Surratt Society Meeting and "Conference" 2021

[Steve]

I've probably thought too much about this whole "coins on the eyes" question. Here's another account from 1914, by Lt. John Bolton who claimed he was the officer in charge of the Provost Guard at Ford's Theatre the night of the assassination:

A few minutes after seven o'clock on the morning of April 15th, Mr. Lincoln breathed his last. Mrs. Lincoln was summoned from the front parlor, where she had been waiting all night, to the death chamber. At this time I was in the hall and I recall very vividly the words she said as she passed me; they were; "Oh; why didn't you have me to him." (sic) After he died, Colonel Vincent — since promoted to General — asked me if I could get him a silver half-dollar; one of the officers had one and he wanted another to place over the President's eyes, to keep them closed after death. I obtained one from the landlady of the Falstaff House next door, giving her a dollar greenback for it, which was then the value of silver as compared with paper currency. This coin is still in my possession.
Forming my guard in line, we presented arms to the body of the President as it was carried past us to the hearse, after which I was relieved from duty.