 Conger tracked down Jett and interrogated him , learning of Booth 's location at the Garrett farm . Before dawn on April 26 , the soldiers caught up with the fugitives , who were hiding in Garrett 's tobacco barn . David Herold surrendered , but Booth refused Conger 's demand to surrender , saying " I prefer to come out and fight " ; the soldiers then set the barn on fire . As Booth moved about inside the blazing barn , Sergeant Boston Corbett shot him . According to Corbett 's later account , he fired at Booth because the fugitive " raised his pistol to shoot " at them . Conger 's report to Stanton , however , stated that Corbett shot Booth " without order , pretext or excuse , " and recommended that Corbett be punished for disobeying orders to take Booth alive . Booth , fatally wounded in the neck , was dragged from the barn to the porch of Garrett 's farmhouse , where he died three hours later , aged 26 . The bullet had pierced three vertebrae and partially severed his spinal cord , paralyzing him . In his dying moments , he reportedly whispered , " Tell my mother I died for my country . " Asking that his hands be raised to his face so he could see them , Booth uttered his last words , " Useless , useless , " and died as dawn was breaking . In Booth 's pockets were found a compass , a candle , pictures of five women ( actresses Alice Grey , Helen Western , Effie Germon , Fannie Brown , and Booth 's fiancée Lucy Hale ) , and his diary , where he had written of Lincoln 's death , " Our country owed all her troubles to him , and God simply made me the instrument of his punishment . " 
