USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was assassinated by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth, while attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Detailed explanation-2: -A supporter of slavery, Booth believed that Lincoln was determined to overthrow the Constitution and to destroy his beloved South.

Detailed explanation-3: -John Wilkes Booth was part of a family of celebrated actors, but he is remembered as the assassin who mortally wounded U.S. Pres. Abraham Lincoln in Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865, as part of a broader conspiracy that included an attempt on the life of Secretary of State William H. Seward.

Detailed explanation-4: -Along with friends Samuel Arnold, Michael O’Laughlin and John Surratt, Booth conspired to kidnap Lincoln and deliver him to the South. On March 17, along with George Atzerodt, David Herold and Lewis Powell, the group met in a Washington bar to plot the abduction of the president three days later.

Detailed explanation-5: -Booth’s companion David Herold surrendered, but Booth maintained a standoff. After the authorities set the barn ablaze, Union soldier Boston Corbett fatally shot him in the neck. Paralyzed, he died a few hours later.