Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital file no. 3g05341u)
On the evening of April 14, 1865, as the U.S. Civil War wound to a close, Pres. Abraham Lincoln and his wife went to Washington’s Ford's Theatre to see the comedy Our American Cousin. There, in his box, the president was shot by actor John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln died the next morning. After a massive manhunt, Booth was captured on April 26 in Virginia, where he was fatally shot (either by a soldier or by himself).