John Wilkes Booth (1838 - 1865) was an American actor and assassin best known for the murder of President Abraham Lincoln. Born on May 10, 1838 into a prominent acting family, Booth was a well-known stage actor in the mid-1800s. However, his personal views were deeply sympathetic to the Confederate cause during the American Civil War, and he strongly opposed the abolition of slavery.

On the night of April 14, 1865, Booth assassinated President Lincoln while he was attending a play, Our American Cousin, at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Booth shot Lincoln in the back of the head and then fled the scene, making his escape by jumping onto the stage and breaking his leg. He managed to evade capture for several days despite a nationwide manhunt.

Booth was eventually tracked down to a farm in Virginia, where he was cornered by Union soldiers on April 26, 1865. He was shot and killed during the standoff, though some sources suggest he was shot by one of the soldiers, while others claim he was fatally injured while trying to resist capture.

John Wilkes Booth’s assassination of Abraham Lincoln had a profound impact on the United States, further deepening the trauma of the Civil War. Booth remains one of the most infamous figures in American history.