Extra Credit Questions

[Anita]

Thanks. This was posted by RJNorton 7/29/12 on the thread Did Lincoln Own Any Weapons

Catherine Clinton, in her bio of Mary Lincoln, states quite clearly that Lincoln was carrying a pistol at Ford's. On p. 314 Clinton writes, "Possession of a handgun during this period was far more common, raising fewer eyebrows than it would today. Abraham Lincoln himself was carrying a pistol on the night he died." In a footnote Louise Taper is given as the source.

Obviously, if true, being armed still would not have helped Lincoln given the circumstances of the assassination.