John Wilkes Booth

Background:

On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth. Booth's leg was fractured while escaping and he was forced to stop for medical attention at the house of his friend, Dr. Samuel Mudd, slowing his escape. Twelve days after the assassination Booth and a fellow conspirator were surrounded by Union troops while hiding out in a tobacco shed in Port Royal, Virginia. Booth's companion surrendered, but Booth resisted and was shot to death as the shed burned around him. For more information about the assassination, Booth, Lincoln, or Ford's Theatre, visit the official Ford's Theatre website (http://www.nps.gov/foth/) maintained by the National Park Service.

The File:

These files contain the correspondence of William J. Burns, former Director of the FBI. The letters, written in 1922-23, concerned a theory that Booth was not actually fatally shot, but rather survived for several years after the death of Lincoln. There are also files detailing the 1948 examination of a boot said to be worn by Booth on the night he assassinated Lincoln and the 1977 examination of Booth's diary.