Dr. Robert King Stone on treating President Lincoln
A doctor's opinion wasn't necessary to know the situation was grim. On April 14, 1865 President Lincoln had been shot in the back of the head at a point blank range. He was quickly transported from the playhouse where he was shot to a privately owned home near the theatre. A number of gentlemen and federal surgeons attended him until Dr. Robert King Stone, the Lincoln family doctor, arrived and examined his patient.
He concurred with the other thirteen doctors in attendance: "the case was a hopeless one." Only Mrs. Lincoln believed in the possibility of a recovery. Dr. Stone gave his account of events as part of the military commission that tried the surviving eight conspirators who had all participated in a larger plan to also attack the Secretary of State and possibly the Vice President. John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's murderer, was gunned down after refusing to surrender to Federal troops after a twelve day pursuit.
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