On the evening of 1865, Abe and his wife Mary attended a play called "Our American Cousin" starring Laura Keene at Ford's Theater. Henry R. Rathbone, an Army Major, and Clara Harris accompanied them. The play was a comedy, which Lincoln thought was very funny, about a Yankee boy. Lincoln's bodyguard, who had a very bad record, had snuck down to watch the play and later left. During the third act, a man stepped into the President's box. The man had a small one shot .44 caliber muzzle-loading Derringer pistol. He pointed it at Abe LincolnŐs head and shot.
Major Rathbone turned around to see John Wilkes Booth with a smoking pistol and a hunting knife. Rathbone jumped at Booth, but he got cut on Booth's knife. Booth jumped from the President's box to the stag. One of his spurs from his boot got caught on the cloth draped over the ledge of the box. He tumbled onto the stage and broke his left shinbone.
Laura Keene shouted, "The President is shot, the President is shot!"
The bullet entered the back of his skull and was now wedged behind his right eye. He was carried across the street to Peterson's Boarding House where he died the next morning at 7:22. He was groaning but he was still unconscious and Mary cried on him the whole night.
