April 15th marks 150 years since the death of President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was shot April 14, 1865, while attending a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.
His assassin, actor John Wilkes Booth, shot him as he sat in a box looking down on the stage. Booth, a Confederate sympathizer, fled, but was fatally shot several days later by a soldier.
FILE – In this March 17, 2015 file photo, John Wilkes Booth’s pistol used to kill President Abraham Lincoln is displayed at a new exhibit entitled “Silent Witnesses: Artifacts of the Lincoln Assassination” at the Ford’s Center for Education and Leadership across the street from the historic Ford’s Theatre, in Washington. The exhibit is open to the public until May 25, and coincides with the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln assassination on April 14. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) (AP Photo)
Lincoln died April 15 in a house across the street from Ford’s. His body was transported by train to Springfield, Illinois, where he and his family lived for years before he became president.
Lincoln was buried May 4, 1865, in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield.
The murder took place several days after the formal surrender of Confederate forces in Appomattox, Virginia, ended the Civil War.
Historic sites, museums and communities around the country are hosting exhibits, performances and events to mark the anniversary. Here are details on a few:
In Washington, D.C.
Visitors to Washington have their pick of historic sites and museums connected to Lincoln starting, of course, with the massive marble statue and columned building at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall.
An exhibit at Ford’s Theatre, “Silent Witnesses: Artifacts of the Lincoln Assassination,” through May 25, displays the tiny pistol that Booth used, a blood-stained flag and his coat and top hat. Ford’s is also hosting a daytime show through the summer and an evening musical through May 20. An around-the-clock “Lincoln Tribute” unfolds at Ford’s April 14-15, and through October, the theater hosts a walking tour of downtown Washington themed on the shooting. Tickets for Ford’s do sell out, so book ahead, fords.org/home/performances-events/civil-war-150.
President Lincoln’s Cottage, on a breezy hill 3 miles from the White House, will be draped in black April 18-30, just as it was 150 years ago. The site, which offers regular tours, is also hosting two exhibits connected to the anniversary.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History is displaying the carriage that carried the president to Ford’s Theatre the night he was shot. An exhibit at the Newseum showcases special newspaper editions the New York Herald published the day he died.
In Illinois
Lincoln’s home in Springfield is a national historic site, and the city is hosting exhibits, lectures, performances and reenactments to mark the anniversary, culminating May 1-3 with a military encampment, procession to the Oak Ridge Cemetery and cannon salute, lincolnfuneraltrain.org.
Springfield’s Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum is hosting “Undying Words: Lincoln 1858-1865,” an exhibit about his speeches, through February 2016. A show opening April 2 called “A Fiendish Assassination” includes dozens of items connected to Lincoln’s death.
The Lincoln Log Cabin Historic Site, 8 miles from Charleston, Illinois, includes the 1840s farm home of his father and stepmother. The site is hosting a dramatic recreation called “An Evening at Ford’s Theatre: April 14, 1865” the weekend of April 10-12.
Elsewhere
New York City’s Morgan Library is hosting an exhibit through June 7 called “Lincoln Speaks: Words That Transformed a Nation,” which includes handwritten speeches, military communiques and letters. Among the artifacts: the last letter he wrote to his wife, about the fall of Richmond, and a note he wrote denying clemency to a slave trader sentenced to death. His quill pen is also on display.
The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn owns the chair Lincoln was sitting in at Ford’s when he was shot. The museum will waive admission April 15 and take the chair out of its glass enclosure. Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” is scheduled to give a sold-out lecture at the museum April 13.
The Abraham Lincoln Birthplace, a National Historic Park at Knob Creek, Kentucky, is closed for construction, but you can visit the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in southwestern Indiana near the Ohio River, which includes a recreation of an 1820s homestead.
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