Ford's Theater looks very much today as in this illustration of the building draped for Abraham Lincoln's funeral after he was assassinated here on April 14, 1865.

Intended as a festive decoration to honor Lincoln's visit to Ford's Theater following the end of the Civil War, the drapery today reminds us more of a funeral. It has been carefully reconstructed for display in the theater today.

After rigging the door to open and carving a peephole into the chamber, John Wilkes Booth entered the President's box and fired the fatal shot at point blank range.

In this well known image, after stabbing Harry Rathbone in the arm, Booth leapt from the box to the stage, catching his boot spur in the drapery and breaking his leg on landing. He reportedly shouted "Thus to all tyrants" in Latin to the confused audience even before they realize the President had been shot.

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