 Listen to this page Lincoln Shot at Ford’s Theater Shortly after 10:00 p.m. on April 14, 1865, actor John Wilkes Booth entered the presidential box at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., and fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln .

As Lincoln slumped forward in his seat, Booth leapt onto the stage and escaped out the back door. The paralyzed president was immediately examined by a doctor in the audience and then carried across the street to Petersen’s Boarding House where he died early the next morning. [D]ying as he did die, by the red hand of violence, killed, assassinated, taken off without warning, not because of personal hate…but because of his fidelity to union and liberty, he is doubly dear to us, and his memory will be precious forever. The Assassination of President Lincoln, Ford’s Theatre, Washington, D.C., lithograph, Currier & Ives, 1865. By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present Lincoln’s assassination was the first presidential assassination in U.S. history. Booth carried out the attack five days after General Robert E. Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House , Virginia. He thought that his action would aid the South. The suspicion that Booth had acted as part of a conspiracy of Southern sympathizers increased Northern rancor.

Whether Lincoln would have been able to temper the Reconstruction policies enacted by the Radical Republicans in Congress is left to historical speculation because of his untimely death as the United States transitioned from civil war to reunification and peace. Wanted Poster , issued by the War Department, Washington, D.C., April 20, 1865. An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera Within days of the assassination, the War Department issued wanted posters for the arrest of Booth and his accomplices John Surratt and David Herold. Booth and Herold eluded capture until April 26, when federal troops discovered them hiding in a tobacco barn near Bowling Green, Virginia. Herold surrendered, but Booth stayed under cover and was shot as the barn burned to the ground. He died later that day. Booth’s co-conspirators Lewis Paine—who had attempted to murder Secretary of State William Henry Seward —George Atzerodt, David Herold, and Mary Surratt, all were executed for their part in the assassination conspiracy. Several other conspirators were sentenced to imprisonment. The death of President Lincoln resulted in an outpouring of grief nationwide.

After a funeral at the White House and lying in state at the U.S. Capitol, Lincoln’s body was transported to the railway station where it began a 1,700-mile journey back to the president’s native Springfield, Illinois . On May 4, Lincoln was finally laid to rest in a tomb at the Oak RidgeCemetery . Many monuments were built to honor Abraham Lincoln over the years, across the nation and around the world. On April 14, 1876, Frederick Douglass delivered an oration at the unveiling of a monument to Lincoln located in Washington, D.C.’s Lincoln Park. Better known to the nation is another memorial to Lincoln, also located in Washington, D.C. Featuring a monumental sculpture by Daniel Chester French, the Lincoln Memorial stands at the foot of the nation’s Mall and was dedicated on May 30, 1922. Contents of Abraham Lincoln’s Pockets, and Newspaper Recounting the Assassination , April 14, 1865.

American Treasures of the Library of Congress Learn More To learn more about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, visit the Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress , which includes a timeline of the events and a gallery of related images. This collection also contains a digital presentation on the Emancipation Proclamation and a list of Lincoln Resources available in American Memory and elsewhere. Remembering the Lincoln assassination 150 years later - CNNPolitics.com 1 of 17 Photos: Remembering Lincoln's assassination Officials at Ford's Theatre readily acknowledge that visitors are drawn to the assassination site to learn more about what transpired that evening. But the officials try to make the focus more on Lincoln's legacy, his policies and his leadership. They also point out that the President loved the theater, traveling from the White House occasionally during his time in office. Hide Caption 2 of 17 Photos: Remembering Lincoln's assassination The night of the shooting, Abraham and Mary Lincoln attended a performance of "Our American Cousin" with Maj. Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris. John Wilkes Booth, who had long conspired to kill the President, entered the State Box during Act III of the play.

He fired the fatal shot during laughter for the line "Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal -- you sockdologizing old man-trap." Hide Caption 3 of 17 Photos: Remembering Lincoln's assassination Booth used this single-shot .44-caliber derringer, which could be slipped inside a pocket, from close range. The weapon is in the Ford's Theatre exhibit " Silent Witnesses: Artifacts of the Lincoln Assassination ." Tracey Avant, curator of the exhibit (through May 29), said the items are from many people who were at the play, and the focus is not on Booth and his conspirators. Still, "we felt we couldn't do this without the derringer." Booth famously uttered "Sic semper tyrannis" ("Thus always to tyrants") after he leaped to the stage, breaking his leg. Hide Caption 4 of 17 Photos: Remembering Lincoln's assassination The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History has partnered with Ford's Theatre to display (through May 25) the carriage in which the Lincolns and their guests rode on April 14, 1865.

The carriage is on loan from the Studebaker National Museum . The open barouche model was built by Wood Brothers in 1864 and presented to the President by a group of New York merchants shortly before Lincoln's second inauguration. Hide Caption 5 of 17 Photos: Remembering Lincoln's assassination When we think of Abraham Lincoln, we most likely picture him wearing one of his trademark stovepipe top hats. This one he wore to Ford's Theatre that night had a mourning band for son Willie, who died in February 1862 at age 11, probably of typhoid fever. Avant said this gesture and a pair of eyeglasses Lincoln repaired with twine show his humanity. Hide Caption 6 of 17 Photos: Remembering Lincoln's assassination Lincoln, whose wound was found to be mortal, was taken from Ford's Theatre to the Petersen House , which is now maintained by the National Park Service. His body was laid across a bed too small for him, and doctors, family and officials kept vigil. He died at 7:22 a.m. April 15.

Secretary of War Edwin Stanton was said to declare, "Now, he belongs to the ages." The bed is on display (through February) at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois. Hide Caption 7 of 17 Photos: Remembering Lincoln's assassination An exhibit (through December 31) at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York, includes handwritten autopsy notes taken by Dr. Joseph Woodward (pictured) and notations from Dr. R.K. Stone. Stone was called to the Petersen House and stayed by the President's side. He had probably been awake for 36 hours or more when the autopsy was conducted. Museum President Paul D'Ambrosio said he hopes visitors can learn what doctors were up against. Hide Caption 8 of 17 Photos: Remembering Lincoln's assassination A plastic sheet shrouds the catafalque , or platform, originally built to support the casket while the President lay in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. It has been used often for dignitaries and elected officials since. Here, it is prepared for honors to former President Gerald Ford in December 2006.

The catafalque is normally displayed in the Exhibition Hall at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center . The black drapery on top of the wooden platform has been changed several times over the years. Hide Caption 9 of 17 Photos: Remembering Lincoln's assassination Suspicion rose quickly that Booth had acted as part of a conspiracy of Southern sympathizers. The manhunt lasted nearly two weeks while the nation mourned its fallen president. Booth believed he would be lauded as a hero in the South for the act, but a reading of newspapers smuggled to him while he hid in southern Maryland destroyed that assumption. He wrote in his journal, "After being hunted like a dog through swamps, woods, and last night being chased by gunboats till I was forced to return wet, cold, and starving ... I am here in despair." Hide Caption 10 of 17 Photos: Remembering Lincoln's assassination Mary Surratt was among those convicted of conspiracy in the assassination and hanged. She operated a boarding house in Washington, and the family had this tavern in Clinton, Maryland, where Booth and an associate stopped as they fled south. Historians still debate her complicity.

Laurie Verge, director of the Surratt House Museum, said staff members tell both sides of the story. Over the years, Verge said, history leans more toward Surratt knowing of an earlier kidnapping plot, if not the assassination. "If you enter to a conspiracy, you are liable for what members of that conspiracy would do." Hide Caption 11 of 17 Photos: Remembering Lincoln's assassination Booth and co-conspirator David Herold raced from the Surratt tavern to the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd, a known Southern sympathizer, seeking medical attention for Booth's broken leg. "On the Trail of the Assassin," which includes tours, is set for April 18-19 at the Dr. Mudd House Museum . Mudd was tried by a military commission on conspiracy and harboring charges and received a life sentence. President Andrew Johnson pardoned him in 1869. Hide Caption 12 of 17 Photos: Remembering Lincoln's assassination The train bearing the body of President Lincoln made its first stop in Baltimore. The B&O Railroad Museum has several Civil War-era locomotives and cars, including this engine built four years after Lincoln's death.

The museum will have a funeral cortege re-enactment on April 18-19 , along with artifacts and exhibits related to the assassination. Hide Caption 13 of 17 Photos: Remembering Lincoln's assassination An original mourning badge is among the 150th anniversary items at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore. Actor Fritz Klein, over the next few weeks, will portray Lincoln at many of the cities where the funeral train made a stop. His talk will include Lincoln's support for the 13th Amendment, which formally abolished slavery. But he won't bring up what happened at Ford's Theatre. Rather, the focus is resolutely facing forward, said Tim Good of the National Park Service, which has organized the appearances. "All indications were that Lincoln was very positive and optimistic because the war had come to end," said Good. "It was time to bind up the nation's wounds."​ Hide Caption 14 of 17 Photos: Remembering Lincoln's assassination A flag with stars spelling out the word "Free" was attached to a sandwich vendor's cart at Lincoln's funeral.

The flag and medallions from Lincoln's hearse are part of the " A Fiendish Assassination " exhibit at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois. Hide Caption 15 of 17 Photos: Remembering Lincoln's assassination A vault temporarily held the remains of President Lincoln at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois, while a permanent tomb was constructed. The Lincoln Funeral Coalition in early May is re-creating the solemn funeral procession through town, with an ending ceremony at the cemetery. A replica of Lincoln's hearse was built by three teams. "The main focus is living history. My hope is that people learn the history of this and experience to the best of our ability what occurred in 1865," said coalition Chairwoman Katie Spindell. "It has to be educational." Hide Caption Abraham Lincoln Assassination Photo Gallery Click any image for an enlarged version.

Artist's rendition of John Wilkes Booth assassinating Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre Currier and Ives print of the Lincoln assassination John Wilkes Booth's .44 caliber derringer John Wilkes Booth escaping from Ford's Theatre Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold and George Atzerodt hanging on July 7, 1865 The only photograph of Abraham Lincoln in death: Jeremiah Gurney, Jr.

took the photo on April 24, 1865, as President Lincoln lay in state in City Hall in New York John Wilkes Booth leaped to the stage after shooting President Abraham Lincoln Preparations for the hanging of Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt on July 7, 1865 Ford's Theatre where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated Ford's Theatre draped in mourning with guards posted Replica of a reward poster Abraham Lincoln's rocker at Ford's Theatre The Presidential Box at Ford's Theatre as it looked on the night of the assassination Harper's Weekly illustration of Abraham Lincoln's final hours Lincoln's top hat worn the night of his assassination The Our American Cousin set as it looked on the night of the assassination at Ford's Theatre Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancï¿½e, Clara Harris, guests of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln at Ford's Theatre Julius Ulke, a boarder at the Petersen House, took this photograph shortly after Abraham Lincoln's body was removed National Park Service map showing John Wilkes Booth's escape route John Wilkes Booth dying on Richard H.

Garrett's porch Postmortem examination of John Wilkes Booth's remains aboard the Montauk Joseph Burroughs (nicknamed Peanut John) held John Wilkes Booth's horse in the alley in the rear of Ford's Theatre The Navy Yard Bridge used by John Wilkes Booth to escape The Petersen House where Abraham Lincoln died on April 15, 1865 A Ford's Theatre ticket to see Our American Cousin John Wilkes Booth was killed on the property of Richard H. Garrett located about 60 miles from Ford's Theatre near Port Royal, Virginia The room in the Petersen House where Abraham Lincoln died at 7:22 A.M. on Saturday, April 15, 1865 The small passageway to the Ford's Theatre Presidential Box which guard John F.

Parker abandoned The items in Abraham Lincoln's pockets when he was assassinated The carriage that took the Lincolns to Ford's Theatre on the night of April 14, 1865 Booth also made plans in case Abraham Lincoln went to the play at Grover's Theatre Mary Surratt's boardinghouse in Washington; it was here that President Andrew Johnson said she "kept the nest that hatched the egg." The knife used by John Wilkes Booth to stab Henry Rathbone at Ford's Theatre John Wilkes Booth's diary The Lincoln Memorial This page is a part of the Abraham Lincoln Research Site. Questions, comments, corrections or suggestions can be sent to R. J. Norton , the creator and maintainer of this site. The website was born on December 29, 1996. This is not a commercial website. None of the photographs and artwork exhibited herein are being sold by the webmaster. Some photographs and artwork are believed to be in the public domain. Any copyrighted photographs and artwork are used in the context of this website strictly for educational, research and historical purposes only, under the "Fair Use" provisions of the Copyright Act, (US CODE: Title 17,107.

Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair Use Section 107). Anyone claiming copyright to any of the posted photographs or artwork please inform the webmaster of such and it will be duly noted or removed. Web design by

Question: In what theater was Abraham Lincoln shot?
Answer: Ford's Theatre