Lincoln and his Brooks Brothers wool coat

[David Lockmiller]

Abraham Lincoln was dressed in a custom-made Brooks Brothers wool coat for his inauguration in 1865 to a second presidential term. Double-breasted with trim tape outlining hem, lapel and a small ticket pocket, that coat had a lightly padded lining that was embroidered with an eagle motif and a motto. Had history played out differently, we would have little cause to remember what seems like a singularly Lincoln-esque detail about this simple garment: “One Country, One Destiny” stitched inside, to be worn against his narrow frame and known only to a few besides Lincoln’s tailor and the Great Emancipator himself. But, of course, it was that same Brooks Brothers coat that Lincoln selected one month later for an outing to Ford’s Theater, where he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.

A photograph of a replica of Lincoln's coat is shown in the article Brooks Brothers Celebrates 200 Years With a Party — in Florence

(Source: New York Times - January 11, 2018)