John Wilkes Booth

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John Wilkes Booth.

John Wilkes Booth (10 May 1838 – 26 April 1865) was an American stage actor that plotted and successfully executed the murder of American President Abraham Lincoln.

Although he never fought as a soldier in the American Civil War, Booth was a pro-slavery advocate that supported the Confederate South. In April 1865, with the tide turning against the Confederate Army, Booth planned the murders of Lincoln, Vice-President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William H. Seward in simultaneous attacks. With the President and his two immediate successors removed, the North would be leaderless and the South could take advantage of the chaos.

The attacks were executed on 14 April 1865; Seward being wounded but ultimately surviving, and the killer tasked with Johnson's death reneged the deal and spent the night drinking. Only Booth was successful, able to shoot Lincoln in the back of the head in Ford's Theatre before he fled the scene.

Twelve days later, Booth was cornered in a barn by Federal troops in northern Virginia, but he refused to surrender. The soldiers set fire to the barn to lure him out, but in the confusion Booth was shot by the assassin Boston Corbett, who had been arranged to carry out the kill. It was unclear if only Corbett was a part of the Brotherhood, but it was suspected that each of the soldiers present had some sort of link to them.