Video: 'Ken Burns - The Civil War: Episode 9 - The Better Angels of Our Nature (1865) |Ken Burns Documentary' (Lincoln assassination at 14:49; shot fired at 15:36)

(Good Friday, April 14, 1865, approximately 10:13 p.m.; during the American Civil War) — John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln in the back of the head near point blank range tonight after entering the presidential box at Ford’s Theatre in Washington during a performance of Our American Cousin. Continue reading President Abraham Lincoln mortally wounded at Ford’s Theatre 150 years ago this hour (Apr 14 1865) →

Video: 'Ken Burns - The Civil War: Episode 9 - The Better Angels of Our Nature (1865) |Ken Burns Documentary' (Lincoln arrives at 14:07)

(Good Friday, April 14, 1865, 8:30 p.m.; during the American Civil War) — President Abraham Lincoln, his wife Mary, Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée Clara Harris arrived at Ford’s Theatre in Washington tonight and settled by into the presidential box. Continue reading The Lincoln party arrives at Ford’s Theater 150 years ago this hour (Apr 14 1865) →

Video: 'Ken Burns - The Civil War: Episode 9 - The Better Angels of Our Nature (1865) |Ken Burns Documentary' (Booth instructors fellow conspirators at 13:39)

(Good Friday, April 14, 1865, 7:00 p.m.; during the American Civil War) — Actor John Wilkes Booth met for a final time with all his fellow conspirators tonight, instructing Lewis Powell to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward at his home, George Atzerodt to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson at his residence, the Kirkwood Hotel, and David E. Herold to guide Powell to the Seward house and then out of Washington to rendezvous with Booth in Maryland.

Booth planned to shoot President Abraham Lincoln with his single-shot Deringer and then stab Lt. Gen. Grant with a knife at Ford’s Theatre. They were all to strike simultaneously shortly after ten o’clock that night.

Video: 'Ken Burns - The Civil War: Episode 9 - The Better Angels of Our Nature (1865) |Ken Burns Documentary' (Apr. 14, 1865, afternoon at 13:20-13:39)

(Good Friday, April 14, 1865, at around noon; during the American Civil War) — When actor John Wilkes Booth dropped by Ford’s Theatre today in Washington, D.C., to pick up his mail today, he learned that President Abraham Lincoln and Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant (and their respective wives) would be attending a performance of the British hit comedy Our American Cousin that evening (the Grants would bow out at the last minute, replaced by Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée Clara Harris, daughter of New York Senator Ira Harris).