Anderson Ruffin Abbott, son of a wealthy properties speculator, pursued a classical education in preparation for a professional career. Graduating from the Toronto School of Medicine in 1861 he became the first Canadian of African descent to train as a physician. In 1863 he petitioned Abraham Lincoln and was appointed one of only eight black surgeons in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Following Lincoln's assassination, Mary Todd Lincoln bestowed on Abbott the plaid shawl Lincoln wore to his first inauguration. His career as physician, surgeon, Canada's first African Canadian coroner and Superintendent of Chicago's Provident Hospital and Training School gained him respect in both countries and allowed him to bear with tolerance and equanimity the racial prejudice that was never far below the surface.