On April 14, 1863, President and Mrs. Lincoln were attending a performance of “Our American Cousin” at Washington’s Ford’s Theater. As the Lincolns and their guests, Major Rathbone and his fiancee Clara Harris, watched the play John Wilkes Booth entered the presidential box and shot the president in the head.

Here is an interview from the Ford’s Theater YouTube Channel with James Swanson, author of the book Manhunt: The 12 Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killers, as he talks about John Wilkes Booth

I thought I would share some additional resources on the assassination to help you cover this important topic in our history.

The Library of Congress:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/alrintr.html

The Ford’s Theater National Historic Site
http://www.nps.gov/archive/foth/index2.htm

Ford’s Theater YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/fordstheatre

Photos related to the assassination:
http://www.civilwarphotos.net/files/lincoln_assassination.htm

Read about the trail of the conspirators at:
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/lincolnconspiracy.html

On of my other favorite books on this is:
American Brutus by Michael Kaufman