Mary Ann Todd Lincoln, 13 Dec 1818 - 16 Jul 1882 Search this
Abraham Lincoln, 12 Feb 1809 - 15 Apr 1865 Search this
John Wilkes Booth, 26 Aug 1838 - 26 Apr 1865 Search this
Medium:
Hand-colored lithograph on paper
Dimensions:
Image: 20.1 x 30.9cm (7 15/16 x 12 3/16")
Sheet: 27.7 x 35.5cm (10 7/8 x 14")
Mat (horizontal): 40.6 x 55.9cm (16 x 22")
Type:
Print
Date:
1865
Exhibition Label:
On the night of April 14, 1865, Lincoln was attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre, accompanied by his wife and their guests, Major Henry R. Rathbone and his fiancée, Clara Harris. That evening, the guard assigned to the president had thought it safe to abandon his post. As a result, John Wilkes Booth found it relatively easy to enter Lincoln’s box and shoot him. As Booth leapt out of the box to the stage about twelve feet below, he caught the spur of his boot on a flag and broke his leg when he landed. Nevertheless, he escaped. It was not until twelve days later that Union soldiers cornered Booth in a barn in Caroline County, Virginia, where he died of a bullet wound.
