Lincoln's assassination was the first killing of a U.S. president, triggering a national mourning period and reshaping the course of post-Civil War Reconstruction.
Key Facts
- Date shot
- April 14, 1865, at Ford's Theatre
- Date of death
- April 15, 1865, at Petersen House
- Assassin
- John Wilkes Booth, actor and Confederate sympathizer
- Manhunt duration
- 12 days; largest in U.S. history at the time
- Conspirators hanged
- Powell, Herold, Atzerodt, and Mary Surratt, July 1865
- Successor sworn in
- Andrew Johnson, April 15, 1865, as 17th president
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
With Union victory in the Civil War imminent, John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators, motivated by Confederate sympathy, initially plotted to kidnap Lincoln to aid the Confederacy. When that plan failed, Booth resolved to assassinate Lincoln, Secretary of State Seward, and Vice President Johnson simultaneously, believing that eliminating the three senior federal officials could revive the Confederate cause.
On the evening of April 14, 1865, Booth entered Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., and shot President Lincoln in the head while Lincoln watched the play Our American Cousin. Lincoln was carried to the Petersen House across the street, where he died the following morning on April 15. Booth's co-conspirators wounded Seward but failed to target Johnson.
Vice President Andrew Johnson was hastily sworn in as the 17th president on April 15, 1865. Booth was tracked down and killed on April 26 after a 12-day manhunt; four co-conspirators were hanged in July 1865. Lincoln's death drew international condemnation, made him a national martyr, and profoundly influenced the political character of the Reconstruction era that followed.