On April 5th, 865, President Abraham Lincoln was attending a play at the Ford Theater. The president was seeing a show called Our American Cousin, and he was sitting on his private balcony with a police officer guarding him, he was accompanied by his wife and another couple (Steers). At about 0:5 pm the famous actor, John Wilkes Booth entered Lincolns presidential box, and soon after this he barricaded the door and shot the president. He waited for a moment in the play where there was laughter expected from the audience to cover the sound of the gunshot (Steers). The bullet entered Lincolns skull just above his ear and pierced through his brain. Booth then jumped off the balcony and escaped the theater, most of the theatergoers did not realize this was not a part of the show until later (OReilly).
Booth killed and injured a few others on his way out. Tw
o doctors then rushed to Lincolns aid; they could not remove the bullet, but they did dislodge a blood clot allowing him to live a little longer (Steers). The starring actress in the play came to cradle Lincoln after this. Lincoln was then taken to the nearby Peterson house, where more physicians came, and they all decided that the wound could not be survived. Lincoln was kept alive for as long as possible, and many people came to his side before he passed. The secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, ran the country from Lincolns bedside the night before he died, Stanton started the manhunt for Booth that night directing. Before Lincoln died many came to pay respects and say goodbye (Steers). At 7 am, Mary Lincoln was let back into the room and stayed with Lincoln until he passed at 7:22 am and those in the room said a prayer for the fallen president (Steers).