Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was assassinated on April 14, 1865, by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer. The shooting occurred at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., just days after the Union's victory in the Civil War. Booth believed that killing Lincoln would aid the Southern cause. Lincoln died the following day, making him the first U.S. president to be assassinated. This tragic event shocked the nation and led to significant changes in American politics and society, further deepening the country's divisions during the Reconstruction era.