Tube City Almanac

March 17, 2014

The Men Who Carried Lincoln

Category: History || By Andi Cartwright

Lithograph of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln


When four McKeesport-area soldiers received permission to leave Camp Barry in Washington, D.C., to attend a production of "Our American Cousin" at the Ford's Theater, they never suspected that they would become participants in the aftermath of one of the nation's most tragic occurrences.

That night, April 14, 1865, the four soldiers, Jacob Soles, Jabes Griffith, John Corey and William Sample, found themselves seated in a box on the same side of the theater as President and Mrs. Lincoln and their guests.

Jacob Soles, a miner from North Versailles Twp., recalled watching the President during the play and "noticed him laughing at one of the comical parts of the show."

Shortly after the play resumed from intermission for the third and final act, they heard the crack of a gunshot through the theater. The four reached the President "in seconds." said Soles: "We lifted him up. He felt limp, as if all of the fight had gone out of him."

As they carried him to a house across 10th Street belonging to the Peterson family, the President asked in a whisper, to no one in particular, "Where are they taking me?"

The vigil for the President lasted the night, and he passed the next morning at 8 a.m. April 15, 1865. The identity of the four soldiers remained a mystery until 1931 when a reporter for the New York Herald-Tribune was given a tip for a story about that fateful night.

You can learn more about these four men and other local heroes of the Civil War by visiting the McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center in Renzie Park, which is currently hosting "The Civil War in Pennsylvania," a traveling exhibit from the Senator John Heinz History Center. For operating hours call (412) 678-1832 or visit the website www.mckeesportheritage.org.

Andi Cartwright is creator of the McKeesport Memories Facebook page and a member of the board of directors of McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center. She hosts the "McKeesport History Minute," heard on WEDO (810) and available as a free download from iTunes and Stitcher. Library of Congress image via Wikimedia Commons.






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