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President Abraham Lincoln delivers his second inaugural address to a crowd of 50,000 in front of the newly completed iron dome of the U.S. Capitol. Nationally known stage actor John Wilkes Booth and several other Confederate sympathizers are among the crowd.
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Booth plots to kidnap Lincoln and hold him ransom for Confederate Army prisoners. Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, David Herold, Samuel Arnold, Michael O’Laughlen and John Surrat conspire with Booth, although their idea didn't carry out
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Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrenders at the Appomatox Courthouse and the Civil War ends.
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Lincoln was shot in the back of the head by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater.
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(4 am) Booth, now traveling with David Herold, arrives at Dr. Samuel Mudd’s house in southern Maryland. Mudd, an acquaintance Booth met while scouing escape routes, sets Booth’s brokenleg.
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On this Easter Sunday, church services are packed with mourners dressed in black. Preachers compare the deaths of Lincoln and Jesus Christ.
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Invesigators receive a ip that leads to the arrest of Lewis Powell, Seward’s atacker. The same day, police also arrest Michael O’Laughlen, Edman Spangler, Samuel Arnold and Mary Surrat.
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Five days ater Lincoln’s death, authoriies sill have not found Booth. Edwin Stanton ofers a $100,000 reward for the fugiives sill at large. In northwest Maryland, police arrest George Atzerodt.
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A funeral service is held for Lincoln at the White House. Thousands of Americans line the streets to watch the procession.
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The train departs Washington and travels the country for 12 days while people mourn.
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Booth and Herold inally get to Virginia. Three Confederate soldiers help them cross the Rappahannock River, and the fugiives ind shelter in a barn owned by Richard Garret.
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Acing on tips, Union troops pursue the fugitives to the Garret farm.
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Soldiers surround the Garret barn in the early morning hours. Harold surrenders, but Booth refuses and troops light the barn on ire. Booth is shot in the neck, and he dies at sunrise May 12: