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Booth is born
Booth is born John Wilkes Booth in Bel Air, Maryland. He is one of nine children. His father is an actor named Junius Brutus Booth. -
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John Wilkes Booth's life
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Booth attends Military school
Booth attended St. Timothy's Military Academy at age 13. here, he met Samuel Arnold (left) and Michael O'Laughlen, both of whom would later become involved in Booth's attempt to kidnap and, later, murder Lincoln. -
Booth drops out
Following his father's death, John Wilkes Booth drops out of Military school. He is 14 at the time. -
Booth's first play
Booth does his first performance. He fails miserably. However, this doesn't become a streak. -
John Brown Execution
In 1859 Booth was an eyewitness to the execution of John Brown. Brown was a rebel against slavery, and had started a riot in Kansas. -
The American Civil War begins
A war between the North and the South, a storm brewing for many years, finally began to downpour. The first shots are fired by the confederates at Fort Sumter. -
Ford's theater is opened
The infamous theater is opened and John Wilkes Booth performes on opening night. And who is the V.I.P. in the balcony seat? Abraham Lincoln himself. -
The American Civil War ends
General Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. This caused the end of the bloody, four year war. It also pushed Booth to make his move and Kill the president. -
Booth assassinates president Lincoln
John Wilkes Booth shoots president Lincoln in the back of the head in Ford's theater. The president dies the following morning.
And booth becomes the most wanted man in America. -
Death of Booth
On April 26, 1865, John Wilkes Booth is shot in the burning barn that was his safehouse, at 26 years old. He is buired next to his family in an unmarked grave.
