He never joined the military due to a vow he made to his mother. He was the only member in his family to be sympathetic to the Confederate cause. He murdered Lincoln hoping to “save” the war for the South. There were still Confederate forces active on land and at sea when he committed his act.

John Wilkes Booth killed Lincoln in the ford theater after the civil war

John Wilkes Booth was an actor whose theater troupe got the idea to assassinate Abraham Lincoln and various members of his cabinet.
Booth shot Lincoln at the theater during a showing of a play while members of his troupe attempted (and only wounded) secretary of state William Seward.
Booth was a Confederate Sympathizer.
It could be said that Booth had an impact of the harshness of the reconstruction plans the radical Republicans imposed on the South after the war had ended as Booth killed Lincoln after the Civil War.
It could also be said that by killing Lincoln, Booth propelled into the presidency, VP Andrew Johnson who was a southener and who worked to better the conditions of the reconstruction plans and who clashed with the Radical Republicans.
It is also said that had Lincoln lived, he would have eased the transition of the Southern states from belligerents to valid states. Thus avoiding the hell of Radical Reconstruction.
And yes John Wilkes Booth killed Abraham Lincoln.

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I got a 4 on my APUSH exam =]

He was an actor, who I believe was born in the SOuth but may have acted in New York, I don’t know. He was not in the army I don’t think but totally on the side of the South.

A recent story said that a few days before he killed Lincoln, he was on the White House lawn right after the war ended and Lincoln said he wanted to give Blacks (at least the ones who fought for the Union) to have the right to vote. Booth apparently told somebody something like “He’s dead’ or something like that.

He found out Lincoln was going to be at a play at Ford’s Theatre, near the white House and he went into the theatre. Lincoln only had one bodyguard who may have stepped out for a minute. He was possibly noticed, but being a famous actor, being seen at a theatre, even where he was not playing was not a shock to people who may have seen him. ANd he knew his way around. He shot Lincoln, jumped onto the stage, broke his leg but still ran away. He was caught later. It was after the war ended by a few days. (Note; A brother of John Wilkes Booth, Edwin Booth, had once saved one of Lincoln’s sons from falling in front of a train at a Washington DC train station a few years earlier)