White House Historical Association

Francis P. Burke

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"Francis P. Burke," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/342.
Position
Coachman
Years in President's House
1860 – 1865
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Male
Race/Ethnicity
White
Presidencies
James Buchanan
Abraham Lincoln
Biography
Francis P. Burke, sometimes incorrectly identified as Burns, Bourke, or Ned/Edward Burke, served as a White House coachman.1 He was born in Ireland around 1825/1827 and first joined the White House staff during the James Buchanan administration in 1860 as a hostler.2 White House bodyguard William Crook called him a “big, burly Irish coachman.”3 In 1863, newspapers reported that he was exempt from the Civil War draft “on account of disability.”4 On the night of Lincoln’s assassination, Burke took the president to Ford’s Theatre; he went to get a glass of ale and left his post, making Lincoln vulnerable to assassination.5 He left the White House after Lincoln’s death, and worked in Washington, D.C. as a watchman for the State Department in 1875.6 Newspapers reported that “through the favor of Secretary Lincoln, who remembered his services to his father, he was made captain of the watch of the building.”7 He died in 1887 and is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C.8
  1. For an interesting analysis of incorrect naming practices, see John C. Fazio, “Lincoln’s Assassination: Three Riddles,” Civil War Roundtable, https://www.clevelandcivilwarroundtable.com/lincolns-assassination-three-riddles/.
  2. Francis Burke in 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Year: 1860; Census Place: Washington Ward 1, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll: M653_102; Page: 411; Family History Library Film: 803102.
  3. William H. Crook, Memories of the White House: The Home Life of Our Presidents from Lincoln to Roosevelt (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1911), 29.
  4. “Brief Paragraphs,” Alexandria Gazette, August 18, 1863, pg. 2.
  5. “Surratt Trial,” The Daily Milwaukee News, July 17, 1867, pg. 1.
  6. “Francis P. Burke in the 1880 United States Federal Census,” Year: 1880; Census Place: Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia; Roll: 123; Page: 468D; Enumeration District: 070.
  7. “Death of Lincoln’s Coachman,” The New Dominion, March 26, 1887, 2. 
  8. Ibid; "CPT Francis P. Burke," Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/252002683/francis-p-burke.
Birthplace
Ireland
Mount Olivet Cemetery
Related Workers
William H. Crook
Ushers, Stewards, and Doorkeepers, 1865 – 1915
Mary Ann Cuthbert
Housekeeping and Laundry, Ushers, Stewards, and Doorkeepers, 1861 – 1865
Related Association Content
https://www.whitehousehistory.org/fords-theater-and-the-white-house