Suppression of conspirators' photographs

[Linda Anderson]

There's only one reference to Powell or Booth in the letters that have been published so far in the Seward Family Digital Archive.

William Seward, Jr., William and Frances Seward's youngest son, sent some photographs of Booth and the "villain who tried to kill him [Fred Seward] & father" to his wife, Jenny, in a letter dated May 13, 1865.

"Washington
May 13/65
My dear Jenny
I enclose herein
an excellent photograph of
Fred, and thrwo [sic] of the villian[sic]
who tried to kill him & father
also one of Booth, these two
latter have been suppressed by
order of the War Dept but a friend
of mind gave them to me. Show
them as much as you like but
do not allow any copies to be made
of them."

https://sewardproject.org/18650513WSJ_JWS4

Dave Taylor tweeted on Dec. 30, 2016:

"Demand was so high for #JohnWilkesBooth's image that authorities in D.C. & Maryland enacted a ban against their sale. It was later lifted."

https://twitter.com/BoothieBarn

So were the photos suppressed or just the sale of them?