John Wilkes Booth, the American actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865. He was a member of the prominent 19th-century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and a well-known actor in his own right. 
He was also a Confederate sympathizer, vehement in his denunciation of Lincoln and strongly opposed to the abolition of slavery in the United States.
After the assassination, Booth fled on horseback to southern Maryland and, 12 days later, arrived at a farm in rural northern Virginia where he was tracked down.
Booth's companion gave himself up, but Booth refused and was shot by Union soldier after the barn was set ablaze in which he was hiding.
Eight other conspirators were tried and convicted, and four were hanged shortly after.
