The historic boarding house where President Abraham Lincoln drew his last breath remains a preserved sanctuary of American tragedy, drawing thousands of visitors daily to retrace the chaotic timeline of April 14, 1865.
The shot inside Ford's Theatre
The tragedy began at 10:15 p.m. inside Ford's Theatre. Actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth slipped into the unguarded presidential box. Armed with a .44-caliber derringer pistol, Booth shot Lincoln in the back of the head during a loud burst of audience laughter. After a brief struggle with Major Henry Rathbone, Booth leaped from the balcony onto the stage, fracturing his leg, and shouted "Sic semper tyrannis!" before escaping into the night on horseback.
Nine hours at the Petersen House
Doctors immediately moved the mortally wounded president across 10th Street to the Petersen House. Because of his height, the unconscious president spent his final nine hours lying diagonally across a small bed in a cramped back room. At 7:22 a.m. on April 15, Lincoln passed away, prompting Secretary of War Edwin Stanton's famous declaration: "Now he belongs to the ages."
"Now he belongs to the ages."
While First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln wept in the front parlor, Stanton transformed the back parlor into a wartime command center to launch the national dragnet for Booth.
The manhunt, and the museum that followed
The adjacent Aftermath Exhibits chronicle the intense 12-day manhunt that ended with Booth's death in Virginia, the subsequent execution of four co-conspirators, and the 1,654-mile funeral train journey back to Illinois. Today, a striking 34-foot tower of books about Lincoln anchors the museum, symbolizing a legacy that continues to dominate American history.