Abraham Lincoln, the 16th
president of the United States, was shot at
Ford's Theatre in
Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865, one month into his second term and towards
the conclusion of the
American Civil War. Lincoln was watching the play
Our American Cousin with his wife
Mary Todd, Major
Henry Rathbone, and Rathbone's fiancé
Clara Harris when
John Wilkes Booth, an actor and
Confederate sympathizer, shot him in the head. Lincoln was taken to the
Petersen House across the street, where he died the following morning.