Did Lincoln own any weapons?

[RJNorton]

(05-16-2013 07:42 PM)LincolnMan Wrote:  If Lincoln was carrying a pistol at Ford's Theater, why do you suppose it is not known? Why isn't it among the things we know he had with him that night?

Bill, the person doing the research is Dr. Tom Schwartz, former Illinois State Historian and now the director of the The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum. Tom was a student in my classroom in 1969. This is an example of a student becoming the teacher's mentor. I have learned a ton from Tom. He is convinced Lincoln was armed, and I have bugged him numerous times about publishing his research, but he just isn't ready to go public with it. He is such a serious, dedicated historian that he is hesitant to publish when there are a few pieces of the puzzle that are missing. My contacts with Tom has been less since he left Illinois and went to Iowa, but the last I knew, he still planned on pursuing the gaps in the research and writing it up.

Tom is not the only one who has discovered evidence of this. So has Louise Taper. On p. 314 of Catherine Clinton's Mrs. Lincoln: A Life the author writes, "Abraham Lincoln himself was carrying a pistol on the night he died." Clinton credits Louise Taper as the source for this.

I am hoping Tom will reach a higher confidence level and publish his research in the upcoming years.