Clara Harris
| Clara Harris | |
|---|---|
 Harris photographed by Mathew Brady (ca. 1860-1865) |
|
| Born | Clara Hamilton Harris )September 4, 1834 Albany, New York, U.S. |
| Died | December 23, 1883) (aged 49) Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany |
| Cause of death | Murder by gunshot |
| Resting place | Stadtfriedhof Engesohde (disinterred in 1952) |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse(s) | Henry Rathbone (m. 1867–1883) |
| Children | Henry Riggs Rathbone Gerald Lawrence Rathbone Clara Pauline Rathbone |
| Parents | Ira Harris Louisa Tubbs Harris |
Clara Hamilton Harris (September 9, 1834[1] - December 23, 1883) was an American socialite. Harris and her then fiancé Major Henry Rathbone were the guests of President Lincoln and First Lady Mary Lincoln when John Wilkes Booth fatally shot the President at Ford's Theatre in April 1865.
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Family
Harris was born in Albany, New York,[2] one of four children of U.S. Senator Ira Harris of New York, and his first wife Louisa Harris (née Tubbs).[3] Harris' mother Louisa died 1845. On August 1, 1848, Ira Harris married Pauline Rathbone (née Penney),[1] the widow of Jared L. Rathbone, a successful merchant who later became the governor of Albany.[4][5] Jared and Pauline Rathbone had four children (two of which, Anna and Charles, died in infancy) including sons, Jared, Jr. and Henry Rathbone.[6]
Although Harris and Henry Rathbone were raised in the same household and were related by their parents' marriage, they fell in love and became engaged.[7] Their engagement was interrupted when the American Civil War broke out in 1861. Henry Rathbone joined the Union Army that year and eventually rose to the rank of Major.[8]
Lincoln assassination
On April 14, 1865, Harris and Major Rathbone accepted an invitation to see a play at Ford's Theatre from President Abraham Lincoln and his wife, First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. The couple, who had been friends with the President and his wife for some time, were invited after Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia, Thomas Eckert and several other people had declined Mrs. Lincoln's invitation to the play.[9]
While watching the play Our American Cousin in the Presidential Box at Ford's Theatre that evening, John Wilkes Booth fatally shot President Lincoln in the back of the head. While attempting to apprehend Booth after the shooting, Booth slashed Major Rathbone's left arm with a Bowie knife from the elbow to his shoulder.[10][11] Rathbone lost a considerable amount of blood which stained Harris' white dress, face and hands when she attempted to aide him.[12] While Rathbone recovered from the attack, President Lincoln died of his wound the following morning. After the assassination, Rathbone blamed himself for not preventing Lincoln's death. He spent the remainder of his life battling delusions and seeking treatments for other physical problems including constant headaches.[10][11]
Later years and death
Harris and Rathbone were married on July 11, 1867. The couple had three children: Henry Riggs (born February 12, 1870), who later became a U.S. Congressman from Illinois, Gerald Lawrence (born August 26, 1871) and Clara Pauline (born September 15, 1872).[13][2] Major Rathbone was discharged from the Army in December 1870. The family lived in Washington D.C. after Rathbone's discharge during which time his mental health deteriorated.[11]
Every year on the anniversary of Lincoln's assassination, journalists would contact the couple with questions about Lincoln's death furthering Rathbone's feelings of guilt. Harris later wrote, "in every hotel we're in, as soon as people get wind of our presence, we feel ourselves become objects of morbid scrutiny.... Whenever we were in the dining room, we began to feel like zoo animals. Henry ... imagines that the whispering is more pointed and malicious than it can possibly be."[14] Rathbone's mental instability worsened and he often became jealous of other men who paid attention to Harris and resented the attention Harris paid their children. He also reportedly threatened his wife on several occasions, convinced that Harris was going to divorce him and take the children.[11][12] Despite his behavior, Rathbone was appointed U.S. Consul to the Province of Hanover by President Chester Alan Arthur in 1882. The family relocated to Germany where Rathbone's mental health continued to decline.[15]
On December 23, 1883, Rathbone attacked his children in a fit of madness. While attempting to protect the children, Harris was fatally shot by Rathbone who then stabbed himself five times in an attempted suicide.[16] Rathbone was charged with murder but was declared insane by doctors after blaming the murder on an intruder. He was convicted and committed to the Asylum for the Criminal Insane in Hildesheim, Germany, where he died in 1911. The couple's children were sent to live with their uncle, William Harris, in the United States.[11]
Harris was buried in the city cemetery at Hanover/Engesohde. Her husband was buried next to her upon his death in 1911. In 1952, the cemetery management, looking over records concerning plots without recent activity or family interest, decided that Rathbone's remains could be disposed of. They were both disinterred and their remains were disposed.[17]
In popular culture
- Clara Harris kept the bloodied white dress she wore on the night of assassination. Unable to bring herself to wash or destroy it, she eventually stored it in a closet in the family's summer home in Albany. After experiencing what she claimed was a visit from Lincoln's ghost, Harris had the closet in which the dress was stored covered with bricks. In 1910, Henry Riggs Rathbone, Harris and Rathbone's eldest son, removed the bricks and had the dressed destroyed reportedly claiming that it had cursed the family.[12] The dress was later the subject of the 1929 book The White Satin Dress, by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews.[17]
- In 1994, Thomas Mallon released the novel Henry and Clara, a fictional account of the lives of Harris and her husband.[18]
References
- ^ a b Ham, Mrs. Thomas H. (1904). A Genealogy Of the Descendants Of Nicholas Harris, M.D.,. C.I.F. Ham. p. 18.
- ^ a b Thomas 1904 p.27
- ^ Seward, Frances Adeline (1963). In Johnson, Patricia Carley. Sensitivity and Civil War, the Selected Diaries and Papers, 1858-1866, of Frances Adeline (Fanny) Seward 2. University of Rochester. p. 719.
- ^ Essex Institute Historical Collections. Essex Institute Press. 1891. p. 165.
- ^ Updike, John (2009). More Matter: Essays and Criticism. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 301. ISBN 0-307-48839-X [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK].
- ^ Talcott, Sebastian V. (2001). Genealogical Notes of New York and New England Families. Heritage Books. p. 634. ISBN 0-788-41956-0 [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK].
- ^ Pappas, Theodore (August 21, 1994). "Henry And Clara's Cruel Fate". chicagotribune.com. p. 1. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
- ^ Steers, Edward, ed. (2010). The Trial: The Assassination of President Lincoln and the Trial of the Conspirators. University Press of Kentucky. p. XLII. ISBN 0-813-12724-6 [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK].
- ^ Steers, Edward (2005). Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 104–105. ISBN 0-813-19151-3 [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK].
- ^ a b Lachman, Charles (2008). The Last Lincolns: The Rise & Fall of a Great American Family. Sterling Publishing Company. p. 288. ISBN 1-402-75890-1 [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK].
- ^ a b c d e Hatch, Frederick (2011). Protecting President Lincoln: The Security Effort, the Thwarted Plots, and the Disaster at Ford's Theatre. McFarland. p. 161. ISBN 0-786-46362-7 [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK].
- ^ a b c Smith, Gene (February/March 1994). "The Haunted Major". American Heritage 45 (1): 1.
- ^ Talcott 2001 p.637
- ^ Pappas, Theodore (August 21, 1994). "Henry And Clara's Cruel Fate". chicagotribune.com. p. 2. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
- ^ Steers, Edward (2010). The Lincoln Assassination Encyclopedia. HarperCollins. p. 158. ISBN 0-061-98705-0 [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK].
- ^ Swanson, James L. (2009). Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase to Catch Lincoln's Killer. HarperCollins. p. 372. ISBN 0-061-80397-9 [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK].
- ^ a b Smith, Gene (February/March 1994). "The Haunted Major". American Heritage 45 (1): 2.
- ^ De Haven, Tom (August 19, 1994). "Thomas Mallon". ew.com. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
