The assassination took place at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., during a performance of the play "Our American Cousin.”.…

John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer, assassinated President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. The assassination took place at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., during a performance of the play "Our American Cousin." Booth shot Lincoln in the back of the head while the President was seated in a private box. Following the shooting, Booth leaped onto the stage and escaped, leading authorities on a 12-day manhunt before he was eventually captured and killed. Lincoln succumbed to his injuries the following day, marking the first assassination of a U.S. president and profoundly impacting the nation's course during the Reconstruction era.