The Lincoln Assassination

The Lincoln assassination occurred on April 14, 1865, when John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer and actor, shot President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. Booth believed he was helping the South by eliminating Lincoln, who had just led the Union to victory in the Civil War. Lincoln was shot in the back of the head and died the next day. Booth fled but was tracked down and killed 12 days later. The assassination shocked the nation, ending Lincoln’s leadership just days after the Confederacy surrendered, and significantly impacted the country’s Reconstruction period.