Lincoln's Frock Coat

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"Thanks, everyone!

I feel that the evidence set forth in my new book proves that the black suit on display in Ford's Theatre is not the suit he wore on the fateful evening of April 14, 1865. Dr. Leale, the first physician on the scene, ordered Lincoln's clothing "cut from the neck to the elbow."

In fact, Leale reiterated his order in several written reports of the deadly scene that spanned a period of 44 years. He even reiterated it when he sat for an interview with a reporter from the New York World the day after President Garfield was shot.

Dr. Charles Sabin Taft noted in his medical journal that, when we arrived in the box, he observed the President's "bare left shoulder."

1. The suit on display at Ford's Theatre does not evince Dr. Leale's order. However. the black greatcoat (overcoat) which the NPS also acquired does evince the damage.
2. The black frock coat, which has been in storage since historian Paul Angle removed it from display at the Chicago Historical Society in 1949, evinces the damage.

As a press headline presciently noted in 1924: "Lincoln Wore Two Coats When Slain." And they are in two places: Washington D.C. and Chicago
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