Every American knows Abraham Lincoln. Most of us learn about him in early elementary. Back then, we knew him as the tall guy with the top hat, the 16th president who we later learn was tragically assassinated by (at the time) famous stage actor John Wilkes Booth on April 13, 1865.
What history forgets, however, is that there were two other people in the box at the time the fatal bullet hit Lincoln: Major Henry Rathbone and his fiance, Clara Harris.
Rathbone and Harris were invited the very same day of the tragic event by the President and the First Lady to go see the very popular comedy, “Our American Cousin,” at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC.
The two couples were in celebratory spirits, as just days before, General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia surrendered, bringing a close to the nation’s bloodiest war.
Around 10:15 p.m., the play was in Act 3, Scene 2. John Wilkes Booth, who had performed at Ford’s Theater several times before, knew the layout of the building and the play that was currently on the stage well. Booth waited until the funniest line of the play, which would receive the loudest uproar of laughter from the audience, to fire the fatal bullet.
Although smoke had begun to fill the Presidential Box, Major Rathbone was still able to see the murderous gleam of Booth’s eyes. He immediately sprang into action, attempting to wrestle Booth to the ground. However, Booth had another surprise up his sleeve (literally).
Booth pulled out a large knife, slicing Rathbone from his left shoulder to his elbow. Forced to release his grip on Booth, Booth jumped from the Presidential Box and escaped the theater. The rest is history. Lincoln died the next day, and Booth was found and murdered 12 days later.
As America suffered the tragedy of their revered president, Rathbone suffered the hardest blow. Soon enough, years had passed, but only Rathbone’s physical wounds had healed. Five years later, Rathbone would retire from the army due to illness. In 1870, Rathbone and his family set sail for Germany.
At the same time, he was suffering not only from heart palpitations, but the guilt of not being able to save the president, putting the blame of his death on himself. He had become increasingly erratic and depressed and his marriage paid the price.
Rathbone, who was quickly becoming mentally unstable, was constantly paranoid that Clara was going to leave him and take his children with her.
On Christmas Eve, 1883, Henry reached his boiling point. After grabbing his revolver and a knife, he walked to his children’s bedroom, presumably to do the worst. Clara, in a desperate show of motherly love, convinced her husband to follow him into their room. There, Clara met her unfortunate end after she was shot and stabbed.
Rathbone then tried to turn the knife on himself in an attempt to take his life but ultimately failed. After being declared insane at his murder trial, Rathbone spent the rest of his life in an asylum in Germany, haunted by the memory of that tragic April night.
It is hard to believe that something so tragic, so disturbing could possibly be forgotten by history, especially when it was at the hands of the man who was next to the president during one of the most well-known events in American history.
But it does happen; it happens all the time. History forgets. But some of us remember.
