(07-03-2021 02:01 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  I am truly amazed and surprised. I believe I own over 80 books on Lincoln's assassination, and I don't ever recall seeing this information in a single one except I now recall it's in Manhunt. When the article says, "Alone with his fallen chief, Stanton cut a generous lock of the president’s hair and sealed it in a plain white envelope"...I wonder how this is known. Despite what the Smithsonian Magazine says I remain surprised. However, I do know the article's author, James Swanson, is an expert, but I do not remember that he included this information in Bloody Crimes. It's only in Manhunt and nowhere else as far as I know. Mr. Swanson says he examined it in a private collection. I guess I will have to trust his judgment, but I am still somewhat shocked to think Edwin Stanton cut a "generous lock of hair" for Mary Jane Welles.

I too am surprised.
"Washington, D.C., author and Lincoln scholar James L. Swanson has one that was cut by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton shortly after Lincoln died in the Petersen House, across the street from Ford’s Theatre, where he was shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14.1865."
From Washington Post article.https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/gettysburg-gets-a-lock-of-lincolns-hair/2011/07/01/AGwwmMuH_story.html

In Manhunt it says:

"The room was empty of all visitors now, save one. Edwin Stanton and the president were alone. The morning light streaming through the back windows raked across Lincoln’s still face. Stanton closed the blinds and approached the president’s body. He took from his pocket a small knife or pair of scissors and bent over Lincoln’s head. Gently he cut a generous lock of hair—more than one hundred strands—and sealed it in a plain, white envelope."

Stanton left no statement about doing this that I know of. So how are these details known (given Stanton is alone)? I really wonder why Stanton might have had a pair of scissors in his pocket. Ouch. Whoever wrote this (i.e. Mr. Swanson's source) apparently didn't know how Stanton might have clipped the lock of hair, but the person somehow did know "the morning light streaming through the back windows raked across Lincoln’s still face." Pretty strange, IMO.

(07-03-2021 03:57 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  In Manhunt it says:

"The room was empty of all visitors now, save one. Edwin Stanton and the president were alone. The morning light streaming through the back windows raked across Lincoln’s still face. Stanton closed the blinds and approached the president’s body. He took from his pocket a small knife or pair of scissors and bent over Lincoln’s head. Gently he cut a generous lock of hair—more than one hundred strands—and sealed it in a plain, white envelope."

Stanton left no statement about doing this that I know of. So how are these details known (given Stanton is alone)? I really wonder why Stanton might have had a pair of scissors in his pocket. Ouch. Whoever wrote this (i.e. Mr. Swanson's source) apparently didn't know how Stanton might have clipped the lock of hair, but the person somehow did know "the morning light streaming through the back windows raked across Lincoln’s still face." Pretty strange, IMO.

Don't make me have to ruin the moment I was having envisioning myself standing there with the morning light streaming through the back window and raking across my President, and friend, streams running down my sobbing face, trembling with the draining awful moment, as I saved a lock of his hair for posterity. Surely there was nothing more profound to do.

Really, I imagined myself in Stanton's place, without a thought of reality, just incredibly powerful feeling, and I was tearing up!! Well, that's gone. Thanks! Back to my grumpy old self. Somebody else can disprove Swanson.

(07-03-2021 06:09 PM)Steve Whitlock Wrote:  

(07-03-2021 03:57 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  In Manhunt it says:

"The room was empty of all visitors now, save one. Edwin Stanton and the president were alone. The morning light streaming through the back windows raked across Lincoln’s still face. Stanton closed the blinds and approached the president’s body. He took from his pocket a small knife or pair of scissors and bent over Lincoln’s head. Gently he cut a generous lock of hair—more than one hundred strands—and sealed it in a plain, white envelope."

Stanton left no statement about doing this that I know of. So how are these details known (given Stanton is alone)? I really wonder why Stanton might have had a pair of scissors in his pocket. Ouch. Whoever wrote this (i.e. Mr. Swanson's source) apparently didn't know how Stanton might have clipped the lock of hair, but the person somehow did know "the morning light streaming through the back windows raked across Lincoln’s still face." Pretty strange, IMO.

Don't make me have to ruin the moment I was having envisioning myself standing there with the morning light streaming through the back window and raking across my President, and friend, streams running down my sobbing face, trembling with the draining awful moment, as I saved a lock of his hair for posterity. Surely there was nothing more profound to do.

Really, I imagined myself in Stanton's place, without a thought of reality, just incredibly powerful feeling, and I was tearing up!! Well, that's gone. Thanks! Back to my grumpy old self. Somebody else can disprove Swanson.

Okay, the Grinch is back. Tell James Swanson his poetic license has expired! There are no rear windows in the room where president Lincoln died (see attachment).

(07-03-2021 07:56 PM)Steve Whitlock Wrote:  

(07-03-2021 06:09 PM)Steve Whitlock Wrote:  

(07-03-2021 03:57 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  In Manhunt it says:

"The room was empty of all visitors now, save one. Edwin Stanton and the president were alone. The morning light streaming through the back windows raked across Lincoln’s still face. Stanton closed the blinds and approached the president’s body. He took from his pocket a small knife or pair of scissors and bent over Lincoln’s head. Gently he cut a generous lock of hair—more than one hundred strands—and sealed it in a plain, white envelope."

Stanton left no statement about doing this that I know of. So how are these details known (given Stanton is alone)? I really wonder why Stanton might have had a pair of scissors in his pocket. Ouch. Whoever wrote this (i.e. Mr. Swanson's source) apparently didn't know how Stanton might have clipped the lock of hair, but the person somehow did know "the morning light streaming through the back windows raked across Lincoln’s still face." Pretty strange, IMO.

Don't make me have to ruin the moment I was having envisioning myself standing there with the morning light streaming through the back window and raking across my President, and friend, streams running down my sobbing face, trembling with the draining awful moment, as I saved a lock of his hair for posterity. Surely there was nothing more profound to do.

Really, I imagined myself in Stanton's place, without a thought of reality, just incredibly powerful feeling, and I was tearing up!! Well, that's gone. Thanks! Back to my grumpy old self. Somebody else can disprove Swanson.

Okay, the Grinch is back. Tell James Swanson his poetic license has expired! There are no rear windows in the room where president Lincoln died (see attachment).

I stand corrected! I've overlooked the fact that Willie T. Clark's room was down the hallway at the rear of the house. There was a window, which might then be considered a back or rear window.

From "House Where Lincoln Died" by George J. Olszewski pp 12-14 we have:

25 while holding a gleaming knife in his right hand. ' This later led Leale to consider the possibility of Lincoln having been stabbed before locating the real wound made by the blast of Booth's derin-ger three inches to the rear of Lincoln's left ear. Carrying the President to the Petersen House.—A great deal of conflicting testimony details the events which led to Dr. Leale instructing that the President be carried to the Petersen house. The statements of the soldier, Wm. T. Clark, the Petersen family affidavits, and Oldroyd's Reminiscences, among others, all point to a still controversial question. Who was it that held the candle and guided Dr. Leale to the Petersen House? Private Clark, supported by Oldroyd, says that he heard a com-motion on the street while he was sitting in his room. He then went to the porch of the house where the hallway light drew the attention of the party carrying the President to the Petersen house. There was never a porch on the Petersen house but rather a landing at the head of the curving steps of red sandstone with an iron railing. This led into the first floor hallway to the rear of which was the room into which Lincoln was carried. Illustrations and sketches of the house made at the time indicate the appearance of these steps. They still exist today. There was a porch at the rear of the house which led to the basement and the yard at the rear. Oldroyd is 26 in error when he identified the first floor as the second. 25. Helen Leale Harper, Jr., "Lincoln's Last Night," in Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine (Feb. 1953)* P« 179* 26. See Illustration 10 . 12
Affidavits of members of the Petersen family state that it was Wm. A. Petersen, himself, at home alone with his elder daughter, Louise, who became aware of the commotion in the street. He is said to have gone to the front door of his home with a lighted candle to guide the carrying in of the body of a "wounded man." Petersen did not know at the time that it was the President. Further conflicting testimony indicates that Petersen's youngest daughter, Pauline, mini-stered all night to the wounded President by "bringing in hot water and tearing up linen sheets for bandages." Later investigations reveal that although the small room was actually the bedroom of Petersen's two daughters, Louise, then aged 18, and Pauline, aged 13 at the time, it may have been rented to Clark for Pauline was away at school at the time. Furthermore, there is little, if any, mention of bandages having been used. Lincoln's loss of blood was a slow 27 trickle from time to time as the wound was probed. While these conflicting stories are continually repeated, even in official cir-cles, the authoritative report of the event should be given prefer-ence. Considering the intense drama and horror of the tragedy, and the inherent fallibility of human nature under the stress of such circum-stances, the official report of Dr. Leale, which became the authori-tative report for the "Congressional Committee Investigating the 27. Fraser Affidavit in Appendix. 28. See DI Psmphlet, "House Where Lincoln Died." 13
Assassination of the President," should be accepted. Leale's report tells in the following words the facts which guided his decision to order carrying Lincoln to the rear room of the Petersen house. When we arrived to the street, I was asked to place him [Lincoln] in a carriage and remove him to the White House. This I refused to do being fear-ful that he would die as soon as he would be placed in an upright position. I said that I wished to take him to the nearest house, and, place him com-fortably in bed. We slowly crossed the street, there being a barrier of men on each side of an open passage to-wards the house. Those who went ahead of us reported that the house directly opposite was closed.^9 j saw a man standing at the door of Mr. Peterson's (sic) house holding a lighted candle in his hand and beckon-ing us to enter which we did and immediately placed him in bed, all of which was done in less than twenty minutes from the time that he had been assassinated, we not having been in the slightest interrupted while removing him.30 The death Watch.—Once Lincoln's unconscious form was placed on the bed, every attempt was made to make him as comfortable as possible in an effort to ease his suffering. Finding the bed too short for the President, Dr. Leale placed Lincoln in a diagonal position so that his body and limbs were straight upon the bed. Dr. Leale requested that the window of the room be opened to provide as much fresh air for the President as possible. The ghastly flame of the single gas burner in the room undoubtedly burnt up much of the needed oxygen. As the room was crowded by numerous persons
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In the text above we have "This led into the first floor hallway to the rear of which was the room into which Lincoln was carried." There are other sources also stating the room was in the back of the house.

And then we have: " Dr. Leale requested that the window of the room be opened to provide as much fresh air for the President as possible." That window appears to be across from Lincoln's bed in another photo.

Looking back at the picture I provided in my last post it appears that there is a curtain rod and shade pulled next to the dresser. That would be the window at the rear for the morning sun (depending on where East was) to shine on Mr. Lincoln. Sorry Mr. Swanson, maybe.

Here is another photo of the room, with the obvious window.

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(07-03-2021 11:01 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(07-03-2021 10:33 AM)Steve Whitlock Wrote:  Roger,

From what I've read they were taking several locks of Abe's hair for keepsakes.

I know this happened during the autopsy at the White House, but I am surprised to learn it also happened at the Petersen House. My aging brain just does not recall reading this. I cannot imagine Stanton allowing it; maybe it happened when he was out of the room? Thanks.

You've probably read the letter Willie Clark wrote to his sister. In it he claims to have a lock of hair and other items!

"I have a lock of his hair which I have had neatly framed, also a piece of linen with a portion of his brain, the pillow and case upon which he lay when he died and nearly all his wearing apparel but the latter I intend to send to Robt Lincoln as soon as the funeral is over, as I consider him the one most justly entitled to them."

That's an excerpt from the attached transcription of Willie's letter. Note also in the first paragraph he mentions his window.

"I have moved my desk close to my window to secure its use for myself and friends."

Who is this person?

Related to Mary Surratt?

Nope, no relation to Mary Surratt.

I've seen that face before, but I can't place her.

Yes, Gene. Maybe the name will come to you.

Grace Bedell.

(01-05-2022 09:43 PM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  Grace Bedell.

Yes, Susan. It is Grace Bedell. Hope that all is well with you!

Kudos to Susan and Bill. Yes, it is Grace Bedell. She was the young girl who wrote Abraham Lincoln and encouraged him to grow a beard. Her letter was dated October 15th, 1860. Election Day was less than a month away.

The text of her letter is as follows:

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Hon A B Lincoln...

Dear Sir

My father has just home from the fair and brought home your picture and Mr. Hamlin's. I am a little girl only 11 years old, but want you should be President of the United States very much so I hope you wont think me very bold to write to such a great man as you are. Have you any little girls about as large as I am if so give them my love and tell her to write to me if you cannot answer this letter. I have got 4 brother's and part of them will vote for you any way and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husband's to vote for you and then you would be President. My father is going to vote for you and if I was a man I would vote for you to but I will try to get every one to vote for you that I can I think that rail fence around your picture makes it look very pretty I have got a little baby sister she is nine weeks old and is just as cunning as can be. When you direct your letter direct to Grace Bedell Westfield Chatauque County New York

I must not write any more answer this letter right off Good bye

Grace Bedell

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(01-06-2022 04:49 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  [I]f I was a man I would vote for you.

Grace Bedell

Westfield, Chatauque County, New York

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Thanks for posting the letter, Roger. It was good to read something like this today . . . especially today.