John Wilkes Booth wrote in his diary that he shouted " Sic semper tyrannis " after shooting U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on April 14 , 1865 , in part because of the association with the assassination of Caesar . The phrase was also in the pro-Confederate Civil War song " Maryland , My Maryland " , which was popular at the time with Southern sympathizers in Maryland , such as Booth . The song , containing the phrase , is now the official state song of Maryland
shooting U.S. President Abraham Lincoln
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Sic semper tyrannis