President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865. Booth, a Confederate sympathizer and actor, shot Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., just days after the conclusion of the Civil War. The assassination was part of a larger conspiracy to eliminate key government officials. Lincoln's death shocked the nation and had significant repercussions; it altered the course of Reconstruction and left a divided nation grappling with issues of unity, forgiveness, and reintegration of the Southern states. Booth was later tracked down and killed by Union soldiers.