Lincoln's Assassination

Washington, DC, still bears the scars of America's most infamous political murder. On this walking tour, you'll follow the conspiracy that changed the course of American history in April 1865. Trace the path of John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators through the heart of the nation's capital as they plotted to decapitate the federal government at the moment of the Union's triumph.

Beginning at Lafayette Park, you'll visit the homes of key figures in the assassination plot. Walk past Colonel Henry Rathbone's residence, whose tragic story continued long after that fateful night at Ford's Theatre. You'll see the White House where Lincoln delivered his final speech advocating for equal voting rights for freed slaves—words that sealed his fate when Booth heard them. You'll also pass Secretary of State William Seward's home, where another assassination attempt unfolded simultaneously.

Following Pennsylvania Avenue—the same route Lincoln's funeral procession would later take—you'll visit the Willard Hotel where Booth dined on the day of the murder and the National Theatre where he gave a sealed letter to a friend with instructions to deliver it to a newspaper if anything happened to him. The tour concludes at Ford's Theatre and the Petersen House across the street, where Lincoln was carried after being shot and where he eventually died. You'll stand in the exact spots where these momentous events unfolded.

On this 40-minute tour, you'll have a chance to:

• Visit the site where Booth vowed that's the last speech he'll ever give after hearing Lincoln advocate for Black voting rights
• Walk through Lafayette Park, once a cemetery and race track, now home to the ghosts of Washington's past
• See the Kirkwood Hotel where Vice President Andrew Johnson was staying (and where he was sworn in as president after Lincoln's death)
• Explore Baptist Alley behind Ford's Theatre, Booth's escape route after the assassination
• Stand at the exact spot where mortally wounded Lincoln was carried from the theatre into the street
• Discover how Booth's co-conspirators simultaneously targeted other government officials in a plan to throw the Union into chaos
• Learn how Booth, a famous Shakespearean actor, dramatically shouted Sic Semper Tyrannis after shooting the president

Walk in the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln during his final hours and discover how his assassination shaped America's future. This tour reveals not just what happened that April night in 1865, but how Lincoln's death nearly fractured the nation he fought so hard to preserve.