Lincoln’s last written words

[loetar44]

We discussed Lincoln's last spoken words in another thread. But what about his last written words? I think, there is no real question about this subject. The last word Lincoln ever wrote was a brief note given to George Ashmun (Whig member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts), shortly before 8:00 pm April 14th, 1865, just minutes before Lincoln started for Ford’s Theatre. "Allow Mr. Ashmun and friend to come in at 9 A.M. tomorrow. A Lincoln. April 14, 1865." I suspect this was penciled hurriedly. Now my question(s), hoping there is someone who has the answer(s). (1) On what was this note written? Was it a card or a piece of paper (not very large). (2) where is this note now? (3) Is there an image of this note existing? Thanks.

[RJNorton]

Kees, the card is in the Library of Congress. The image of it (below) is also from the Library of Congress. I do not know the exact nature of the card itself - I think what I have read usually says something like "Lincoln took out a card and wrote...."

[loetar44]

Thanks Roger! Just read in the NYT (published March 6, 1887) that the note was then in possession of Mr. Ashmun's grandson George A. Morton. Maybe he donated it to the LoC ? I also once read (don't know where and if it is accurate) that the note was sold for $20 to someone ???

[RJNorton]

(08-21-2014 04:44 PM)loetar44 Wrote:  Maybe he donated it to the LoC ? I also once read (don't know where and if it is accurate) that the note was sold for $20 to someone ???

Kees, I do not have any information on that. In The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln it says, "Framed with a portrait of Lincoln, this card is accompanied by another card on which ← Ashmun wrote: ``The above is the last autograph of President Lincoln. It was written & given to me at half past 8 P.M. April 14, 1865, just as he & Mrs Lincoln were starting for the Theatre where he was assasinated.''

[LincolnToddFan]

WOW...I read somewhere that the note to Ashmun that AL wrote just before departing for Ford's had been lost...I am shocked that it's still in existence!

Thanks Roger

[loetar44]

I've just found a reference to the "note that was sold for $20". It was NOT the Ashmun note, but a note Lincoln wrote ca. half an hour earlier, that was sold for $20 to a stranger. Please see page 55 and 56 of W(aldo) Emerson Reck's book "A Lincoln, His Last 24 Hours", Chapter 6 (Reluctantly He Starts for the Theatre).
   

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When I googled for the "note that was sold for $20" I came across the following story. What do you think about this? Reliable? Forgery? Any comments?
   

Another history mystery surrounds Lincoln note.
SOUTH AMHERST, Ohio - A note, found at a Northern Ohio flea market has created one more mystery surrounding the last day of our 16th president.

Bruce Steiner, who describes himself as a "flea market kind of guy," stumbled across the note - written on the outside of an envelope - in October 2006 at Jamie’s Flea Market, about 30 miles west of Cleveland.
Written on the envelope was: "Let this man enter with this note. April 14, 1865," and its signature, "A. Lincoln." The date is the day the president was shot.

"I remember it was a rainy day, and this gentleman had boxes of things sitting outside," Steiner recalls. "The stuff inside the boxes were interesting, there was an old English pound note, a receipt for a carriage from the IRS dated 1863, also a JFK autograph. My guess is that all the stuff came from somebody’s estate.

"The man said he wanted $20 for anything in the box … just anything from the box was $20. I saw the old envelope and picked that, and asked him how much. He said $20 for anything in the box. He saw the signature, but he didn’t care. He just wanted $20, so I bought it.

"It was the last time I saw him, I looked for him again when I went back to the flea market, but I never saw him again."
Initially, Steiner was skeptical whether the note was "the real deal."

However, recently, Lincoln scholars from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum have confirmed they are "pretty sure" that the note is authentic.

"I never say I’m 100 percent sure of anything," says John Lupton, associate director with the papers of Abraham Lincoln. "But, I’m nearly as sure as possible this is authentic."

Lupton, who has spent nearly 20 years analyzing Lincoln papers, said the handwriting is "sloppy for Lincoln, which is uncharacteristic." But, after reviewing the note more closely, he now speculates the note was written hastily, or perhaps, within a moving coach.

"The signature has all the characteristics (of Lincoln’s penmanship)," he says. "What really put me over the top was the date, though. You can forge a signature, but to carry that through is very difficult … but then, you put all the pieces together. It’s contemporary paper, contemporary ink, it’s written with a steel nib pen, which Lincoln used throughout his presidency. When this is all put together, I became nearly as sure as is possible."

Of course any document with an authentic Lincoln signature is worth money; but, having a document signed on that fateful day when the President was assassinated carries quite a bit more cachet.

Because of its date, a Lincoln memorabilia dealer told the Associated Press that the note could be worth up to $25,000. Steiner says he’s not interested in selling right now, "unless some billionaire wants to trade me it for an island," he jokes.
The date is not only "key" value-wise, but also from an historical perspective.

More than any other American historian figure, Lincoln’s final day alive has been dissected and analyzed by historians. At least two movies, The Day Lincoln Was Shot (1956 and 1998) have been produced, and several books have delved into the final hours of Lincoln’s life, including the seminal book of the same name written by columnist Jim Bishop.

However, the note itself becomes a mystery. Could there had been another message inside the envelope? What were the circumstances behind the letter? The most tantalizing question is: Could it have been the last letter that Lincoln wrote, possibly as he stepped from his coach in front of Ford’s Theatre?

There are nearly 50,000 Lincoln documents within the online archive of The Papers of Abraham Lincoln. Several of those pieces were penned by Lincoln on April 14, 1865.

He wrote a short note to his Secretary of State, William H. Seward, about a meeting at 11 a.m. on that date. That day he also signed several petitions from former Confederate soldiers appealing for release from federal prisons.

History holds that the last note written by Lincoln was around 8 p.m., two hours before his assassination, scheduling a White House appointment with Congressman George Ashmun.

Similar to the Steiner letter, it was tersely worded "Allow Mr. Ashmun & friend to come in at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow," signed "A. Lincoln, April 14, 1865."

Shortly after writing the note the President and Mrs. Lincoln went out the front door of the White House, into a waiting carriage and on to Ford’s Theatre.
Whether Lincoln wrote and signed another note is purely conjecture.
"It could be Lincoln’s last signature on Earth," Steiner says. "Who knows?"
And, therein, lies the mystery.

"That date is the key element. We have it on pretty good evidence when the Ashmun letter was written," Lupton says of that note, which is housed in the Library of Congress. "But, we can’t account for each second of Lincoln’s last day … anything could have been possible - anything could have happened.

"That’s what is great about history. It’s not memorizing all the dates - it’s the detective work that makes it interesting … history is about what was really happening in the background."

Eric C. Rodenberg
8/28/2009

http://www.antiqueweek.com/ArchiveArticl...ewsid=1344

[LincolnMan]

Given that Lincoln's note may have been the last thing he ever wrote- it stands out then that the last thing he did write -if true- (the date- April 14, 1865)- was to be the last conscious day of his life.

[RJNorton]

(08-22-2014 05:31 AM)loetar44 Wrote:  However, recently, Lincoln scholars from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum have confirmed they are "pretty sure" that the note is authentic.

"I never say I’m 100 percent sure of anything," says John Lupton, associate director with the papers of Abraham Lincoln. "But, I’m nearly as sure as possible this is authentic."

It sure looks a lot like these notes Lincoln typically wrote. Here is the note he wrote for bootmaker Peter Kahler:

[Craig Hipkins]

If this note is not a forgery, and penned by Lincoln the day of his assassination, I wonder who "this man" was? It would have to have been some obscure individual otherwise Lincoln would probably referred to him by name.