Union Army captain (1837-1908) who was an eyewitness to the Lincoln assassination at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865. He reportedly saw Booth leap from the president's box during his escape, then assisted in the treatment of the wounded president. He brought a physician to the box and cradled Lincoln's head in his lap as they searched for the wound. When some papers fell from the president's pocket, Mary Todd Lincoln entrusted them to Bedee, who subsequently delivered them to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Evidently, some confusion regarding Bedee's presence at the scene and his involvement with the papers made him a suspect within the War Department in the immediate aftermath of the assassination. Bedee was arrested and held for two days before Stanton intervened and exonerated him from any suspicion of wrongdoing. Rare 2.25 x 4 carte-de-visite photo of Captain Edwin Bedee in uniform, crisply signed on the reverse in ink, "Capt. E. E. Bedee, 12th N.H. Vols." In fine condition.
