Distribution of Some of the Death Clothes

[RJNorton]

There is a short video on Abraham Lincoln's coat here.

[Mark MacKenzie]

Thanks, Roger. Did you happen to see that rocking chair in the glass case in the room where the artifacts were kept? It was next to a couch. I guess its a replica as the real one is in the Henry Ford museum according to an earlier thread. Fascinating glimpse into the museum.

[Jim Garrett]

The coat should be going back on display this spring. The coat is very fragile. For the first 125 years after the assassination, it was not cared for in the best of manners. Ford's also has the suit that AL was wearing. The suit is probably in better condition than is was 150 years ago. If one looks carefully, there is a bloodstain just below the left knee.

The rocker (a reproduction) is currently in the theatre box with the original sofa Rathbone was sitting on and the rushed bottom chair that was also in the box.

[RJNorton]

I believe the cane Lincoln carried that night is now at the Lincoln Museum at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, TN. Its a great museum aided by the benevolent donation of $500,000 by Col. Sanders of Ky. Fried Chicken.

Its a beautiful ornate cane either ivory or silver handled, I forget which.

Mark, do you remember if the museum included a provenance that went along with the cane? The reason I ask, and perhaps someone else has more specific knowledge, is because I really have not read that it was Lincoln's normal practice to use a cane. This isn't to say he never used one, but I am wondering if he really had one at Ford's.

On p. 12 of Lincoln's Assassins: A Complete Account of Their Capture, Trial and Punishment by Roy Z. Chamlee, Jr., the author gives a list of items found in and about the State Box: a derringer, a slouch hat, an opera-glass case, one spur, two buttons, and Lincoln's stovepipe hat.

Does anyone know if Chamlee's list is complete? There is no mention of a cane.

[J. Beckert]

Twenty Days says the cane was found in the box, Roger.

[RJNorton]

Thanks, Joe.

I think Mary Lincoln gave one of Lincoln's canes to Frederick Douglass. This must be a different one.

[Mark MacKenzie]

I did ask the curator about the cane but I don't recall the details.