The Gatch Brothers

[RJNorton]

Many thanks to Steve Williams for sending these articles.

Regarding the articles Steve writes, "One is the article from the Washington Evening Star from its April 15, 1865 edition, mentioning C. D. Gatch as one of the physicians attending Lincoln at Peterson House. I've also included Dr. Charles Gatch's obituary from pg. 4 of the 01 Nov. 1870 edition of the Cincinnati Daily Enquirer. Since Dr. Gatch died at 38, I'm sure the information in the obituary comes from a relative (like a brother) not himself.

There are also 3 Oliver Gatch newspaper interviews. One from page 12 of the South Bend Tribune's (Indiana) 23 Sept. 1907 edition. The next is from page 5 of the 15 Nov. 1907 edition of the Belmont Success (Wisconsin). The last is from page 1 of the 27 Jan. 1909 edition of the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader (Pennsylvania). The 1909 article was reprinted in numerous articles.

I don't know what to make of Oliver's accounts with details like

- A soldier guard for Lincoln's box, who Booth pushed by to get to Lincoln

- Lincoln being undressed in his chair by Maj. Rathbone looking for a wound

- His brother being the first physician admitted to the box

- Lincoln still in his chair with Laura Keene in the box

- Going back to Ford's Theater to measure the distance of Booth's jump the next day

with the fact that his brother indeed was at Peterson House. I did notice that Oliver's story about his brother's surgeon work during the war changed from 1907 where Charles was a surgeon under Gen. Rosecrans but in 1908 when he told his story in the nationwide magazine, and more subject to scrutiny, McClure's it shifts to a correct description of Charles being a surgeon at Camp Dennison."

[RJNorton]

IMO, Oliver Gatch falsely wrote the brothers into the story. Most all of what he says is not corroborated by others, including the account of Dr. Leale. I have no explanation why Dr. Gatch is mentioned in the April 15 Washington Evening Star. I can accept that the Gatch brothers were present at Ford's Theatre on April 14, but that is about it. I think the rest of the story told in these articles is the creation of Oliver Gatch. Offhand, I cannot think of any reliable source that accepts Oliver Gatch's story as historical fact.

[Gene C]

Thanks for sharing those articles.
That must have taken some digging around to find all of that.
Haven't read all of it yet, what I did read was interesting.

[Steve]

Roger,
Don't forget that besides Dr. Leale's account, we also have Dr. Taft's contemporaneous affidavit which listed the names of the doctors who treated Lincoln in the box also doesn't list Dr. Gatch. I can't think of how Dr. Gatch's name was listed as one of the attending physicians at Petersen House if he wasn't there. If Dr. Gatch was attending at Petersen House, I don't see how BOTH Leale and Taft could forget to include Gatch among the doctors who were treating Lincoln in the box in their statements written immediately afterwards.

Did Dr. King make an affidavit at the time as well? If he did, I don't remember reading it and it's not in Good's book

By the way, who is "Dr. Neal"? I recognize the other doctors listed with Gatch at Petersen House - Abbott, Stone, Hall, and Lieberman.

[Steve Whitlock]

(01-22-2021 10:58 AM)Steve Wrote:  Roger,
Don't forget that besides Dr. Leale's account, we also have Dr. Taft's contemporaneous affidavit which listed the names of the doctors who treated Lincoln in the box also doesn't list Dr. Gatch. I can't think of how Dr. Gatch's name was listed as one of the attending physicians at Petersen House if he wasn't there. If Dr. Gatch was attending at Petersen House, I don't see how BOTH Leale and Taft could forget to include Gatch among the doctors who were treating Lincoln in the box in their statements written immediately afterwards.

Did Dr. King make an affidavit at the time as well? If he did, I don't remember reading it and it's not in Good's book

By the way, who is "Dr. Neal"? I recognize the other doctors listed with Gatch at Petersen House - Abbott, Stone, Hall, and Lieberman.

Steve Williams,

I also have a 2 part article 20 Apr 2016 from the Community Journal of North Clermont for the Gatch brothers, which has significant differences in that there is no mention of a soldier guard summoning Oliver (I believe Lincoln's civilian guard was next door in a bar at the time, and I don't think there was a soldier guard at Lincoln's door) for Booth to brush past. Also, Oliver says he and Charles, with 2 others, carried Lincoln across the street. (No mention of the severely wounded Henry Rathbone doing the carrying.)

I'm also struck by the mention of a finger finding the bullet wound, which is suspiciously akin to Leale's testimony. There is no mention of Laura Keene in my article, although accounts have her present at some point, with considerable blood on her dress, which leads me to think perhaps Oliver has read some accounts and woven her into his story that you have.

It appears to me that the Gatch brothers were present, but I have no certainty for the level of their involvement. If we know, for certain, there was no soldier guarding the door to summon Oliver then I must discount the story as unreliable. Also, it appears that Charles was not in uniform that night, so he could not be the uniformed naval surgeon that Clara Harris mentioned.

At this point I have no information for Dr. King beyond what I presented, and there is a Wikipedia mention of him being in attendance as one of the physicians treating Lincoln.

[RJNorton]

(01-22-2021 10:58 AM)Steve Wrote:  Roger,
By the way, who is "Dr. Neal"?

Steve, here is what I think this may be a reference to:

In Gideon Welles' diary it says:

"The President had been carried across the street from the theatre, to the house of a Mr. Peterson. We entered by ascending a flight of steps above the basement and passing through a long hall to the rear, where the President lay extended on a bed, breathing heavily. Several surgeons were present, at least six, I should think more. Among them I was glad to observe Dr. Hall, who, however, soon left. I inquired of Dr. H., as I entered, the true condition of the President. He replied the President was dead to all intents, although he might live three hours or perhaps longer."

So who is Dr. Hall? Kees Vandenberg, who lives in the Netherlands, did an amazing amount of research on the topic of Lincoln's doctors, and he wrote:

"James Crowdhill Hall (1805 -1880 – in some accounts “Neal Hall” and J. C. Hall); M.D.; University of Pennsylvania, 1827; he was at AL’s deathbed for only a (very) short moment, but in his opinion AL’s true condition was that “the president was dead to all intents, although he might live three hours or perhaps longer".

So I am thinking "Dr. Neal" was actually "Dr. Hall."

[Steve Whitlock]

(01-22-2021 11:54 AM)Steve Whitlock Wrote:  

(01-22-2021 10:58 AM)Steve Wrote:  Roger,
Don't forget that besides Dr. Leale's account, we also have Dr. Taft's contemporaneous affidavit which listed the names of the doctors who treated Lincoln in the box also doesn't list Dr. Gatch. I can't think of how Dr. Gatch's name was listed as one of the attending physicians at Petersen House if he wasn't there. If Dr. Gatch was attending at Petersen House, I don't see how BOTH Leale and Taft could forget to include Gatch among the doctors who were treating Lincoln in the box in their statements written immediately afterwards.

Did Dr. King make an affidavit at the time as well? If he did, I don't remember reading it and it's not in Good's book

By the way, who is "Dr. Neal"? I recognize the other doctors listed with Gatch at Petersen House - Abbott, Stone, Hall, and Lieberman.

Steve Williams,

I also have a 2 part article 20 Apr 2016 from the Community Journal of North Clermont for the Gatch brothers, which has significant differences in that there is no mention of a soldier guard summoning Oliver (I believe Lincoln's civilian guard was next door in a bar at the time, and I don't think there was a soldier guard at Lincoln's door) for Booth to brush past. Also, Oliver says he and Charles, with 2 others, carried Lincoln across the street. (No mention of the severely wounded Henry Rathbone doing the carrying.)

I'm also struck by the mention of a finger finding the bullet wound, which is suspiciously akin to Leale's testimony. There is no mention of Laura Keene in my article, although accounts have her present at some point, with considerable blood on her dress, which leads me to think perhaps Oliver has read some accounts and woven her into his story that you have.

It appears to me that the Gatch brothers were present, but I have no certainty for the level of their involvement. If we know, for certain, there was no soldier guarding the door to summon Oliver then I must discount the story as unreliable. Also, it appears that Charles was not in uniform that night, so he could not be the uniformed naval surgeon that Clara Harris mentioned.

At this point I have no information for Dr. King beyond what I presented, and there is a Wikipedia mention of him being in attendance as one of the physicians treating Lincoln.

Steve Williams,

So much for my declining memory! You will find mention of Dr. King in the statement of Dr.Charles A. Leale (attached). Dr. King is mentioned as having arrived at the same time as Dr. Taft, so he was also in the Lincoln box, as stated in the earlier article.

You will also find some familiar wording to the Oliver Gatch story, and an unfortunate error by Oliver when he mentions getting Lincoln's cuffs, which were stolen 15 years ago (in his recounting). You will also see Dr. Leale claiming those cuffs. One of them is taking liberties with the other man's story, or so it seems abundantly clear to me.

There was a Captain who cleared the way. Could that have been Oliver? It still seems to me that the Gatch brothers were there, but not in the manner described in Oliver Gatch's presentation. He would have served himself and his brother better by just saying they were present, rather than embellishing his story.

Dr. Leale does broadly mention several physicians being present, without naming them.

I know Dr. King was present with Leale and Taft, but I have no knowledge of him being the "Naval surgeon" described by Clara Harris.

There is also https://www.c-span.org/video/?460076-1/l...g-doctors, which is a link to a C-Span video presentation for "Lincoln Assassination Attending Doctors" by Dr John Willen, which features Dr Charles A. Leale in a general overview of the assassination.

In my opinion this is not the greatest presentation you'll ever see, but hang in there and you see some things of interest, including the mention of Dr. King, and the blood-stained Lincoln cuffs that Dr. Leale had.

It also seems that Dr. Willen is a friend of Ed Steers and gives Mr. Steers a plug during the question portion of the presentation near the end.

[Ernesto]

Jimmy Durante, the "snozzola" of bygone days, used to quip, "everybody wants to get in on the act." This is one more of the same. I dug into the finger in the head story (no pun intended...well yes) at some length in "A Finger in Lincoln's Brain" (shameless plug) and had I come across a Dr. Gatch's finger, I would certainly have added it to the list.