Henry Rathbone

Henry Rathbone

Henry Reed Rathbone was a U.S. military officer and diplomat. He was present at the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Rathbone tried to stop John Wilkes Booth from fleeing the scene. He stabbed Booth nearly to the bone and severed an artery. He shot and stabbed his wife, who was attempting to protect his children. He then stabbed himself in the chest in an attempted suicide.

About Henry Rathbone in brief

Summary Henry RathboneHenry Reed Rathbone was a U.S. military officer and diplomat. He was present at the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Rathbone tried to stop John Wilkes Booth from fleeing the scene. He stabbed Booth nearly to the bone and severed an artery. He shot and stabbed his wife, who was attempting to protect his children. He then stabbed himself in the chest in an attempted suicide. In 1883, he was declared insane by doctors after he attacked his children in a fit of madness. He died in New York City, New York in 1883. He is buried at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New Orleans, Louisiana.

He had three children: Henry Riggs, Gerald Lawrence, and Clara Pauline. He married Clara Harris on July 11, 1867, and the couple had a son, Arthur Sulover Rathbone, in 1882. He also had a daughter, who died in childbirth in 1891. He never remarried or had any children of his own. He served in the Union Army at the start of the American Civil War and was a Captain in the 12th Infantry Regiment. He resigned from the Army in 1870, having risen to the rank of brevet colonel. After his resignation, he struggled to find a job.