After Surgeon General J. K. Barnes examined John Wilkes Booth’s body aboard the Montauk on April 27, 1865, Dr. Barnes reported to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.

He wrote that Booth’s left leg and foot were encased in splints and bandages, which covered a fracture of the fibula three inches above the ankle joint.

He wrote the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the neck. He said paralysis of the entire body was immediate, but the assassin was conscious during the two hours he lingered before his death.