CIVIL WAR
Night at Ford’s Theatre: How John Wilkes Booth Murdered Abraham Lincoln
A planned attack inside a Washington playhouse became a wider attempt to cripple the Union government just days after Appomattox.
Abraham Lincoln was shot during a performance at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865. His murder was part of a coordinated conspiracy aimed at the Union government in the Civil War’s final days.
At about 10:15 p.m. on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, actor Harry Hawk stood alone on the Ford’s Theatre stage during *Our American Cousin*. Above him, in the presidential box, Abraham Lincoln watched with Mary Todd Lincoln, Major Henry Rathbone, and Clara Harris. [1][2]
John Wilkes Booth entered the box and fired a single .44-caliber Philadelphia Deringer into the back of the president’s head at close range. Lincoln never regained consciousness. [1][2]
The shooting came five days after Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House. Booth’s target was the president, but the night’s violence was part of a broader effort to strike the Union government as the war was ending.
An Open Door at Ford’s Theatre
Booth knew Ford’s Theatre well. A prominent 26-year-old actor, he could move through the building without attracting much notice. He learned on April 14 that Lincoln would attend the evening performance, then used his familiarity with the theater to prepare his approach to the presidential box. [1][2]
Lincoln arrived around 8:30 p.m. General Ulysses S. Grant had been invited but did not attend; Rathbone and Harris joined the Lincolns instead. The party occupied the combined Boxes 7 and 8. [1][2]
Booth had arranged a bar to prevent the inner door of the box from being opened behind him. Outside, Metropolitan Police officer John Frederick Parker had been assigned to guard the president. Parker was absent when Booth approached. Accounts differ over exactly where Parker went, but no guard stopped Booth from entering the box. [1][5]
Lincoln had no modern presidential protective detail. The Secret Service did not yet exist; created later in 1865 to fight counterfeiting, it would not take on presidential-protection duties until decades later. [5]
The Shot and the Escape
Booth waited for a moment of expected laughter. Hawk was alone onstage, delivering a familiar comic line, when Booth stepped into the box and fired. [1][2]
The gunshot caused immediate confusion. Rathbone tried to seize Booth, who slashed Rathbone’s arm with a hunting knife. Booth then climbed over the front of the box and jumped roughly 12 feet to the stage. [2]
Witnesses differed over the precise wording and timing of Booth’s cry, but accounts associate his escape with the Virginia motto, “Sic semper tyrannis”—“Thus always to tyrants.” He fled through the theater and rode away from Washington on horseback. [2]
A Wider Conspiracy
Lincoln’s murder was one part of a coordinated plot against the executive branch. Booth and his associates intended to attack Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William H. Seward. [4]
Lewis Powell forced his way into Seward’s home and severely wounded the secretary, who was recovering from injuries suffered in a carriage accident. Powell also attacked four other people in the house before fleeing. George Atzerodt, assigned to kill Johnson, did not carry out his attack. [4]
The plot did not cripple the federal government. Johnson and Seward survived, and officials quickly began directing the response and the search for the conspirators. But the attacks made clear that Lincoln’s assassination was not an isolated act of sudden violence. It was an organized attempt to strike the nation’s leadership at a moment of transition. [4]
Across 10th Street
In the theater, 23-year-old Army surgeon Dr. Charles Leale reached the presidential box and examined Lincoln. He found the head wound, removed a blood clot that had obstructed Lincoln’s breathing, and concluded that the injury was mortal. [1][3]
Doctors decided against taking Lincoln back to the White House. A carriage ride over Washington’s streets risked further harm, so soldiers carried him across 10th Street to the boarding house of William Petersen. [3]
Lincoln was placed diagonally on a bed in a first-floor rear room. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton arrived and directed the government’s response from the house as physicians watched over the president. [3]
Lincoln remained unconscious through the night. Leale stayed at his side, holding the president’s hand as his condition worsened. Abraham Lincoln died at 7:22 a.m. on April 15, 1865. He was 56. [3]
Later that morning, Andrew Johnson took the oath as the nation’s 17th president. Lincoln’s death removed the leader who had guided the Union through the Civil War just as the country faced unresolved questions about reunion, citizenship, voting, and the freedom of formerly enslaved people.
The Manhunt and Trial
Booth and David Herold fled into Virginia. On April 26, federal cavalry surrounded them at the Garrett farm near Port Royal. Herold surrendered. Booth remained in a tobacco barn, where Union cavalryman Boston Corbett shot him despite orders to take him alive. Booth died hours later. [4]
Eight alleged conspirators were tried by a nine-officer military commission at the Old Arsenal Penitentiary in Washington. The decision to try civilians before a military tribunal was controversial, but the government proceeded under wartime and martial-law conditions. [4][6]
On July 7, Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt were hanged at the Washington Arsenal. Other defendants received prison sentences. [4]
The assassination did not reverse the Union victory or restore the Confederacy. It did leave the country to begin its postwar reckoning without Lincoln. A comedy at Ford’s Theatre had become the scene of a national emergency, and the work of Reconstruction now moved forward under a new president.
Frequently Asked Questions
What weapon did John Wilkes Booth use to shoot Abraham Lincoln?
Booth used a .44-caliber, single-shot Philadelphia Deringer pistol. He fired once at close range into the back of Lincoln’s head in the presidential box at Ford’s Theatre. [1]
Why didn’t Ulysses S. Grant attend the play with Lincoln?
Grant had been invited to accompany the Lincolns but declined the invitation. The supplied record establishes that he did not attend, but it does not provide a definitive reason for his decision. [1][2]
What happened to the other conspirators?
Lewis Powell attacked Secretary of State Seward, while George Atzerodt did not attack Vice President Johnson. Eight defendants were tried by military commission. Surratt, Powell, Herold, and Atzerodt were executed on July 7, 1865; other defendants received prison sentences. [4][6]
TIMELINE
Key moments
Sources
- Ford's Theatre National Historic Site - FAQ: The Assassination — National Park Service
- Lincoln's Assassination - Ford's Theatre — Ford's Theatre Society
- Dr. Charles Leale - Ford's Theatre National Historic Site — National Park Service
- The Lincoln Conspirators - Ford's Theatre National Historic Site — National Park Service
- Lincoln's Missing Bodyguard — Smithsonian Magazine
- The Trial of the Conspirators - Ford's Theatre — Ford's Theatre Society
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