160 years ago, the direction of these United States changed in an instant, right at this spot.

Five days after the confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union forces in a Virginia courthouse, President Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre during an assassination attempt by the actor John Wilkes Booth. The date was April 14, 1865.

Booth succeeded, and Lincoln died within hours inside a house across from the Theatre on 10th Street NW.

Lincoln had just been sworn in for a second presidential term on March 4th, meaning his second term lasted less than six weeks.

The war was essentially over, but the last confederate ship didn't surrender until November 6th of that year.

And President Andrew Johnson later proclaimed the insurrection to be officially over on August 20, 1866.

Ford's Theatre did survive -- through many ups & downs, financial challenges, rebuilds, and renovations.

Today it still operates as a theatre, running about 4 shows per year. It's also an historical site of course; and acts as a living memorial to the slain President, Abraham Lincoln.