# Lincoln Assassination On the night of **April 14, 1865**, days after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, John Wilkes Booth shot President [[Abraham Lincoln]] at Ford's Theatre in Washington; Lincoln died the next morning. The attack was part of a broader conspiracy that also targeted Secretary of State [[William Seward]] (who was stabbed and survived) and Vice President [[Andrew Johnson]] (whose would-be assassin lost his nerve). Lincoln's death elevated Johnson to the presidency — the pivotal contingency that placed an unreconstructed white supremacist in charge of Reconstruction, with century-long consequences. > Status: **stub** — expand the conspiracy, the manhunt for Booth, and the assassination's effect on the course of Reconstruction. ## See Also - [[Abraham Lincoln]] - [[Andrew Johnson]] - [[Reconstruction and Its Overthrow]]