Type: Exhibition case

Name: Lincoln's Assassination

Detail: The celebration of the war’s end had barely begun when New Jersey and the nation were shocked by the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14. Lieutenant John J. Toffey of the Thirty-third New Jersey Volunteers was at Ford’s Theater the night that President Lincoln was shot. Wounded at the battle of Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, Toffey was sent to Washington Hospital where he remained for over a year. In this letter, he describes the scene to his parents in Jersey City.

"A shot was fired, I took no notice of it neither did any of the audience, as it was thought to be part of the performance, till we saw a man leap from the Presidents Box and light on the stage he lingered a second and then shot off like an arrow every one was struck with astonishment until he had disappeared behind the scene when it was announced that the President was shot….