>>> the long forgotten report of president abraham lincoln has come to light nearly 150 years after his assassination. a researcher discovered a letter written by the first doctor to reach this country's 16th president just minutes after he was shot at a theater in washington, d.c. this incredible document describes how the doctor rushed to lincoln 's side after the president was shot. about 40 feet from where the doctor was sitting.
>> you feel when you are reading his words as if you are a witness to the death of president abraham lincoln . from the moment he was shot to the moment he actually died.
>> i'm joined now by the director of the papers of abraham lincoln project . daniel, thank you for your time.
>> a pleasure to be here.
>> let me get from you how such an incredible document, was it misplaced? was it forgotten? how do you explain where it was kept?
>> it was kept in the surgeon general's records at the national archives . it was filed in the appropriate location in the march-april correspondence under l for leo. i think it has been overlooked for many years. people have obviously studied the assassination very carefully but just haven't seen this particular report and that's the doctor's last name. you were quoted as saying what's fascinating about the report is the immediacy and its clinical just the facts approach. tell me more about what is intriguing in these documents.
>> i think what is exciting about this discovery is that it is truly a first draft of history. it was written a few hours after lincoln passed away . and he was the first doctor to reach him in the presidential box at ford's theater. he and two other physicians made the decision to move him across the street to the petersen house believing he would not survive a trip back to the executive mansion . and the doctor is there the entire night and is holding lincoln 's wrist. another doctor holding his other wrist and the surgeon general holding, or feeling the carotid artery at 7:22 the next morning when lincoln does pass away .
>> as pointed out when the doctor got into the president's box, he was technically dead. as this report goes on, he was able to regain a pulse and get breathing started again?
>> that's correct. he was able to discover the wound. he first thought the president has been stabbed as well because he saw think booth brandish a dagger. but he examined the president and discovered the hole in the back of his head and removed a blood clot. that reduced some pressure allowing lincoln to breathe more easily and in effect kept him alive. those treatments kept him alive for the next eight or nine hours.
>> and again this document, the doctor wrote for the 1867 committee investigating the assassination. other doctors have looked at this account and basically conclude for the medical, if you will, technology, if we can even call it that during those times. he followed everything even though it was the president of the united states , by the book then.
>> yes. and what is really exciting to me about this report is although he certainly recognizes this is the president, he's treating him as a patient. you really get the humanity both of the doctor and of lincoln . he discovers when he gets him to the petersen house that his lower extremities , his lower legs and feet are very cold. he brings some warm bottles of water and blankets to help the circulation and make him more comfortable. you get this sense of lincoln as a patient, and another human being even though he is well aware that he is the president of the united states .
>> this is incredible. it has caught all of our eyes. we saw pete williams ' report on nightly news and we're so glad you were so close to the document and the information it provided.
google stock google stock gawker hayden panettiere china gdp looper dont trust the b in apartment 23
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.