John+Wilkes+Booth

Booth and a group of co-conspirators planned to kill Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson ​ and Secretary of State William Seward in a bid to help the Confederacy's cause. Although Robert's Army of Northern Virginia had surrendered four days earlier, Booth believed the war was not yet over because Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston's army was still fighting the Union Army. Of the conspirators, only Booth was completely successful in carrying out his part of the plot. Seward was wounded but recovered; Lincoln died the next morning from a single gunshot wound to the back of the head – altering the course of American history in the aftermath of the Civil War.

Online Sources

John Wilkes Booth, 3 June 2010 []