"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)

LINCOLN SHOT ON GOOD FRIDAY 148 YEARS AGO

APRIL 14, 2013

LINCOLN SHOT ON GOOD FRIDAY 148 YEARS AGO

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) At 10:15 this evening 148 years ago, Good Friday, April 14, 1865, a single pistol shot was fired at President Abraham Lincoln as he was sitting in a box above the stage at Ford's Theater on 10th Street here in the Nation's Capital. 

The shot was fired by accomplished actor and Southern sympathizer John Wilkes Booth who, after shooting the President, cut Major Henry Rathbone with a knife, leaped to the stage below and made good his escape out the back of the theater.

Eyewitness Edwin Bates described it in a letter to his parents dated April 15, 1865...

"(I) was seated in the orchestra chairs next to the stage and nearly underneath the box occupied by Mr. Lincoln and friends, I first heard the report of a pistol and immediately after a man jumped from Mr. Lincoln's box a distance of 10 or 15 feet upon the stage...not 10 feet from me.  

He fell partly upon his side but instantly rose & with a long dagger in hand rushed rapidly across the stage & disappeared before any(one)...could realise what had occurred."

A doctor attending Mr. Lincoln,  Dr. Charles A. Leale, determined Lincoln's wound, caused by a round ball which passed through the back of the skull into the brain, to be "mortal."

   

                       Ford's Theater
            Photo by John White (2007)

Not wanting to worsen Lincoln's condition any more than necessary, Dr. Leale ordered Lincoln be moved to the nearest bed which was in the Petersen Boardinghouse opposite the theater.

The President was laid diagonally across the single bed in the room because it was too short for his 6'4" frame.  Dr. Leale was assisted by Dr. Charles Sabin Taft and Albert F. King.  

All three physicians had been in the theater at the time of the shooting.

A hostile crowd gathered outside and some called for the Ford's Theater to be torched.

             "House Where Lincoln Died"
               Photo by John White (2007)

While the death watch ensued, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton directed the pursuit of the assassin and any accomplices.  The War Department offered a $100,000 reward for their capture.

Another incident occurred at almost the same time of Lincoln's shooting, Secretary of State William Seward was slashed with a knife as he lay at home in his sick bed by Lewis Paine, one of Booth's accomplices.  

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, who had led a divided nation successfully through a horrific civil war, died at 7:22 on the morning of April 15, 1865.

Sources

"Bloody Crimes:  The Chase for Jefferson Davis and the Death Pageant For Lincoln's Corpse," by James Swanson.

"We Saw Lincoln Shot, One Hundred Eyewitness Accounts," by Timothy S. Good.

April 14, 2013

JFK SPENT HIS LAST EASTER AT PALM BEACH 50 YEARS AGO 

Palm Beach, Florida (JFK+50) President John F. and Mrs. Kennedy, along with their children Caroline & John, Jr. joined family friends, Paul and Anita Fay and their children in Palm Beach for Easter Sunday 50 years ago today, April 14, 1963.

After attending a private mass conducted at the home of the President's father, the group went for a cruise on Lake Worth aboard the Honey Fitz.

     First Family Following Easter Service