"BURN THE DAMNED PLACE DOWN"

THE PRESIDENT IS DEAD!

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) At 7:22 in the morning of April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died at the Petersen Rooming House* here in the Nation's Capital.  The President died as the result of a pistol shot to back of the head as he sat in his box with his wife at Ford's Theatre the evening of the 14th.

Attending physician Dr. Charles A. Leale** determined Mr. Lincoln would not survive a trip back to the Executive Mansion and so ordered that he be taken to the nearest bed.  The Petersen Rooming House, now called "The House Where Lincoln Died," is located across the street from the theater.

Thomas A. Bogar writes that a heavy rain continued all day Saturday, April 15th.  During the afternoon, word came to the police superintendent that a number of "outraged citizens" were intent on launching an attack on Ford's Theatre.  Bogard writes...

"By 7:00 seventy men of the 9th Regiment, V.R.C. under the command of Captain William McKelvey were in position on Tenth Street and throughout the theatre.  Either their presence was effective or the threat was spurious to start with, for no assault on the theatre materialized."

*Petersen Rooming House is located at 516 10th Street across from Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.  It was the home of William & Anna Petersen in April 1865 when the mortally wounded POTUS was carried inside & placed on a bed in a back bedroom.  

**Dr. Charles Augustus Leale (1842-1932) was born in New York City & was a 23 year old US Army surgeon at the time of Lincoln's assassination.  CAL was seated 40 ft. from Lincoln's box when the shot was fired.  CAL left the army in 1866 & established a private practice.

SOURCES

"Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination, The Untold Story of the Actors and Stagehands at Ford's Theatre," by Thomas A. Bogar, Regnery History, Washington, D.C. , 2013.

"The Assassination: Death of the President," by Champ Clark, Time-Life Books, Alexandria, VA, 1987.

"The Death of President Lincoln, 1865," www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/

"The Petersen House", National Park Service, www.nps.gov/

The House Where Lincoln Died

10th Street, Washington, D.C.

Photo by John White (2007)