The carriage (and coachman) that took the Lincoln party to Ford's Theatre

[loetar44]

The carriage that took Abraham Lincoln to Ford's Theatre the night he was assassinated was a 4-persons barouche, made in 1864 by Wood Brothers of New York (and I believe was presented to Lincoln as a gift , right?). I have 5 questions.

(1) Who drove the presidential party, through Washington’s muddy streets, from the White House to Ford’s Theatre? It seems a simple question, but when you take a closer look it is (anyway for me) a very confusing (and intriguing) question. Steers say in his Encyclopedia that the coachman was Francis P. Burke, but in “Blood on the Moon” it is Ned Burke. The Lincoln Institute says Edward “Ned” Burke and George Bryan in the “Great American Myth” says Francis Burke. Jim Bishop writes in “The Day Lincoln Was Shot” that the coachman was Francis Burns, like Carl Sandburg in “Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and The War Years”. And last but not least Charles Higham is referring in his “Murdering Mr. Lincoln” to Francis Bourke.

(2) How did the presidential party get to Ford’s Theatre? This seems to be a simple question too, but for me again (even more) confusing. Rathbone said at the trial of the conspirators the following: “On the evening of the 14th of April last, at about twenty-minutes past eight o’clock, in company with Ms. Harris, I left my residence at the corner of Fifteenth and H Streets, and joined the President and Mrs. Lincoln, and went with them, in their carriage, to Ford’s Theatre, on Tenth Street.” As I understand this: Pres. Lincoln and Mary left the White House (with Charles Forbes, the footman), the carriage driven by coachman B……, who drove first to Sen. Harris to pick up his daughter Clara and her fiancé Maj. Rathbone and then to Ford’s. So, it seems clear…..BUT, what than to think of AL's intimate friend Noah Brooks, who was at the White House, when the presidential party left, and wrote on April 16: “Mrs. Lincoln’s carriage was at the door, seated in it being Miss Harris, daughter of Senator Harris of New York, and Major Rathburn (Rathbone), her step-brother. The President and wife entered and drove off without any guard or escort.” I understand this as follows: Pres. Lincoln, Mary, Clara en Maj. Rathbone left the White House together in the same carriage and at the same time, driven by the President’s coachman B…., and with Charles Forbes. Probably the carriage was first used to bring Clara and her fiancé to the White House. There was no military guard or escort. Okay, which is the right scenario? I don’t know. And to make it more confusing, we also have Charles Forbes’s 1892 affidavit, in which he said that Charles Forbes first accompanied Clara and Rathbone to the theater (the carriage presumably being driven by coachman B……) and then returned to the White House for Pres Lincoln and Mary.

(3) How was the seating in the carriage? The open carriage with only one hood over the 2-persons backseat and 2 (folding?) seats in front. Pres. Lincoln and Mary sitting under the hood looking in the driving direction, Clara en Rathbone in front of them, facing each other or were Clara and Rathbone seated Vis à Vis? Was the President sitting on the right seat? Were there two or four horses, coachman B…… holding the reins, and alongside him footman Charles Forbes?

(4) We know that the coachman went in Taltavul’s Star Saloon to have a drink, with two others. Were these two John F. Parker and Charles Forbes, during an intermission of the play, after the first act? If they did, than the President and his party were at that moment completely unguarded. Forbes returned, because we know he was seated just outside the box when the president was shot (which is also carved on his headstone).

(5) After Lincolns death the carriage was inherited by Robert Todd Lincoln and later was sold to a New York physician, F.B. Brewer. Clement Studebaker, one of the founders of the Studebaker carriage company, bought it from Brewer in 1889 and displayed it for many years in Chicago. The carriage eventually was moved to South Bend. But where is it now?

Who has the answers? Thanks!