In 1865 he was involved in a serious carriage accident and was confined to his bed to recuperate. Nine days after the accident, on the day that President
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by a group of Confederate agents, one of them, Lewis Powell, burst into Seward's bedroom and stabbed him in the throat (Powell, along with seven other conspirators, was later hanged for his part in the assassination). Seward recovered and continued in his position as Secretary of State until 1869.