The Time When a Booth Saved a Lincoln

Medium ^ | July 2025 | Daniel Ganninger

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Less than a year before John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln, Booth’s brother, Edwin Booth, saved Lincoln’s oldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln, from being injured and possibly killed by a train.

Edwin Booth was regarded as one of the great Shakespearean actors of the 19th century. He was the manager of the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City, where many Shakespearean productions were made in 1862. Edwin was a supporter of Lincoln and a Unionist, and he was not close with his brother, who supported secession.

In 1863 or 1864, the exact date is uncertain, Edwin Booth and Robert Lincoln were both at a train station in Jersey City, New Jersey. Robert was off from Harvard and traveling to Washington, D.C., while Booth was going to Richmond, Virginia, with the owner of Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., John T. Ford.

The two men crossed paths while Robert was waiting on the platform to board the train. It was crowded, and Robert was standing near a train car when it started to move. He fell into the open space between the platform and the train and was caught by his coat collar. Robert was pulled back onto the platform by Edwin Booth before being injured or killed by the moving train. Robert didn’t personally know Booth, but he recognized the well-known actor when he saw his face.

Booth later received a congratulatory letter for his heroism from Ulysses S. Grant, for whom Robert Lincoln worked at the time. There is no evidence that Robert ever told his parents about the event, possibly because he didn’t want to worry his mother. It was clear from Robert’s later writings that he appreciated the quick action of Booth at the train station, and it was not an event he forgot about.

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TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: booth; civilwar; edwinbooth; lincoln

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Robert Lincoln didn’t attend the play the night his father was assassinated, even though he had been invited. He never forgave himself for declining, according to a memoir of his friend, Nicholas Murray Butler. Robert believed he would have sat at the back of the box where John Wilkes Booth entered, and Booth would have had to contend with Robert to get to President Lincoln.

For Edwin Booth, the assassination devastated him. He was a Lincoln supporter and felt that an honorable man had been killed by his brother. He also felt that the crime would forever tarnish his name.

Edwin Booth as Hamlet

Robert Todd Lincoln

[nwrep]

He looks more like T.S. Elliott’s son than Abraham Lincoln’s.

[KarlInOhio]

At least he doesn’t look like Webb Hubbell.

[mass55th]

Edwin Booth is buried at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts if anyone is interested. I visited that cemetery many years ago. It's one of those nice garden-type Victorian cemeteries, and it's well kept. Longfellow is buried there. Julia Ward Howe and many others as well.

Find-a-Grave - Edwin Booth.

The rest of the family is buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore. John Wilkes Booth is buried there but his burial is not noted on the family headstone.

Back in the late 80's, I became acquainted with an elderly couple who owned Tudor Hall, the ancestral home of the Booth family in Bel Air, Maryland. Junius Brutus Booth built the home, but he died before the family moved in. Back then it was a bed and breakfast. The Preservation Association for Tudor Hall was founded to help preserve the home, and encourage study of that period of history. Back then the couple, Dorothy and Howard Fox, held yearly Booth and Lincoln related conferences. When Dorothy, and then Howard passed without Wills, the house was taken over by the County, and the Association became defunct. I was lucky enough to stay at the home several times and attend the conferences they held.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Interesting! Has the home remain preserved in some way?

[mass55th]

"Interesting! Has the home remain preserved in some way?"

Yes, it's been preserved, and it's supposed to be open for tours. According to Wikipedia: "The house is currently the home of the Junius B. Booth Society, a group of volunteers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of the historic home. Tudor Hall is open for tours on select Sundays from April until November and during special events hosted by the Society."

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Oh okay...If only schools in the area...and even homeschooling networks made it a point to keep these locations a priority to visit as “field trips” and whatnot. That’d be so helpful.

[mass55th]

"Oh okay...If only schools in the area...and even homeschooling networks made it a point to keep these locations a priority to visit as “field trips” and whatnot. That’d be so helpful."

I agree. I was in grammar school in Rochester, NY in the 1950's. They took us to the local fire department to learn about fire safety. We went to the George Eastman House (founder of Eastman Kodak), and to the Rochester Museum before it also became a Science Center. We listened to radio broadcasts of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and they also took us to the Eastman Theater to hear them in person. In our gym classes, we learned how to dance the waltz and square-danced, and we had home ec classes. We girls learned how to bake, and sew, while the boys did woodworking. That was all in grammar school. I don't know what they teach kids today.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

I don't know what they teach kids today.

Pronouns... :(

[Mean Daddy]

Golf clap

[mass55th]

"Pronouns... :("

And how to have sex with whoever you want.