As I write this story, it is 8:10 p.m. Eastern Daylight time on April 14th, 2026. On this date and time in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln, his wife Mary Todd Lincoln, her friend Clara Harris and her fiancé’ Major Henry Rathbone arrive at Ford’s Theatre. Two hours later, President Lincoln was fighting for his life, unconscious and being moved soon across the street to the Petersen House. His tall figure, being 6′ 4″ tall, was going to be hard to move with a gunshot to his head. In the end, they ripped a door off the hinges, and rolled him onto it, and carried him out of the presidential box, out of the theatre, across the street through the crowds of people into the Petersen House.
As they enter the Petersen House, President Lincoln is taken to a small bedroom on the first in the rear of the house. He clings to life, unconscious but still breathing for the next several hours. Soldiers are standing on guard outside the house as well as outside the doorway where he is lying down. Doctors continue to try to help the ailing President on the bed. After re-examining him in the Petersen House parlor, they discovered that Lincoln’s extremities were extremely cold, and the physicians were removing blood clots forming near the wound on the back of the head.
In the front of the house, Mary Todd Lincoln was grieving and continuously asking about the condition of her husband. Her eldest son, Robert, arrived along with the Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Mr. Stanton started to interview the witnesses of the shot at Ford’s Theatre to gather information about the upcoming manhunt for the assassin, John Wilkes Booth. They also start to plan the transition of power to Vice President Andrew Johnson. As the night continued, the physicians were coming to terms that he would pass away, but the question was… when?
Family members, friends, war generals, and other cabinet members continue through the night to visit and grieve of their fallen leader. They cried and peacefully said their prayers for the President. The outside crowd that was gathering learned of President Lincoln’s fate as well, and the crowds continued to grow in numbers.
Sadly, on April 15, 1865, Abraham Lincoln died at 7:22 a.m. on Saturday morning. He died at the young age of 56 years old. A silence fell over the room, and Mary Todd Lincoln was weeping with her son, Robert. His War Secretary, Stanton, finally broke the silence and said the following: