John Wilkes Booth Born: Lincoln's Future Assassin
He was a working actor with no political agenda until he decided to end the Civil War by killing the president. John Wilkes Booth was born in Bel Air, Maryland, in 1838, the son of a famous actor, and grew up in a family divided by the war. He shot Lincoln from behind at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865, five days after Lee's surrender at Appomattox. He broke his leg jumping to the stage, fled into Virginia, and was killed 12 days later in a burning barn at Garrett Farm. He was 26.
May 10, 1838
188 years ago
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