Hoosier History Live is an independently produced new media project about Indiana history, integrating podcasts, website www.HoosierHistoryLive.org, weekly enewsletter, and social media. Its original content comes initially from a live with call in weekly talk radio show hosted by author and historian Nelson Price. You can hear the show live Saturdays from noon to 1 pm ET at WICR 88.7 fm or stream the show live at the WICR HD1 app on your phone, or at our website.
April 20, 2024
Hoosiers who claimed to witness Lincoln’s assassination
Nearly 160 years ago this month, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in Washington D.C. Witnesses to the tragic event on April 14, 1865 may have included several Hoosiers who claimed to be at Ford's Theatre.
In the decades following the shooting, residents of Indiana towns and cities including Dayton in Tippecanoe County, Ladoga in Montgomery County, Jonesboro in Grant County and Aurora on the Ohio River – as well as Indianapolis – were interviewed by newspapers about what they witnessed. Or claimed to have seen.
During our show, we will explore these reports, including some involving Hoosiers who even said they helped carry the fatally injured president's body to a house across the street, where he was pronounced dead the following morning, April 15. We also will explore the reaction in the Hoosier state to the shocking news that the Great Emancipator, who lived in southern Indiana from ages 7 to 21, had been slain just after the Civil War ended.
Nelson's guest, retired Indianapolis attorney Libby Cierzniak, has researched and written about the accounts of Hoosier "eyewitnesses". She also has researched and written about the reunions of Union Army veterans – encampments of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) – in Indianapolis, which became the country's major host city for the events. Indianapolis hosted several of the GAR encampments, including the first (in 1866) the largest (in 1893, when about 300,000 veterans, delegates and other visitors came to the Hoosier capital) and the last one. It was in 1949 and attended by six surviving veterans, all of whom were at least 100 years old.
Here's a sampling of the accounts by Hoosiers who claimed they were at Ford's Theater, as uncovered by Libby's research:
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Samuel Tilford, a mail clerk from Ladoga, told the Indianapolis Star that he was seated near the box of President and Mrs. Lincoln at Ford's Theatre.
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Dr. Andrew Smith, a Union Army veteran, said he was recuperating from battle injuries in Washington D.C. when he witnessed the assassination. After the war, Smith moved to Indianapolis, where he was a prominent physician until he died in 1915 at age 83.
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And O.C. Gatch, a Union Army soldier who lived on a farm near Aurora, said he and his brother were seated 10 feet from the Lincolns' box. Gatch told the Indianapolis Star that the brothers were among those who helped carry the President across the street to the boarding house.
When news of the tragedy reached Indiana, many newspapers published special editions. According to Libby's research, the Plymouth Weekly Republican in northern Indiana initially reported that few people believed Lincoln had been assassinated. On April 14 in Terre Haute, a massive celebration was being held in the streets (with fireworks, speeches and bonfires) to mark the end of the war. Less than 12 hours later, the streets were jammed again, this time with people "running to and fro as if they felt the most fearful calamity had overtaken them", according to Libby's research.
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