The bullet that killed Lincoln

[Dave Taylor]

Kees,

Without doing research, I can't help you regarding exactly how the bullet was found. I have always heard the story that it fell out of the brain when the brain was removed but I've never done any following up on the validity of that account.

Regarding the movement of the bullet, however, I believe you have it mostly right. I know that the it was in the War Department from 1865 until 1940 when it was transferred to Ford's Theatre (Lincoln Museum). I don't have the exact date of when it was transferred from Ford's to the Army Medical Center, but your date seems a bit late. I don't think it was at Ford's Theatre for that long, but rather was deemed inappropriate to have on display there was was transferred shortly after it was first received in 1940.

Here's a part of an 1891 newspaper article about the assassination relics which discusses the bullet.