John Wilkes Booth was an American actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D. C. on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent 19th-century Booth theatrical family from Maryland, a noted actor, Booth was a Confederate sympathizer who, denouncing President Lincoln, lamented the recent abolition of slavery in the United States. Booth and his small group of conspirators had plotted to kidnap Lincoln, but they agreed to murder him as well as Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward to aid the Confederate cause. Although its Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee, had surrendered to the Union Army four days earlier, Booth believed that the Civil War remained unresolved because the Confederate army of General Joseph E. Johnston continued fighting. Booth shot President Lincoln once in the back of the head. Lincoln's death the next morning completed Booth's piece of the plot. Seward wounded, whereas Vice President Johnson was never attacked.

Booth fled on horseback to southern Maryland and, 12 days at a farm in rural northern Virginia, was tracked down sheltered in a barn. Booth's companion there surrendered. After the authorities set the barn ablaze, Union soldier Boston Corbett fatally shot him in the neck. Paralyzed, he died a few hours later. Of the eight conspirators convicted, four were soon hanged. Booth's parents were noted British Shakespearean actor Junius Brutus Booth and his mistress, Mary Ann Holmes, who moved to the United States from England in June 1821, they purchased a 150-acre farm near Bel Air, where John Wilkes Booth was born in a four-room log house on May 10, 1838, the ninth of ten children. He was named after a distant relative. Junius' wife Adelaide Delannoy Booth was granted a divorce in 1851 on grounds of adultery, Holmes wed Junius on May 10, 1851, John Wilkes' 13th birthday. Nora Titone suggests in her book My Thoughts Be Bloody that the shame and ambition of Junius Brutus Booth's actor sons Edwin and John Wilkes spurred them to strive for achievement and acclaim as rivals—Edwin as a Unionist and John Wilkes as the assassin of Abraham Lincoln.

Booth's father built Tudor Hall on the Harford County property as the family's summer home in 1851, while maintaining a winter residence on Exeter Street in Baltimore. The Booth family was listed as living in Baltimore in the 1850 census; as a boy, Booth was athletic and popular, he became skilled at horsemanship and fencing. He attended the Bel Air Academy and was an indifferent student whom the headmaster described as "not deficient in intelligence, but disinclined to take advantage of the educational opportunities offered him; each day he rode back and forth from farm to school, taking more interest in what happened along the way than in reaching his classes on time". In 1850–1851, he attended the Quaker-run Milton Boarding School for Boys located in Sparks, St. Timothy's Hall, an Episcopal military academy in Catonsville, Maryland. At the Milton school, students recited classical works by such authors as Cicero and Tacitus. Students at St. Timothy's wore military uniforms and were subject to a regimen of daily formation drills and strict discipline.

Booth left school at 14 after his father's death. While attending the Milton Boarding School, Booth met a Gypsy fortune-teller who read his palm and pronounced a grim destiny, telling him that he would have a grand but short life, doomed to die young and "meeting a bad end", his sister recalled that he wrote down the palm-reader's prediction, showed it to his family and others, discussed its portents in moments of melancholy. By age 16, Booth was interested in the theater and in politics, he became a delegate from Bel Air to a rally by the Know Nothing Party for Henry Winter Davis, the anti-immigrant party's candidate for Congress in the 1854 elections. Booth aspired to follow in the footsteps of his father and his actor brothers Edwin and Junius Brutus, Jr, he began studying Shakespeare. Booth made his stage debut at age 17 on August 14, 1855 in the supporting role of the Earl of Richmond in Richard III at Baltimore's Charles Street Theatre; the audience jeered at him. He began acting at Baltimore's Holliday Street Theater, owned by John T. Ford, where the Booths had performed frequently.

In 1857 he joined the stock company of the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia, where he played for a full season. At his request, he was billed as "J. B. Wilkes", a pseudonym meant to avoid comparison with other members of his famous thespian family. Jim Bishop wrote that Booth "developed into an outrageous scene stealer, but he played his parts with such heightened enthusiasm that the audiences idolized him." In February 1858, he played in Lucrezia Borgia at the Arch Street Theatre. On opening night, he stumbled over one of his lines. Instead of introducing himself by saying, "Madame, I am Petruchio Pandolfo", he stammered, "Madame, I am Pondolfio Pet—Pedolfio Pat—Pantuchio Ped—dammit! Who am I?", causing the audience to roar with laughter. That year, Booth played the part of Mohegan Indian Chief Uncas in a play staged in Petersburg and became a stock company actor at the Richmond Theatre in Virginia, where he became popular with audiences for his energetic performances. On October 5, 1858, he played the part of Horatio in Hamlet, alongside his older brother Edwin in the title role.

Afterward, Edwin led him to the theater's footlights and said to the audience, "I think he

Concordia University Chicago is private liberal arts university in River Forest, Illinois. A college for parochial teacher education, Concordia-Chicago is now a comprehensive university offering more than 100 undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, with more than 5,000 students; the university is a member of the Concordia University System, a nationwide network of colleges and universities affiliated with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. Concordia Chicago named Addison Teachers Seminary, was founded in the Lutheran tradition by Saxon German immigrants in 1864; the university continues to maintain strong ties to its faith-based heritage. Lutheran teacher training in the United States began in Missouri. In 1857 the responsibility for the operation of the teachers seminary in Milwaukee was given to the denomination. Subsequently, the Milwaukee teachers seminary moved and merged operations with Fort Wayne uniting it with a theological seminary, founded there by followers of Johann Konrad Wilhelm Löhe.

In October 1863, the LCMS in convention voted unanimously to move the teachers seminary to Addison, appointed the first Praeses of the institution, instructed that a new building be constructed on land donated by a local Lutheran congregation. Concordia University Chicago marks 1864 as its founding in Illinois. Called Addison Teachers Seminary the institution is the oldest in the Concordia University System. Construction began on a new facility with a cornerstone laying service held on June 15, 1864. During the construction period, a nearby two-story vacant tavern was rented to ensure the new teachers seminary could carry out its educational training as scheduled, beginning September 1, 1864; the original buildings in Addison are now gone. On November 12, 1912 ground was broken for a new campus in Illinois. More than 8,000 people attended the cornerstone laying service on December 15, 1912. On October 12, 1913, the institution moved to its present campus with an estimated 30,000–45,000 people attending the dedication.

In 1913, prior to the dedication of the River Forest campus, much discussion took place regarding a new name for Addison Teachers Seminary. On May 20, 1913 the faculty settled on Concordia Teachers College with the official charter from the Illinois Secretary of State's office being issued April 28, 1915. In 1979, the institution expanded its education-centered program to become a full liberal arts institution and changed its name to Concordia College. In 1990, having experienced tremendous growth in its graduate offerings, the school reorganized and changed its legal name to Concordia University. Since adopting this name the institution has branded itself as Concordia University River Forest and Concordia University Chicago, 2006–present Concordia University Chicago has five colleges, each chaired by an academic dean. College of Arts and Sciences: Rachel Eells College of Business: Claudia Santin College of Education: Kevin Brandon College of Graduate Studies: Robert K. WilhiteMany of these students attend classes online or at Cohort sites around the Chicago metropolitan area.

College of Innovation and Professional Programs: Thomas Jandris Concordia Chicago teams participate as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III. Concordia Chicago was a member of the Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference until the spring of 2006, since 2006 is a member of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. Men's sports include baseball, cross country, lacrosse, soccer and track & field; the school colors are gold. The current chair of the music department is Professor Johnathan Kohrs. Dr. Richard Fischer is the Director of Bands, where he conducts the Wind Symphony and University Band as well as teaching conducting and music education classes; the Wind Symphony, Concordia's premiere instrumental ensemble, has performed in 43 states, Europe and most South Africa. The group has released fourteen recordings of sacred wind music; the ensemble has given many premiere performances of compositions by current wind band composers. The Wind Symphony performed at Carnegie Hall on March 4, 2014, again on March 13, 2019.

The Kapelle, under the direction of Dr. Charles Brown, is the university's premiere choral ensemble, has performed around the U. S. Europe, South America; the ensemble has four recordings to its credit. Dr. Steven Wente the chair of the music department, is a distinguished professor of music and the organist for the Chapel of Our Lord. Other musical ensembles include Schola Cantorum, Chamber Orchestra, Laudate, Jazz Band, University Handbells, Cougar Band, other ensembles. Richard Hillert—composer and professor of music Paul Manz—composer, organist and professor of music Jim Platt—basketball coach Carl Schalk—composer, professor of music Mark Warkentien—basketball coach and executive Paul Walter Hauser—actor and comedian Official website Official athletics website

The Battle of Ballynahinch was fought outside Ballynahinch, County Down, on 12 June, during the Irish rebellion of 1798 between British forces led by Major-General George Nugent and the local United Irishmen led by Henry Munro. Munro was a Lisburn linen merchant and Presbyterian United Irishman who had no military experience but had taken over command of the Down organisation following the arrest of the designated leader, Rev. William Steel Dickson on 5 June. Upon hearing of the victory at Saintfield on 9 June, Munro joined the rebel camp there and moved to Ednavady Hill, Ballynahinch to join the thousands who had gathered in support of the rebellion; the response of the British garrisons was to converge on Ballynahinch from Belfast and Downpatrick in two columns accompanied by several pieces of cannon. The battle began on the night of 12 June when two hills to the left and right of Ballynahinch were occupied by the British who pounded the town with their cannon. During a pause when night fell, some rebel officers were said to have pressed Munro for a night attack but he refused on the grounds that it was unchivalrous.

As a consequence many disillusioned rebels slipped away during the night. As dawn broke the battle recommenced with the rebels attacked from two sides and although achieving some initial success, confusion in the rebel army saw the United Irishmen retreat in chaos, pursued by regrouping British forces who took advantage by turning retreat into massacre. Initial reports claimed. James Thomson, the father of the famous scientist William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin was at the battle and published an eyewitness account. Munro escaped the field of battle but was betrayed by a farmer who he had paid to conceal him and was hanged in front of his own house in Lisburn on 16 June. Ballynahinch was sacked by the victorious military after the battle with sixty-three houses being burned down. Cavalry scoured the surrounding countryside for rebels, raiding homes and killing indiscriminately, the 22nd Dragoons being guilty of some of the worst atrocities; the most famous victim was Betsy Gray, a young female rebel who, with her two brothers, was slaughtered in the post-battle massacre, ensuring her place in legend to this day.

Following the suppression of the 1798 Rebellion and the passing of the Act of Union, the Presbyterian population in the area of Ballynahinch would subsequently become predominantly Unionist and the Orange Order would have a strong presence there. Nonetheless, historian Guy Beiner has shown that many local family traditions continued to preserve in private memories of their United Irish ancestors' participation in the battle. Https://web.archive.org/web/20080828102256/http://www.ballynahinchregeneration.org/battle.htm http://republican-news.org/archive/1998/June04/04ball.html https://web.archive.org/web/20080517212734/http://www.presbyterianireland.org/congregations/ballynahinch1.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/down/bhinch_battle.shtml http://www.bridgemanartondemand.com/art/114142/The_Battle_of_Ballynahinch_13th_June_1798_c1798