Abraham Lincoln died as a result of an assassination. On the night of April 14, 1865, while attending a performance of the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., Lincoln was shot in the back of the head by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer
. Booth entered the presidential box, fired a .44 caliber derringer pistol at Lincoln, and then jumped to the stage, breaking his leg in the process
. Lincoln was immediately attended to by doctors who were in the audience. Because moving him to the White House was deemed too risky, he was carried across the street to the Petersen House, where he was laid on a bed
. Despite medical efforts to relieve pressure on his brain caused by the gunshot wound, Lincoln remained unconscious and in a comatose state throughout the night
. The bullet had lodged behind his right eye, causing brain swelling that led to brain stem herniation, which was ultimately fatal
. He died at 7:22 a.m. on April 15, 1865, approximately nine hours after being shot
. His death marked the first assassination of a U.S. president and plunged the nation into mourning just days after the end of the Civil War
