State Box

[davg2000]

(05-14-2014 07:23 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Welcome to the forum, Robert! I do not believe I have ever seen a specific answer to your question. Mike Kauffman writes that Booth "pushed his way past Mary Lincoln to the front of the box. In one fluid motion he vaulted over the railing to the stage, twelve feet below." If Mike's description is correct then it would probably be Portal I.

Has it been proved conclusively that Booth caught his spur in a Treasury Guards flag, not a United States flag? If so, was the Treasury Guards flag draped over Portal I or Portal II? Or was it in the middle by the picture? Does the photo taken after the assassination have the correct placement of the flags? Or were they just guessing the actual flag placements when the photo was taken?

When I was a child, I was taught that Booth caught his right spur in the U.S. flag (bunting?) draped in front of the box. (This, I was told, was "Old Glory's revenge.") But I haven't thought that for years. Booth hadn't the time necessary to be able sit on the rail of the box and jump the twelve feet, which I think is the only scenario which allows his spur to catch in the U.S. flag. It's much easier to envision Kauffman's idea in which the acrobatic Booth, moving in front of Mary Lincoln, places one or both hands on the rail and vaults. His his right spur would then describe an arc which intersects with the Treasury flag, hanging on a pole to the right of Mary. Somewhere I've seen a picture of the Treasury flag, and there is indeed a small rent in the area where the spur must have hit.