The bullet that killed Lincoln

[loetar44]

Yesterday I had a discussion with a friend of mine re. the bullet that Lincoln killed. No, it was not a morbid conversation. It was his opinion that the bullet was never recovered and was buried with Lincoln. It was my opinion that the M.D.s could not probe the bullet and that the bullet actually fell out of the brain while the autopsy doctors removed the president's brain during the autopsy. "Okay", my friend said and his followup question was: “Where is it now?”. I knew it was since a couple of years on display at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland (like almost every item connected to Lincoln’s life, assassination, death and funeral later found his way into some special collection, like museums, historical societies, government, private collections, and are available for public viewing).

Since my discussion with my friend I’ve two questions:

(1) is it true that the bullet fell out of the brain or was it removed. I found 2 conflicting statements.

---- Assistant Surgeon E. Curtis wrote to his mother: “Not finding it [the bullet] readily, we proceeded to remove the entire brain, when, as I was lifting the latter from the cavity of the skull, suddenly the bullet dropped out through my fingers and fell, breaking the solemn silence of the room with its clatter, into an empty basin that was standing beneath…”.

---- Dr. Robert K. Stone was given permission to conduct the postmortem examination. He wrote: “ … an examination (postmortem) was made in the presence of Surgeon General Barnes, Dr. Curtis and Dr. Woodward of the Army. We traced the wound through the brain, and the ball was found in the anterior part of the same side of the brain, the left side…” Also Dr. Woodward’s official autopsy report states that the bullet was found.

(2) The bullet finally wound up in the hands of the NMH & M in Maryland. But, how came it there? I found the following, but don’t know if this is accurate:

--- Dr. Stone wrote: “I marked the ball ‘A.L.’, the initials of the late President and in presence of the Secretary of War [Stanton], in his office, enclosed it in an envelope, sealed it with my private seal, and indorsed it with my name. The Secretary enclosed it in another envelope, which he endorsed in like manner, and sealed with his private seal. It was left in his custody, and he ordered it to be placed among the archives of his department.”

---- The bullet had been in the Judge Advocate’s Office at the War Department until February 5, 1940, when it was transferred (together with small bone fragments and the probe used to remove the bullet) to the Lincoln Museum (National Park Service).

---- On June 20, 1956 the objects were transferred to the Medical Museum (Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C.). Here it was for the first time put on display (so, it is quite possible that many -like my friend- believe that it was buried with Lincoln).

---- Since May 22, 2012 the bullet is on display at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland.