Article continues below advertisementAbraham LincolnSource: MEGAAbraham Lincoln was the first U.S. president to die by assassination.Abraham Lincoln died on April 15, 1865, just a few hours after stage actor John Wilkes Booth shot him in the back of his head while at Ford's Theatre the previous evening. The suspect and his fellow conspirators - all supporters of the Confederacy - planned to kill other government leaders but only wounded Secretary of State William Seward.12 days later, on April 26, 1865, Booth was shot in a barn near Bowling Green, Va.