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Tuesday, April 15, 2014

This day...1865

Abraham Lincoln died April 15, 1865. He was shot the night before on April 14, 1865, while attending the play called Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater. This was the first successful attempt to assassinate an American president. The event continues to capture the minds of the American people nearly 150 years later. The name John Wilkes Booth is well-known, but he had several co-conspirators and assassinations were also planned for Secretary of State William H. Seward and Vice President Andrew Johnson.

Here's some reading you might find interesting:
* 10 odd facts about Abraham Lincoln’s assassination -- "Where was General Grant?"
* Abraham Lincoln's assassination -- "On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth...fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln...only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered...at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War."
* The forgotten man who almost became president after Lincoln -- "...if John Wilkes Booth’s plot were entirely successful, a little-known senator may have been thrust into the White House."
* Lincoln's Missing Bodyguard -- "What happened to Officer John Parker, the man who chose the wrong night to leave his post at Ford's Theater?"

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