Assassination of Abraham Lincoln :

All hell broke loose in United States on April 14, 1865 when John Wilkes Booth using his single-shot derringer and a knife assassinated Abraham Lincoln at the Ford’s Theater. The brutal killing took place only 5 days after the American Civil War ended. The incident shook the nation as the victim and the assailant both were widely known. Even though the fanatical Southerner was a racist he also was an eminent and personable actor and certainly not a lunatic. Hours before the killing, he had contacted the Vice-President Andrew Johnson which raises questions on the nature of the assassination. Historians and writers still have strong suspicion clogged by strange dubieties. The speculations on whether the assassination had emanated from Booth's rational thoughts or was a part of a bigger plot continues to exist.