April 14, 1865Reputable sourceWell documented
Lincoln's Assassination
On the timeline · around April 14, 1865 ·
What happened
Days after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox effectively ended the Civil War, John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington on the night of April 14, 1865. Lincoln died the next morning — the first American president to be assassinated.
Why it matters
Lincoln's death at the moment of victory robbed the nation of the leader many believe might have guided a more just and less bitter Reconstruction, and made him a martyr to the cause of union and freedom.