The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
John Wilkes Booth, an actor, a confederate motivator and was a member of a conspirator group. They had many goals but the main was to kidnap Lincoln in March of 1865. On April 13, 1865 which happened to be Good Friday, Booth learned that Lincoln was attending Ford's Theater in Washington to watch ''My American Cousin''. The conspirators saw an oppurtunitunity to kill Lincoln, the Vice President Andrew Jackson, and the Secretary of State, William H. Seward. Lincoln was in a private box when watching the play and at 10:15 John Wilkes Booth slipped into the box pulled out a .44 caliber single shot and aimed at Lincoln's head. Booth stabbed Henry Rathbone an army officer and ran onto the stage. He yelled to the crowd and escaped on horseback. Lincoln seeked medical attention immediately by a 23 year old doctor named Charles Leale. He was rushed to the nearest house and suffered all night. At 7:22 A.M. Abraham Lincoln was pronounced dead.