April 14th, 1865
John Wilkes Booth, a jubilant and extroverted Confederate, found out about the president was going to view a production at the theater he acted in. He knew this was his only shot to assassinate the president as well as Seward, the secretary of state, and Johnson, the vice president. He snuck into the booth and killed the president, narrowly escaping. The assassination of the president, he thought, would lead to the confusion and turmoil on the Union side and would allow the Confederates to rally and evidently defeat the Union.