escort to Springfield

[David Lockmiller]

(10-01-2018 08:44 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  But the article Thomas K. linked to says:

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"The story behind the artifact: After Lincoln was shot, McCamly was among those helping move the mortally wounded president from the theater to a building across the street. Something fell from Lincoln's body and McCamly picked it up.

He found the binoculars in his pocket the next day. It's unclear whether he tried to return them amid the turmoil following the president's death. They were handed down within the family from generation to generation."

I believe that we are talking about two opera glasses - one belonging to Abraham Lincoln and the other belonging to Mary Lincoln. Can you imagine Abraham and Mary Lincoln wanting to look through a single set of opera glasses at the same time? And, they were probably a matched set - purchased or gifted at the same time. [I later found out that they were definitely NOT a matched set.]

In the chaos of the moment in transporting the wounded Abraham Lincoln across the street, Captain McCamly must have forgotten completely about putting the Abraham Lincoln opera glasses in his pocket. Later, that night Captain McCamly returned to Ford's Theater with a detachment of soldiers to secure the murder scene where the second glasses were found. Apparently, that same night Captain McCamly returned the glasses to Mary Lincoln or someone else who would return the opera glasses to her.

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(10-01-2018 09:02 AM)L Verge Wrote:  It would be interesting to see his military and pension records -- if serving with the Washington City Guard, was he eligible for a U.S. pension?

From the Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the . . . Congress. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD –HOUSE 1890, page 3513.

“The next business on the Private Calendar was the bill (H. R. 5263) granting a pension to Sarah C. McCamly.

The bill was read, as follows:

Be it enacted, etc. That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to place on the pension-roll, subject to the provisions and limitations of pension laws, the name of Sarah C. McCamly, widow of James M McCamly, late captain of Company A, Ninth Veteran Reserve Corps, and who had command of the guard of honor in charge of the remains of the late President Abraham Lincoln and that said pension commence September 1, 1978, at which date her husband died and his pension discontinued.

Claimant is the widow of Capt. James McCamly . . . who was pensioned at the rate of $20 per month for gunshot wound of right hip and left leg, received at the battle of Williamsburgh, March 5, 1862, and who died in New Orleans in the year 1878 . . . .

(Note: The widow's claim for a pension was initially rejected because the soldier's death was not caused by the wound but by yellow fever; but the fever was taken in New Orleans while he was there for the purpose of receiving an examination by the Pension Board of his wounds received in battle.)