Henry Rathbone

Henry Rathbone
1865 Mathew Brady photograph of Rathbone
Birth nameHenry Reed Rathbone
Born(1837-07-01)July 1, 1837
DiedAugust 14, 1911(1911-08-14) (aged 74)
Buried
Stadtfriedhof Engesohde (disinterred in 1952)
Allegiance United States (Union)
Branch U.S. Army (Union Army)
Service years1861–1870
Rank Brevet colonel
Unit12th U.S. Infantry
ConflictsAmerican Civil War
Spouse
(m. 1867; died 1883)
ChildrenHenry Riggs Rathbone
Gerald Lawrence Rathbone
Clara Pauline Rathbone
RelationsIra Harris (stepfather and father-in-law)
Other workAttorney

Henry Reed Rathbone (July 1, 1837 – August 14, 1911) was an American military officer and lawyer who was present at the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln; Rathbone and his fiancée 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 on April 14, 1865.

When Rathbone attempted to apprehend Booth, Booth stabbed and seriously wounded him. Rathbone may have played a part in Booth's leg injury. His mental state deteriorated afterwards, and in 1883, he killed his wife, Clara; he was declared insane and lived the rest of his life in a lunatic asylum.