Peterson's Boarding House
Washington, DC
Photos and text © Gleaves Whitney 2005
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Abraham Lincoln was our nation's first assassinated president. The Peterson House, pictured here, is where the 16th president was carried shortly after being shot in the back of the head by John Wilkes Booth. He passed away at 7:22 a.m. on April 15, 1865, about nine hours after being mortally wounded.
Tours of the first floor of the house are free to the public. -
View of Ford's Theater, directly across the street from the Peterson House. Lincoln and his wife were enjoying a play titled "Our American Cousin," when he was shot.
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This is the small room where Lincoln died. It is barely larger than many walk-in closets.
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Note two things, Edwin Stanton's famous utterance, "Now he belongs to the ages," and the photograph taken of the bedroom on the day Lincoln died.
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The bed pictured here is not the original. The original is with the Chicago Historical Society. It is just to the right of the doorway and was too short to contain Lincoln's stretched out frame.