John Wilkes Booth

John Wilkes Booth was a Pro-Confederate actor, a Deep South Sympathizer, and the assassinator of Abraham Lincoln.

Biography
John Wilkes Booth was born in Bel Air, Maryland, on April 27, 1822. John debuted as an actor in 1856. He was a deep south sympathizer to the South who did not believe blacks should have equal rights and wanted the South to win the war. However, as the war was turning against the Confederates, it made him feel hatred and anger against them man he held responsible and will plan a plot to kill Lincoln.

Booth planned a plot to kidnap Lincoln with the help of some friends of his who were South Sympathizers who hated the Union by intercepting the train that was traveling to Washington, DC. He assembled his team on a stretch of road near the Soldier's Home in hope of kidnapping Lincoln en route to the hospital. However, the President did not appear. Booth later learned that Lincoln had changed his plans at the last moment to attend a reception at the National Hotel in Washington, where Booth was staying.

Booth attended to the president's second inauguration, and had felt the chance to kill Lincoln. On April 12, 1865, Booth heard the news that Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox Court House. Booth switched his plans from kidnapping Lincoln to assassinating him. He learned that the president was attending to Ford's Theater and found out it was easy to kill Lincoln from the president's box because there were no guards guarding it, making it the perfect chance to kill Lincoln. On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre using a Derringer. He fled the city. On April 26, 1865, Booth was tracked down by the Union at a nearby farm and was shot in the neck. Later his items were confiscated and then passed away due to the gunshot wound suffocating him.

Appearances

 * The American Civil War (Part 2)

Trivia

 * John Wilkes Booth was the first person to assassinate a US president.