On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer. Lincoln died the following day. His assassination came just days after the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, effectively ending the Civil War. Lincoln's death was a major setback for the Reconstruction process and led to a period of mourning and instability in the United States.