“excellent chance...to kill the President, if I had wished”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
Figure timeline
John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated United States president Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. During the American Civil War he served as a Confederate spy; he opposed the then-recent abolition of slavery in the United States.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
entertainment · American stage actor and assassin (1838–1865) · actor · writer · stage actor · also John Wilkes Booth, J. Wilkes Booth, J. W. Booth, Booth
Born 10 May 1838 · Died 26 April 1865 · Q180914
43 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
14 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Quote
- Quote
2026· 4 entries
“s direction as he delivered a line of dialogue. Lincoln”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
The Guardian: BBCSSO/Wigglesworth / Booth review – Brett Dean’s song cycle is rich and strange
- #news
- #headline
Public attention spiked: 12,952 Wikipedia readers in one day, 4.9× the usual 2,650, with 3 article edits. Editors noted: not Northern Virginia, per edit request
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #attention
- #spike
- #pageviews
2025· 1 entry
USD) by order of Secretary of War Edwin M
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2024· 3 entries
Rolling Stone: Does ‘Manhunt’ Get the John Wilkes Booth Story Right?
- #news
- #headline
The New Yorker: The Hunt for John Wilkes Booth Goes On
- #news
- #headline
New York Post: Sluggish new series ‘Manhunt’ tracks Abraham Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth
- #news
- #headline
2023· 1 entry
Snopes.com rated the claim “U.S. President Abraham Lincoln established the Secret Service on the day he was assassinated by actor John Wilkes Booth, April 14, 1865.” True.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
- #fact-check
- #rated
- #claim-about-figure
2022· 4 entries
Snopes.com rated the claim “Edwin Booth, the brother of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth, saved the life of Robert Todd Lincoln, the president’s son.” True.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
- #fact-check
- #rated
- #claim-about-figure
FactCheck.org rated the claim “John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Republican President Abraham Lincoln, was a Democrat.” No Evidence.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
- #fact-check
- #rated
- #claim-about-figure
NPR: Karen Joy Fowler paints the unlikely life path of John Wilkes Booth in novel 'Booth'
- #news
- #headline
USA Today: Historical novel about John Wilkes Booth teaches us uncomfortable lessons about America right now
- #news
- #headline
2013· 1 entry
Museum spokesperson Carol Johnson announced that the family's request to extract DNA from the vertebrae had been rejected
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1994· 1 entry
Two historians together with several descendants, sought a court order for the exhumation of Booth's body at Green Mount Cemetery which was, according to their lawyer, "intended to prove or disprove longstanding theories
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1921· 1 entry
Garrett's lecture was published in the Confederate Veteran as the "True Story of the Capture of John Wilkes Booth
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1911· 1 entry
The New York Times had published an account by their reporter detailing the burial of Booth's body at the cemetery and those who were witnesses
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1909· 1 entry
A border state official reflected on Booth's assassination of Lincoln: "Confederate veterans held public services and gave public expression to the sentiment, that 'had Lincoln lived' the days of Reconstruction might hav
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1903· 1 entry
In Enid, Oklahoma, under the alias "David E
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1869· 1 entry
The remains were once again identified before being released to the Booth family, where they were buried in the family plot at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, after a burial ceremony conducted by Fleming James, minist
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1865· 7 entries
Died 1865-04-26.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #death
Booth heard the news that Robert E
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Booth was in the crowd outside the White House when Lincoln gave an impromptu speech from a White House window
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
When he again played Duke Pescara in The Apostate
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
The second presidential successor would have been the president pro tempore of the U
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
As the Confederacy's defeat became more certain
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
And later moved to a warehouse at the Washington Arsenal on October 1, 1867
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1864· 2 entries
With a substantial loss of his $6,000 investment ($123,511 today)
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Booth performed for the only time with his brothers Edwin and Junius in a single engagement production of Julius Caesar at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1863· 1 entry
“Opis: w listopadzie 1863 Booth występował w sztuce The Marble Heart w Ford’s Theatre, na które przyszli państwo Lincolnowie oraz niejaka Mary Clay; powyższy dialog wywiązał się, gdy Booth, wygłaszając w ramach roli nieprzyjemne pogróżki, trzykrotnie zbliżył się do Lincolna, wskazując na niego.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #lang:pl
1862· 1 entry
Booth appeared mostly in Union and border states
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1861· 3 entries
It also voted not to allow federal troops to pass south through the state by rail, and it requested that Lincoln remove the growing numbers of federal troops in Maryland
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Booth was starring in Albany, New York
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
The Civil War began, and eventually eleven Southern states seceded from the Union
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1860· 1 entry
And the following month Booth drafted a long speech, apparently never delivered, that decried Northern abolitionism and made clear his strong support of the South and the institution of slavery
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1859· 1 entry
Who was executed for treason, murder, and inciting a slave insurrection, charges resulting from his raid on the Federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (since 1863, West Virginia)
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1858· 1 entry
Played the part of Horatio in Hamlet, alongside his older brother Edwin in the title role
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1857· 1 entry
Joined the stock company of the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia, where he played for a full season
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1855· 1 entry
In the supporting role of the Earl of Richmond in Richard III at Baltimore's Charles Street Theatre
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1851· 2 entries
While also maintaining a winter residence on Exeter Street in Baltimore
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
On grounds of adultery, and Holmes legally wed Junius on May 10, 1851, John Wilkes' 13th birthday
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1838· 2 entries
Born 1838-05-10.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth
“Death Conger tracked down Jett and interrogated him, learning of Booth”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote