Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865. Booth, a well-known actor and Confederate sympathizer, shot Lincoln in the back of the head while the president was attending a play, Our American Cousin , at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Lincoln died the following morning from his wounds

. Booth's assassination of Lincoln was part of a larger conspiracy aimed at reviving the Confederate cause by killing key government officials. Alongside Booth's attack on Lincoln, conspirators Lewis Powell and David Herold attempted to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward, and George Atzerodt was assigned to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson. While Seward was severely wounded but survived, Johnson was never attacked. Booth was killed 12 days later after a manhunt

. In summary, John Wilkes Booth was the assassin who killed Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865