Mary Todd Lincoln
One witness to President Abraham Lincoln’s death was his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. She had attended the comic play, “Our American Cousin” with her husband that memorable evening. Little did she know that that would be the very last event she would ever attend with him. In April 1865, her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre. She was with him, when John Wilkes Booth fired a shot through the back of her husband’s head, leaving him paralyzed and barely breathing. Although he did not die immediately after being shot, both her and their son stayed with Lincoln throughout the night until he died the following morning, April 15, at 7:22 am. Mary received many messages of condolences, and she answered every one personally. As a widow, she returned to Illinois and then later published a book providing valuable insight into her life as a First Lady, and also as a widow.
