Worst Seat in the House (three stars)

While everyone almost everyone knows the circumstances of Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theater, how he was killed, who the perpetrator was, etc., very few know that the Lincolns had company that fateful night. The story of Maj. Henry Rathbone and Clary Harrison only adds to the tragedy that was Lincoln's fate.






Maj. Rathbone was a New Yorker, a man of some means who nevertheless volunteered for duty during the Civil War and did not seek to use his political connections to get the command of a regiment as so many other affluent New Yorkers had done. He was satisfied with a captain's commission and took part in many of the battles fought by the Army of the Potomac. By the end of the war he was assigned to Washington D.C. and since his wife-to-be was a friend of Mary Todd Lincoln he and Clara were invited to join the Lincolns for a performance of Our American Cousin. When Booth shot the President it was Rathbone who attempted to capture the man, receiving a serious wound in the arm from a hunting knife that the assassin had with him. His efforts may, or may not, have resulted in Booth's own injury upon dropping to the stage.


The histories that even mention that much usually leaves Henry and Clara to disappear into history. However, for them the story didn't end there. In his efforts to release Booth's "bar" at the door and to remain close to the President as he lived the last hours of his life Rathbone neglected his own injury, which led to a serious blood loss. Clara rushed him to her father's nearby house where he would be physically incapacited for some time.






But what of his psychological injuries? Stephens pushes hard for a diagnosis of PTSD in Rathbone... a problem which would result in madness for the man with horrible results many years later. In fact, the author pushes a little TOO hard for his view of PTSD, letting it creep in throughout the book and making it hard to really get a feel for Rathbone as a man rather than a victim. This defect in the book is compounded by issues with the layout (no page numbers for the chapters) and some grammatical errors. There are photos and other illustrations in the book but they often seem misplaced or irrelevent. I did think that the discussion of where Rathbone was actually seated in the box and whether he could have stopped Booth before he shot Lincoln is relevent and worth further discussion but there are several explanations which would make allow for Rathbone's seating and his testimony that he was watching the play.






If you are interested in the Lincoln assassination I believe this book would make good reading for you. It certainly covers an aspect I have not seen elsewhere.