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The
Assasination of Lincoln |
Two Westchester men played key roles in the events of April 14, 1865, the day of Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theater in Washington. At that evening's performance of "Our American Cousin," Dr. Charles Sabin Taft, who later retired to Mount Vernon, occupied the box directly below Lincoln's. The orchestra leader at Ford's Theater was another Westchester man, Colonel William Withers of Rye Beach. After hearing a shot, Dr. Taft declared himself to be a doctor and was helped into the President's box. Taft said afterwards, "[Lincoln] was totally unconscious and breathing heavily, an occasional sigh escaping with the breath." He stayed at the President's bedside through the night, until his death the following morning. Charles Sabin Taft is now buried in St. Paul's cemetery in Mount Vernon.
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