Killing Lincoln - Nat Geo (Reactions)

[John E.]

Stanton's fury with Lincoln's death photo being taken was because the family's wishes were ignored. Mrs. Lincoln was the one who insisted that her husband's photo in death NOT be taken.

Once he heard it had been, Stanton was furious. As we all know, he wrote a scathing letter to Gen. Townsend. But it didn't end there. If I'm not mistaken, Townsend wrote back and insisted that the photo was in good-taste and hardly revealed the President's face. He somewhat pleaded with Stanton to reconsider having it destroyed. Perhaps this is why the Secretary of War kept a copy that was not revealed to the public.

Who knows?

The only statement on an autopsy photo being taken on board the Montauk came from a NY Tribune journalist. However, the journalist was not on the ship and either assumed Gardner's presence meant Booth's photo was taken OR someone told him it was. Either way, we can't be certain.

What the Tribune journalist may not have realize at the time and failed to mention was that Gardner took photos of David Herold and Joao Celestino that day. What was the point of taking the autopsy photo if you were just going to destroy it?