Collection ID: 0011 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Lincoln assassination testimony reported by James Tanner

Authors

• Tanner, James, , 1844-1927

Call number

XI.2.Lincolniana
(Philadelphia, Abraham Lincoln Foundation of the Union League)

Publisher

Abraham Lincoln Foundation of the Union League

Language

Primary language: English.

Origin

Date

1865

Place

Washington (D.C.)

Summary

In 1865, Corporal James Tanner was a disabled Civil War veteran working as a clerk in the Ordnance Bureau of the War Department and living in an apartment next to the Peterson House in Washington, D.C. On April 14th, President Abraham Lincoln was shot during a theatre performance at Ford's Theatre. The mortally wounded President was taken to the Petersen House. Because he had stenography skills, Tanner was called into the Peterson House. While Lincoln lay dying in the bedroom, Tanner sat in the parlor and recorded eyewitness testimony as given to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and David Kellogg Carrter, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. The interrogation of the witnesses took place between midnight and 1:30 A.M. "In fifteen minutes I had testimony enough to hang Wilkes Booth, the assassin, higher than ever Haman hung" noted Tanner. While still in the parlor, Tanner transcribed his shorthand notes into longhand, finishing his task at 6:45 A.M. Tanner returned to his apartment and, dissatisfied with the quality of the first transcription, began a second copy which he left with an aide of Stanton's at his office in the War Department. Tanner retained the original testimony. The copy deposited at the War Department was lost. In 1905, Tanner's son took his father's first transcription and mounted each sheet on linen and bound them.

Subjects names

• Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
• United States. President (1861-1865 : Lincoln)

Subjects topical

• Presidents--Assassination

Subjects geographic

• Washington (D.C.)
• United States--Politics and government--1861-1865

Genres

• Testimonies

Licenses

• Text

  Metadata is ©2014 Abraham Lincoln Foundation of the Union League and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

• Text

  These images and the content of Abraham Lincoln Foundation of the Union League XI.2.Lincolniana Lincoln assassination testimony reported by James Tanner are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

Table of contents

• fol. 2r — Statement by James Tanner
• fol. 2v — Handwritten note: 2/27/1909 Interview with Henry Hawk, signed James A. Tanner
• fol. 3r — Newspaper clipping: "Tanner Also Present …"
• fol. 4r — Shorthand notes
• fol. 6r — Testimony of Alfred Cloughly
• fol. 14r — Shorthand notes
• fol. 15r — Testimony of Mr. A.M.S. Crawford
• fol. 19r — Shorthand notes
• fol. 19v — Handwritten note: 2/27/1909 Interview with William Henry Hawk, signed James A. Tanner
• fol. 20r — Statement of William Henry Hawk
• fol. 22r — Shorthand notes
• fol. 23v — Handwritten note: James C. Ferguson kept a saloon next to Ford's Theatre
• fol. 24r — Statement of James C. Ferguson
• fol. 28r — Shorthand notes
• fol. 29v — Handwritten note: H.B. Philips: Stage manager at Ford's and an old Philadelphian
• fol. 30r — Statement of Mr. Henry B. Philips
• fol. 33r — Shorthand notes
• fol. 34r — Statement of Colonel G.V. Rutherford
• fol. 35r — Notarized statement that facts recorded are true and correct