Mary Todd Lincoln insisted on going to the theatre on 14 April 1865, sat beside her husband with a young couple she was close to, and held him upright in his chair after he was shot.
Mary Todd Lincoln was the wife of President Abraham Lincoln and a close friend of Clara Harris, the daughter of New York Senator Ira Harris [1].
When General Ulysses S. Grant, who commanded all the armies of the Union (the United States side in the Civil War), and his wife pulled out of the theatre party, Lincoln felt like giving the evening up, but Mrs. Lincoln insisted the public should not be disappointed. One 1940 account says Julia Grant chose not to come after Mrs. Lincoln had insulted her. Some sources say Mrs. Lincoln herself then invited Clara Harris and her fiancé, Major Henry Rathbone; others say both Lincolns did. Clara and Mrs. Lincoln often went driving and to the opera and theatre together.
At Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., she sat beside her husband, holding his hand. After the actor John Wilkes Booth shot him, the first doctor into the box, army surgeon Charles Leale, found her holding the President upright in his chair and crying, "Oh, Doctor! Is he dead?". Rathbone, bleeding from a knife wound, helped her out of the theatre and across the street to the Petersen House. All night, whenever Clara came near in her blood-soaked dress, Mrs. Lincoln screamed, "Oh! my husband's blood". It was Rathbone's blood.
Later tellers made the four people in the box a single tragedy: Lincoln murdered, Clara killed by Rathbone, Rathbone and Mrs. Lincoln both called insane. Ten years after the shooting, Mrs. Lincoln was certified a "lunatic" in Cook County, Illinois. No sworn statement from her about that night has been found.
[Report #200] Her part on 14 April 1865 and in the Rathbone–Harris story only.
THE INVITATION. 'after Grant finally decided not to stay for the box party, but Mrs. Lin-coln had insisted that the people ought not to be disappointed.' (
archive.org) On Julia Grant, Bryan’s index: 'insulted by Mrs. Lincoln, determines not to go to Ford’s' (
archive.org) (held: Bryan’s reading of the Grants’ withdrawal). 'Mrs. Lincoln finally invited Major Rathbone and Clara Harris, and they accepted.' (
military-history.fandom.com) / 'were invited after Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia, Thomas Eckert and several other people had declined Mrs. Lincoln’s invitation to the play.' (
en.wikipedia.org) / 'Rathbone and Harris accepted an invitation from President Lincoln and First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln to see a play at Ford’s Theatre' (
en.wikipedia.org) — who sent it: held. Her friendship with Clara: 'As Harris wrote in April 1865, she and the first lady “have been constantly in the habit of driving and going to the opera and theater together.”' (
nationalgeographic.com) 'As a result a number of personal letters passed between the wife of the Presi-dent and the daughter of the Senator.' (
upload.wikimedia.org) (Lincoln Lore, 1971.) Toward Senator Ira Harris, March 1865: '“Judge Harris called last evening, to say, farewell. He has been so kind a friend that I am quite as attached to him as if he were a relative.”' (
mrlincolnandnewyork.org)
IN THE BOX. 'Mrs. Lincoln was seated at his right, between him and the pillar; Miss Harris at the other end of the balustrade; Major Rathbone at Miss Harris’ left, on the sofa against the wall.' (
archive.org) 'Mrs. Lincoln asked her husband, “What will Miss Harris think of my hanging on to you so?”' (
nationalgeographic.com) After the shot, Rathbone swore: 'Neither Mrs. Lincoln nor Miss Harris had left their seats.' (
hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu) Dr. Charles Leale (1909): 'By Mrs. Lincoln’s courage, strength and energy the President was maintained in this upright position during all the time that elapsed while Major Rathbone had bravely fought the assassin and removed the obstruction from the door of the box.' (
gutenberg.org) '"Oh, Doctor! Is he dead? Can he recover? Will you take charge of him? Do what you can for him. Oh, my dear husband!"' (
gutenberg.org) Reported by a Capt. Silas Owen via Bryan (held): 'Mrs. Lincoln, leaning over the box’s edge, called out to the audience, "They have shot pa!"' (
archive.org)
LEAVING THE THEATRE. 'this deponent then proceeded to assist Mrs. Lincoln, who was intensely excited, to leave the theatre.' (
hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu) 'Weeping and wringing her hands, Mrs. Lin-coln followed, assisted by a Major Potter and by Major Rathbone, whose left upper arm dripped blood as he walked. Behind them was Miss Harris.' (
archive.org)
THE NIGHT AT THE PETERSEN HOUSE. Clara Harris’s letter, as quoted in a review of Thomas Mallon’s 1994 novel Henry and Clara: 'Poor Mrs. Lincoln all through that dreadful night would look at me in horror & scream. Oh! my husband’s blood' (
upload.wikimedia.org); 'Yet whenever Harris, stained with Rathbone’s blood, approached her, she cried , “Oh! My husband’s blood, my dear husband’s blood!”' (
nationalgeographic.com) 'Harris remained with Mary Lincoln as the president lay in a comatose state over the next nine hours' (
en.wikipedia.org)
AFTER, AS THE STORY OF THE BOX IS TOLD. Nicolay and Hay, quoted by Bryan (1940): 'the stricken wife was to pass the rest of her days in melancholy and madness' (
archive.org). An undated newspaper feature, “Jinx of the President’s Box”: 'Two were later murdered by madmen; the other two became insane.' (
upload.wikimedia.org) 'Ten years later, Mary Todd Lincoln, the President’s widow, was certified as a "lunatic" in Cook County' (
upload.wikimedia.org).
HELD. No sworn statement by Mary Lincoln about the box was found in the files read (Oct 2026); would settle: the Judge Advocate General’s assassination case files.