Henry Rathbone

Henry Rathbone
1865 Mathew Brady photograph of Rathbone
Birth name	Henry Reed Rathbone
Born	(1837-07-01)July 1, 1837 Albany, New York, U.S.
Died	August 14, 1911(1911-08-14) (aged 74) Hildesheim, Prussia, Germany
Buried	Stadtfriedhof Engesohde (disinterred in 1952)
Allegiance	United States (Union)
Service/branch	U.S. Army (Union Army)
Years of service	1861–1870
Rank	Brevet colonel
Unit	12th U.S. Infantry
Battles/wars	American Civil War Battle of Antietam Battle of Fredericksburg Battle of the Crater
Spouse(s)	Clara Harris ​ ​ (m. 1867; died 1883)​
Children	Henry Riggs Rathbone Gerald Lawrence Rathbone Clara Pauline Rathbone
Relations	Ira Harris (stepfather and father-in-law)
Other work	Attorney

Henry Reed Rathbone (July 1, 1837 – August 14, 1911) was a United States military officer and lawyer who was present at the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln; Rathbone and his fiancé Clara Harris were sitting with Lincoln and Lincoln's wife Mary Todd Lincoln when the president was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre. When Rathbone attempted to apprehend Booth, Booth stabbed and seriously wounded him. Rathbone may have played a part in Booth's leg injury. Although he recovered, Rathbone's mental state deteriorated afterwards, and in 1883, he murdered his wife, Clara, in a fit of madness, later being declared insane by doctors and living the rest of his life in a lunatic asylum.