candidate: The assassination of Abraham Lincoln took place on Good Friday , April 14 , 1865 , at approximately 10:15 p.m. Lincoln was shot once in the back of his head with a .44 caliber Derringer pistol by actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth while attending a performance of " Our American Cousin " at Ford 's Theatre in Washington , D.C. with his wife , Mary Todd Lincoln , and two guests .