Death room on Saturday, April 15, 1865

In 1908, author Harriet Eunice Hawley described the room where President Lincoln died at 7:22 a.m. on April 15, 1865:

“A feeling of reverence and awe steals over one as he steps across the threshold of this room. The sadness of those last moments seem almost to linger here still.”

The death room is now part of the Ford’s Theatre museum complex, run by the National Park Service. It is on the second floor of Petersen House, located directly across Tenth Street from Ford’s Theatre. Free tickets available at the Ford’s Theatre box office allow visitors admission to Ford’s Theatre, a park ranger presentation inside the theatre, the museum in the basement of Ford’s, Petersen House and the Center for Education and Leadership next to Petersen House.

Among the many artifacts at Ford’s are John Wilkes Booth’s palm-sized Deringer pistol, the clothes the president wore to Ford’s, and John Wilkes Booth’s riding boots.  The artifacts at the Center for Education and Leadership include John Wilkes Booth’s key ring and one of the guns he took on the run.