Henry Rathbone

Henry Rathbone
1865 Mathew Brady photograph of Rathbone
Birth nameHenry Reed Rathbone
Born(1837-07-01)July 1, 1837
Albany, New York, U.S.
DiedAugust 14, 1911(1911-08-14) (aged 74)
Hildesheim, Prussia, Germany
Buried
Stadtfriedhof Engesohde (disinterred in 1952)
Allegiance United States (Union)
Service / branch U.S. Army (Union Army)
Years of service1861–1870
Rank Brevet colonel
Unit12th U.S. Infantry
Battles / warsAmerican Civil War
Spouse(s)
(m. 1867; died 1883)
ChildrenHenry Riggs Rathbone
Gerald Lawrence Rathbone
Clara Pauline Rathbone
RelationsIra Harris (stepfather and father-in-law)
Other workAttorney

Henry Reed Rathbone (July 1, 1837 – August 14, 1911) was a United States military officer and lawyer who was present at the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln; Rathbone and his fiancé Clara Harris were sitting with Lincoln and Lincoln's wife Mary Todd Lincoln when the president was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre. When Rathbone attempted to apprehend Booth, Booth stabbed and seriously wounded him. Rathbone may have played a part in Booth's leg injury. Although he recovered, Rathbone's mental state deteriorated afterwards, and in 1883, he killed his wife, Clara, in a fit of madness, later being declared insane by doctors and living the rest of his life in a lunatic asylum.