John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 â€" April 26, 1865) was an American
stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's
Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the
prominent 19th-century Booth theatrical family from Maryland, and a
noted actor, Booth was also a Confederate sympathizer who, denouncing
President Lincoln, lamented the recent abolition of slavery in the
United States.Originally, Booth and his small group of conspirators
had plotted to kidnap Lincoln, but they later agreed to murder him as
well as Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William
H. Seward, likewise to aid the Confederate cause. Although its Army of
Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee, had surrendered
to the Union Army four days earlier, Booth believed that the Civil War
remained unresolved because the Confederate army of General Joseph E.
Johnston continued fighting.
stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's
Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the
prominent 19th-century Booth theatrical family from Maryland, and a
noted actor, Booth was also a Confederate sympathizer who, denouncing
President Lincoln, lamented the recent abolition of slavery in the
United States.Originally, Booth and his small group of conspirators
had plotted to kidnap Lincoln, but they later agreed to murder him as
well as Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William
H. Seward, likewise to aid the Confederate cause. Although its Army of
Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee, had surrendered
to the Union Army four days earlier, Booth believed that the Civil War
remained unresolved because the Confederate army of General Joseph E.
Johnston continued fighting.
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