Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

The President, meanwhile, was carried across the street to Petersen’s Boarding House. The much-loved son of Nancy Hanks and Tom Lincoln was diagonally placed on a bed which was too small for his 6'4" frame. His wound was mortal.

Shocked, his closest advisors gathered round him. Mary Lincoln was hysterical and, for the most part, not with the President as he lay dying.

News of the shooting quickly spread.  Written reports, intended for public reading, predicted a very bad outcome:

Lincoln Shot

Condition Considered Hopeless

Will Not Live Through Night Doctors Declare

At 7:22 a.m. the next morning, President Abraham Lincoln died of his wound. Colonel George V. Rutherford placed silver half-dollars on both of the President’s eyes immediately after his death.

Lincoln had never regained consciousness. In his pockets were reading glasses and other personal items.

America, just ending the disastrous Civil War, now faced a "national calamity" with the death of her President. Booth’s plan, however, was not just to kill Mr. Lincoln.

At the precise moment that the actor was in the theater, one of his co-conspirators was attempting to murder Secretary of State William Seward.