What Radicalized a Rising Actor to Assassinate President Lincoln?

"John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865) was a 19th-century American stage actor who assassinated US President Abraham Lincoln on 14 April 1865. Born to a family of famous actors, Booth was a rising star on stages across the United States, known for his leading roles in William Shakespeare's plays. He sympathized with the Confederacy during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and denounced Lincoln as a tyrant who sought to subjugate the South."

"John Wilkes Booth was born on 10 May 1838 in a log house on his parents' 150-acre farm near Bel-Air, Maryland. He was the ninth of ten children born to Junius Brutus Booth, a famous Shakespearean stage actor, and his 'wife', Mary Ann Holmes Booth, both of whom had moved to the United States from England shortly after eloping in 1821."

John Wilkes Booth was born on 10 May 1838 near Bel-Air, Maryland, into a prominent family of Shakespearean actors. He became a leading stage actor known for his roles in William Shakespeare's plays and gained fame across the United States. Booth sympathized with the Confederacy during the American Civil War and viewed Abraham Lincoln as a tyrant. On 14 April 1865 he shot President Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., then fled and evaded capture for nearly two weeks. Federal soldiers found Booth in a barn in rural Virginia, where he was fatally shot in the neck after a brief standoff. His early life included poor academic performance and strong interests in horseback riding and fencing.

Read at World History Encyclopedia