Research Article: John Wilkes Booth

Born May 10, 1838
Bel Air, Maryland
Died April 26, 1865
Port Royal, Virginia

Stage actor and Southern sympathizer who
assassinated President Abraham Lincoln

"Sic semper tyrannis!

[Thus always to tyrants!]"

John Wilkes Booth. (Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.)

John Wilkes Booth was a fanatical supporter of the Confederate cause during the Civil War. On April 14, 1865—as people throughout the North celebrated the end of the conflict—Booth made a deranged (insane) attempt to strike one final blow for the South. He shot Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865; see entry) as the president sat watching a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Lincoln died the following day. Although Booth and his accomplices (partners in crime)...
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