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Civil War Blog

A project of PA Historian

Another Lost Film – The Battle of Gettysburg

In a 1996 book, Lost Films: Important Movies That Have Disappeared, Frank Thompson, describes the preservation problem of old films, particularly those made during the silent film era (about 1893-1930) – films that were made on nitrocellulose stock, which, if not stored in the most perfect conditions, is known to deteriorate rapidly into a “bubbling […]

Best of 2012 – Pennsylvania Connections to the Lincoln Assassination

Most stories of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln begin the same way.  The author gives the date of  Friday 14 April 1865 and mentions that Lincoln was taking in a play as a form of winding down from the pressures of office and four years of war.  A brief description of the activities of […]

Jeannie Gourlay – Cast Member at Ford’s When Lincoln Was Assassinated

Jeannie Gourlay, a Scottish-born actress, was a player in the stock company of John T. Ford at his Washington theatre on the night President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, 14 April 1865.  The playbill for that night erroneously stated that her role in the Tom Taylor comedy, Our American Cousin, was that of Mary Trenchard, when […]

The Credibility of William Withers Jr. – Lincoln Assassination Witness

On the evening of 14 April 1865, William Withers Jr. was the leader of the orchestra at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.  When John Wilkes Booth fled the theatre after firing the pistol shot that would result in the first assassination of a U.S. president, he supposedly encountered Withers who was standing near the rear […]

William Withers Jr. – Lincoln Assassination Witness

On 14 April 1865, William Withers Jr., a musician, was the orchestra leader at Ford’s Theatre.  It was the night of the assassination of Pres. Abraham Lincoln.  Withers claimed to be backstage at the time the shot was fired and during the escape of John Wilkes Booth, was cut by the assassin as he headed […]