14 April 1865
A significant event throughout the history of the United States that occurred in April was Abraham Lincoln's assassination. President Lincoln was shot in the head at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC by actor John Wilkes Booth. Booth initially plotted to capture him and take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital, however on March 20 1865, the day of the planned kidnapping, the president failed to appear at the spot where Booth and his six fellow conspirators lay in wait. Two weeks later, Richmond fell to union forces. In April, with Confederate armies near collapse across the South, Booth hatched a desperate plan to save to save the Confederacy, learning that Lincoln was to attend Ford's Theatre on April 14. He plotted the simultaneous assassination of Lincoln and his two possible successors: Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward.
On April 14 at about 10pm, Booth walked into the theatre and up to the presidents box. Lincoln's guard, John Parker, was not there as he had left his post to get a beer. Booth slipped in and shot the president in the back of the head. He jumped to the stage to escape, injuring his leg, and fled on horseback. The other conspirators were captured, except for John Surratt who fled to Canada. The troops finally caught up with Booth on April 26 and killed him. All the captured co-conspirators were killed including John Surratt's mother, Mary Surratt. John Surratt was eventually tracked down in Egypt and brought back to trial, but managed, with the help of clever lawyers, to win an acquittal.
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