Albert Freeman Africanus King was an English-born American physician who was pressed into service at the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on 14 April 1865. He was one of a few physicians who served in both the Confederate States Army and the United States Army during the American Civil War. In addition, King was one of the earliest to suggest the connection between mosquitos and malaria.

On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth while attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Shot in the head as he watched the play, Lincoln died of his wounds the following day at 7:22 am in the Petersen House opposite the theater. He was the first U.S. president to be assassinated. His funeral and burial were marked by an extended period of national mourning.