Last time, I wrote about Albert King, who was present at Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. This week, we observe the sesquicentennial of that terrible day in American history. King was not the only Capitol Hill doctor who assisted the dying President through his last night. Today, I look at another MD, one who later was involved in the aftermath of yet another Presidential assassination.
Charles Mason Ford was born in Troy, NY and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with an M.D. in 1861, just in time to join the Navy as a doctor. He was sent south to assist the squadron blockading Huntsville. The time in the Navy did not agree with him, and he was sent home to recover from rheumatism. After spending some time recuperating at home, he re-enlisted– this time in the army. He was sent to Clifton Hospital in Washington D.C., after which he was assigned to the Old Capitol prison. He was serving there on April 14, 1865.
While not at Ford’s theater per se, he was one of the first to arrive at the Petersen boarding house, in fact beating Lincoln’s family physician to the patient’s bedside. Ford spent the night taking the President’s pulse and respiration, as well as making further notes on his condition. These observations were then written down by his colleague, Dr. King.
Detail of the 1881 city directory, showing Ford’s entry – including his office hours (archive.org)
After retiring from the military, Ford opened a practice on Pennsylvania Avenue SE. He also worked at Providence hospital, just south of his practice, as well as at the Washington Asylum. Later in his career he also became the in-house doctor for the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad.
His second brush with the presidency came in 1881, when President Garfield was shot. Garfield lingered on much longer than Lincoln, and at first the prognosis looked good. In fact, when Ford was brought in to check on him, less than 24 hours after the President was shot, Ford stated “that the temperature and respiration were normal, and that they had reason to hope for the President’s recovery.”
While Ford may have been excessively optimistic at this point, it has become clear that it was not, in fact, the bullet that killed Garfield, but rather an infection – quite possibly introduced by one of the physicians who treated him – that did him in.
Ford did not outlast Garfield by much. On February 14, 1884, the Evening Star reported that he had “been confined to his home on Capitol Hill by illness for some time [and] was considerably worse this afternoon.” They continued that “there is little hope of his recovery.” It turned out that their powers of prognosis were considerably better than Ford’s had been; five days later, Dr. Ford was dead. He was buried with all Masonic honors in Congressional Cemetery.