Abraham Lincoln's Assassination

On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln in the back of the head. Lincoln was attending a play, Our American Cousin, at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC. He died the next day from the wound.

Lincoln's body was transported by train from Washington to his home in Springfield, Illinois. Along the way, the train stopped at many large cities to allow the people to view the President one last time. Ohioans, by the thousands, turned out to say goodbye to the man who had led the nation through the American Civil War. When the train stopped in Cleveland, Ohio, more than one hundred thousand people viewed the coffin. In Columbus, Lincoln's body lay in state at the Ohio Statehouse. Ohioans filed past the coffin for almost seven hours. People lined the railroad tracks along which the funeral train passed. Some Ohioans, especially the Peace Democrats, had objected to Lincoln's war policies. Nevertheless, by April 1865, most Ohioans were thankful for the war's successful conclusion and appreciated Lincoln's efforts to bring the country together.