Your personal choice of "most tragic" character in the assassination story

[LincolnMan]

Purely a personal choice-no right or wrong. Who do you feel was the most "tragic?" It could be someone you have great sympathy for. Some of the obvious choices might be Lincoln, himself-or Mrs. Lincoln. Others might include Mary Surratt, or one of the conspirators. Maybe its someone not so well known. Please share!

[J. Beckert]

I'd have to say Mary Lincoln. Having her husband murdered as she sat next to him unsettled her even more. In her later years, every loud bang supposedly reminded her of Booth's shot. After the death's of Eddie & Willie, this seems almost unbearable.

I feel because of his non-involvement and what he was subjected to, Spangler is a close second.

[Laurie Verge]

I second the motion that Mary Lincoln is the most tragic figure. I know that I've said before that I have a soft spot for the First Lady; but I think that her post-White House/Civil War years might have been better had her husband lived, had they traveled like he reportedly wanted to, had they settled into a quieter routine.

I would also like to nominate Anna Surratt as a tragic figure. She faced the absolute humiliation of her mother's arrest, incarceration, and execution pretty much alone. She had to fear what would happen if her brother was caught - and probably was cursing him at the same time for getting the family in the mess. After the execution, she had to seek shelter first with a grandmother that we have no idea what she thought about the situation and then with school friends.

Anna also inherited the chore of settling the estate until her brother, Isaac, returned in the fall of 1865. Four days after her marriage in 1869, her husband lost his government job by special order of the War Department. Her health was reportedly poor for the rest of her life, and she lost several children as infants. Brother John did not even stand by the family when Mary Surratt was reinterred at Mt. Olivet. He was "vacationing" in South America.

[Gene C]

Clara Harris is another tragic figure of that night. Henry Rathbone is too. They get married, he goes nuts and kills her. He spends the rest of his days in an insane asylum in Germany. Another interesting and tragic story.

Laurie, did I detect a note of disdain about Johnny Surratt?

[RJNorton]

Great question, Bill. Certainly there were a lot of unusual deaths among those involved.

For example, although I don't regard John Lloyd as the most tragic figure, he died in an unusual manner in 1892. A great-niece recalled: "He was in the construction business and died of an accident that occurred on one of his building projects. He wasn't satisfied with some work that had been done and went up on a scaffold to inspect it. Near the other end of the scaffold flooring a load of bricks had just been deposited. As he reached the scaffold and stood on it, the boards gave way, and he fell to the ground. The bricks tumbling down upon him crushed his head, kidneys, and other parts of his body."

Source: "That Man Lloyd" by Laurie Verge in the April 1988 Surratt Courier.

[Rob Wick]

I would have to say Lincoln's entire family. Mary for the obvious reasons listed; Tad, for losing the man he most looked up to; and Robert, who lived his whole life believing that if he had gone to the theater, he would have been able to save his father's life.

Best
Rob

[LincolnMan]

Roger: I just realized this thread should have been submitted under the "assassination" category. Totally didn't t see that until now. Oh well... More coffee needed.

[RJNorton]

Hi Bill. No problem whatsoever. I moved the thread to "Assassination."

[LincolnMan]

Roger. I'm in awe of your webmaster power!

[RJNorton]

Bill, I got my first Commodore 64 in 1984, and I have been totally addicted to computers since then. So the fascination has been going on for 28 years now.

Here's another "unusual" death:

William A. Petersen, the German tailor in whose house the president died, accidentally took too much laudanum (a mixture of alcohol and opium derivatives) on June 19, 1871. He was found by Washington police on a park bench. The police took him to the station where they tried to pump his stomach. However, it was too late, and Petersen passed away. Petersen's wife, Anna, died exactly four months later.

This information comes from a book written by Petersen's great, great, great grandson, Robert Bain.

[Gene C]

Bill, you may have hit upon a good idea for a book about some of the people who' lives were tragically touched by the assassination. You could call it "Beyond the Box - the Story of the Unintended Victims of the Lincoln Assassination"

[BettyO]

I would have to vote for Fanny Seward as well as Mrs. Seward - both died shortly after Lew Powell's attack - more or less brought on by the horror of that night - Fanny by consumption and Mrs. Seward, whose heart was affected.

Annie Surratt was an extremely tragic person as well....

Also tragic, I feel, are the parents and family of Lew Powell. Lew's parents suffered dreadfully. They moved again (after having moved about a year earlier) further into the Florida backwoods, in fear that some neighbors would retaliate against them. I also recently found out that shortly after the execution some cruel person anomalously sent Mr and Mrs Powell a package of CDV photographs showing Lewis in every possible position while hanging - certainly a hateful thing to do to grieving parents. Their son made a serious mistake and paid for it with his life - but why make the parents, who knew nothing of it, pay? Folk could be just as cruel and mean in the Victorian era as they are nowadays....

[LincolnMan]

Gene: I would purchase such a book in a heartbeat! There is nothing out there like that?

[BettyO]

(07-24-2012 01:25 PM)Gene C Wrote:  Bill, you may have hit upon a good idea for a book about some of the people who' lives were tragically touched by the assassination. You could call it "Beyond the Box - the Story of the Unintended Victims of the Lincoln Assassination"

Great idea and great title, Gene!

[RJNorton]

Bill, Michael Kanazawich's Remarkable Stories of the Lincoln Assassination touches a little on this topic, but it isn't really devoted to it. It is a very short book filled with fascinating stories. I enjoyed it very much.