Dr. Charles Leale: First, last and always

(Dr. Charles Augustus Leale)

Dr. Charles Augustus Leale accomplished much during his long life - but what he shall always be remembered for was being the first to doctor Lincoln’s fatal wound and the last to clasp Lincoln’s dying hand.

While current headlines revisit Lincoln’s last hours (as detailed by Leale within a recently-discovered document), little attention rests

upon the man who painstakingly wrote this 21-page report. Although Leale wrote it only hours after Lincoln’s death, he refrained from publicly speaking about these details until 44 more years had passed.   His reason for waiting that long reflects his essentially religious nature.

In the introduction to his 1909 New York City speech that was given in honor of the hundredth anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, Leale explained his long silence in this manner:  “As soon as I

returned to my private office in the hospital [immediately after Lincoln’s death], I drew down the window-shade, locked the door, threw myself prostrate on the bare wood floor and asked for advice.  The answer

came as distinctly as if spoken by a human being present:  ‘Forget it all.’”

This same religious connection is what most likely prompted Leale to continue holding Lincoln’s hand for all those harrowing hours.  When asked about it afterwards, Leale merely stated:  “Sometimes recognition and reason return just before departure.  I held his hand firmly to let him know, in his blindness, that he had a friend.”

This same steadfast faith led Leale to document Lincoln’s death not just medically, but also religiously. Within this newfound National Archives report, Leale had simply written: At 7:20 a.m. he [Lincoln] breathed his last, and ‘the spirit fled to God who gave it.’  

Resources

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/06/12085876-doctors-report-on-lincoln-assassination-discovered-by-researcher?lite&ocid=ansmsnbc11

http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=1534780&pageno=2

http://rebacres.com/?page=15&article=17&hide=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Leale

Copyright June 10, 2012 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved