WASHINGTON – On the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, a somber event marked the very moment he was pronounced dead.
Somber music from a brass band filled the air as hundreds gathered for a wreath-laying ceremony Wednesday morning on the street and sidewalks around Ford’s Theatre.
“His assassination was one of the tragic and pivotal events in American history,” said U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, speaking to the crowd.
“We can only speculate what might have happened had he lived.”
The ceremony began at 7:22 a.m. That was Lincoln’s official time of death on April 15, 1865.
Among the crowd were actors in costume, including one man who announced to everyone that President Lincoln had died.
“Abraham Lincoln, 150 years after his death, is still someone that resonates with Americans,” said Ford’s Theatre Director Paul Tetreault. “He is the president of which all others are measured.”
A wreath was placed across the street from Ford’s Theatre at the steps of the Petersen House – the house where Lincoln died and which is now a museum.
