Clara Harris's Bloody Dress

[calebj123]

Sorry to come late to this party, but here are my viewpoints.

First, it was discussed for a moment, so I'll touch on this. Henry Rathbone was in civilian clothes that night, there are a few sources that verify that. It was common for soldiers to do so during that time, in order to avoid the provost marshals in DC. The marshals patrolled DC and stopped soldiers in uniform attempt to curb public intoxication,gambling, fights, etc. Rathbone was also unarmed because of this.

Second, the blood on Clara's dress was most likely Henry's. He was bleeding profusely from the arm and was in contact with Clara more often than Clara would have contacted Lincoln. From most accounts, Lincoln's wound didn't bleed that much and did so intermittently.

There has been an analysis done on the bloody dress worn by Laura Keene and it showed up inconclusive, but nothing was done on Clara's dress.

As for the bloody dress story, it's most likely just a ghost story. Clara and Henry did spend some time in Albany after the assassination, while Henry recuperated. But the evidence that the dress was walled up behind bricks cannot be fully verified. Harold Holzer seems to have similar feelings on this topic. The White Satin Dress is a beautifully written story, but much like Thomas Mallon's Henry and Clara its a work of fiction. Unfortunately, as you noted about the Haunted Major article, the Henry and Clara facts are filled with inconsistencies and completely wrong or fictional information.