President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on the night of April 14, 1865, just five days after the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. His assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was a well-known actor and Confederate sympathizer who viewed Lincoln as a tyrant responsible for the South’s defeat and the abolition of slavery.
Booth’s plan was not limited to Lincoln alone. He led a conspiracy that aimed to decapitate the Union government by killing Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward in a coordinated strike. The attempt on Johnson failed, while Seward survived multiple stab wounds. Lincoln, however, was shot at point-blank range during a play at Ford’s Theatre and died the next morning at 7:22 AM on April 15, 1865.
A massive 12-day manhunt ended with Booth being cornered and killed in Virginia. His fellow conspirators were arrested, tried before a military tribunal, and four (including the first woman executed by the U.S. government, Mary Surratt) were hanged on July 7, 1865.
The assassination had profound effects on the United States, changing the trajectory of Reconstruction, hardening Northern attitudes, and shaping how the nation remembered both Lincoln and the Civil War.
- Executive Summary
- Historical Background
- Political and Social Context
- The Plot
- Timeline
- The Assassination
- Immediate Aftermath
- Investigation and Arrests
- Trial and Legal Proceedings
- Punishments and Legacy of the Conspirators
- Long-Term Impact on the Nation
- Controversies and Conspiracy Theories
- Primary Source Appendix