author
Charles A. (Charles Augustus) Leale
1842–1932
Best remembered as the young army surgeon who reached Abraham Lincoln moments after the shooting at Ford’s Theatre, he later built a long medical career in New York. His firsthand account of that night has made him an enduring figure in Civil War history.
1 Audiobook
Lincoln's Last Hours
by Charles A. (Charles Augustus) Leale
About the author
Born in New York City in 1842, Charles Augustus Leale studied medicine at Bellevue Hospital Medical College and entered service as a Union Army surgeon during the Civil War. In April 1865, only weeks after graduating, he was at Ford’s Theatre when President Abraham Lincoln was shot, and he became the first doctor to reach the president and attempt treatment.
That single night made him historically significant, but it was only part of his life. After his army service ended, he returned to New York, where he practiced medicine for many years and was also involved in charitable medical work.
Leale lived until 1932, long enough to be remembered as one of the last surviving eyewitnesses to Lincoln’s assassination. He also left behind written recollections of the event, which helped preserve one of the most closely studied medical and historical moments of the nineteenth century.