Doctor with Hamilton ties, 1st Black man at White House reception, among ‘courageous’ Civil War surgeons
More than 100 years after his death, Anderson Ruffin Abbott’s visit to the White House and his relationship with President Abraham Lincoln continue to fascinate people.
Abbott, a man of notable firsts, is included in Jill L. Newmark’s book Without Concealment, Without Compromise: The Courageous Lives of Black Civil War Surgeons.
In addition to being the first Black Canadian to be licensed as a physician, Newmark said, he was one of the first two Black people to attend a reception at the White House.
Born in Toronto on April 7, 1837, Abbott practised medicine in Hamilton’s Dundas community for about 10 years, and held significant roles in the medical field in Ontario and the United States, including surgeon in chief.
Newmark said Abbott followed his friend and mentor — fellow Black Civil War Dr. Alexander Augusta, who trained in Canada in the 1850s — to Washington in 1863 to serve as a surgeon in the U.S. army.
During her research for her 312-page book, which was published in 2023 and includes the stories of 14 doctors, Newmark said she learned through Abbott’s archival papers and journals at the Toronto Public Library that he lived in a boarding house when he arrived in Washington.
“Elizabeth Keckley, who was the confidant and a seamstress for Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln’s wife … she lived in the boarding house where Anderson Abbott lived,” Newmark told CBC News.
“When Anderson Abbott got here, he got very sick and she helped kind of nurse him back to health. Obviously, Alexander Augusta came to see him there and he was the physician that treated him. So there were these connections.
“Anderson Abbott later in life applied for a pension … and Elizabeth Keckley did [a deposition] for him and she considered him an intimate friend. So they became friends in Washington, D.C.,” added Newmark.
Months after he arrived in the U.S., Abbott attended a reception at the White House.
“In February of 1864, Alexander Augusta [an American] and Anderson Abbott were the first Black men, probably the first Black soldiers for sure, to attend a White House reception,” Newmark said.
“The question about how they got the invitation is not clear, but I’m sure that Elizabeth Keckley had something to do with that. There weren’t that many Black surgeons in Washington, D.C. I’m sure that they knew who these people were. I’m sure that Abraham Lincoln knew who Augusta was, and so did Secretary [Edwin] Stanton because he had to approve him to take the exam to become a surgeon.”
White House visit ‘created a stir’
Newmark said the presence of Augusta and Abbott in the White House “created a stir, because here are two Black men in military officer uniforms at a White House reception.”
In the 1890s, Abbott wrote about the experience, Newmark said.
“He talks about going to the reception and giving their coats, and then going in and everybody’s watching them. He basically said something could have fallen down from the skylight that wouldn’t have been as shocking as them walking in,” she said.
“They were greeted warmly by President Lincoln. They walked around. I think Lincoln’s son asked his father, ‘Are you going to accept this innovation or something of that nature?’ And he said, ‘Why not?’
“That was quite a thing. So they basically broke the colour barrier at White House events,” Newmark said.
Abbott wrote he was at the boarding house when Lincoln was shot, and a messenger for Mary Lincoln came to the door looking for Keckley.
“Abbott says it wasn’t proper for a woman to be going out in the middle of the night by themselves. So, he said he accompanied her in the carriage [to the hospital],” Newmark said.
‘Abbott got a shawl that belonged to Lincoln’
The next morning, Abbott learned Lincoln had died.
“After Lincoln died, Mary Lincoln gave gifts of Lincoln’s possessions to different people, and Anderson Abbott got a shawl that belonged to Lincoln,” Newmark said.
“So, that has to be representative of the possible friendship they had. He also says that after the president died, he went to the White House, and he went into the East Room and he viewed the body.
“He described the White House as sombre in the extreme, with heavy mourning drapery, the deep gloom of the interior, the hushed voices and muffled footsteps,” added Newmark
While confirming he was escorted to the room where Lincoln’s body was, “he said it would be ungracious to describe the afflicted family. Suffice it to say that the anguish of the widow and the privacy of her apartments surrounded by her children, and with Miss Keckley as her sole companion, was pitiable in the extreme,” Newmark said.
Shawl ‘a prized item’: Abbott’s great-granddaughter
Abbott’s great-granddaughter, Catherine Slaney said the black-and-white shawl from Mary Lincoln was cherished by the family.
“That was a prized item that was in the family … and he was very proud of that,” Slaney told CBC Hamilton.
“It is now in the Wisconsin Textile Museum. We sent it down there because we felt it would be more meaningful in the hands of the Americans.”
Slaney said Abbott never forgot where he came from and was always actively involved in the community.
“When he came back, he worked in Toronto operating at the Toronto [General] Hospital, then he became coroner of [Chatham-Kent] County, and he went on to private practice,” she said.
“He was the head of every community organization — the school association, the church, whatever was going on in town, and that was that lifestyle in those days.”
‘Abbott’s life story should be cherished by all Canadians’
Alan Smith, historical researcher at the the Dundas Museum and Archives, said important lessons can be learned from Abbott’s story.
“Successes, hardships and value contained within Dr. Anderson Ruffin Abbott’s life story should be cherished by all Canadians,” Smith told CBC News.
“He provides us with a roadmap as to what is possible, not just 150 years ago, but what can be achieved, no matter your race, when opportunity is within one’s grasp.”
Smith said the Dundas Museum and Archives, through its upcoming website dedicated to the achievements of Black Canadians, “hopes to reach out and help inform as to the remarkable lives of these early citizens like Dr. Abbott. Who knows? Maybe a future great Canadian physician will initially learn about Abbott’s life and remark, ‘Maybe I could become a doctor too.'”
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.