Assassination Trivia

[Steve Whitlock]

We discussed this previously in the Genetic Lincoln thread of the Symposium. I still think the "Navy Surgeon" was Army surgeon C. D. Gatch, who was in attendance with his brother at the play. Several sources name C. D. Gatch as being one of the doctors, and he was included in a painting with others in attendance when Lincoln died. The brothers also claimed that C. D. Gatch climbed up into Lincoln's box.

Unfortunately, my notes for the Gatch brothers may be lost, along with all my research, when my computer bit the dust, and nothing was backed up.

I did a thorough search and, contrary to what Oliver Gatch said in his interviews in 1907 and 1909 (and what's on C. D. Gatch's FindAGrave page), no Dr. Charles Davenport Gatch served in any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces during the Civil War. As far as I can tell from draft registration, petitions, directories, and other documents of the like, C. D. Gatch remained in Ohio during the war. He did, however, work as a civilian contract surgeon at the hospital in nearby Camp Dennison some time during the war in addition to his private practice.

C.D. Gatch is listed as one of the physicians attending to President Lincoln at Peterson House in contemporary newspapers, including the Washington Evening Star on pg. 2 of its April 15, 1865 issue. So it appears true that C.D. accompanied Oliver to D.C. from Ohio and then treated the President at Peterson House; but Oliver's accounts of the assassination come off as "sketchy" when compared to Dr. Leale and Col. Rathbone's contemporary accounts. And why did Oliver claim that his brother had been an Army surgeon who served under Gen. Rosecrans?

According to Oliver Gatch's later newspaper accounts the brothers were seated in the dress circle not far from the President's box. That and C. D. Gatch not wearing a uniform rules him out as one of the individuals described in Clara's affidavit.

Steve Williams,

I have a newsclip that says Dr C. D. Gatch was in uniform, and another that says he wasn't. Meanwhile, here are a couple more photos of him in uniform. The first is the same photo, but larger, that I already showed, and the 2nd is a full body look of him in uniform, from "Descendants of Godfrey Gatch" by Virginia Gatch Markham. C. D. Gatch is in the OH 1860 census as a physician, and in the 1863 U.S. Civil War Draft Reg. records (as a physician). Another record says he was the Assistant Regimental Surgeon, 89th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Reg't.

Some of the remarks, made 40 years later, by Oliver Gatch, don't ring true, as in his claim that Charles was the first doctor to reach Lincoln, that being Dr. Leale; nevertheless, he does appear to have served as a physician during the Civil War, but I haven't found him in a company roster so far. Most telling, to me, is the newsclip the day after the assassination that names him in attendance at Lincoln's bedside. Why would he have been mentioned if not there?

I also have a city directory that shows Dr. C. D. Gatch, but this is enough evidence to show he was a physician, prior to and during the Civil War. Was he in uniform at Ford's theatre is in question, as regards your initial query for the statement of Clara Harris.