Interesting Relic

[Rsmyth]

In 1845, Sir John Franklin of the Royal British Navy and 134 crew members set out with two ships to chart the Northwest Passage. He and his crew were never heard from again. Until their belongings began turning up on the Canadian tundra.
The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, has more than 400 of the relics from the expedition, recovered by 19th-century search parties. Personal belongings, like bone combs and soap, are emotional to contemplate. A piece of uniform found beneath a skeleton in 1859 was placed in Abraham Lincoln’s coffin by a dignitary.

[RJNorton]

Thanks for posting this, Rich.

"Parker Snow had presented an interesting relic to be interred in President Abraham Lincoln's coffin. In the April 26, 1865, New York Herald page 1 Column 4, was the following article: "Captain Parker Snow, the distinguished commander of the Arctic and Antarctic exploring expeditions, presented to Gen. Dix, with a view of their being interred in the coffin of the President, some interesting relics of Sir John Franklin's ill fated expedition. They consisted of a tattered leaf of a Prayer Book, on which the first word legible was the word "Martyr," and a piece of fringe and some portions of uniform. These suggestive relics, which are soon to be buried out of sight, were found in a boat lying under the head of a human skeleton."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Parker_Snow

It's also mentioned here.

When Lincoln's remains were last viewed in 1901 the observers reported that there were some bits of red fabric in the coffin. Possibly from the relics placed there in 1865?

[Gene C]

This reminds me of a Canadian song about the Northwest Passage by Stan Rogers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVY8LoM4...j8&index=2

click "show more" for the lyrics

Stan was a popular Canadian singer who died in a plane accident in 1983.

[BettyO]

Quote:Interesting Relic
In 1845, Sir John Franklin of the Royal British Navy and 134 crew members set out with two ships to chart the Northwest Passage. He and his crew were never heard from again. Until their belongings began turning up on the Canadian tundra.
The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, has more than 400 of the relics from the expedition, recovered by 19th-century search parties. Personal belongings, like bone combs and soap, are emotional to contemplate. A piece of uniform found beneath a skeleton in 1859 was placed in Abraham Lincoln’s coffin by a dignitary.

The Franklin Expedition is another interest of mine - fascinating story....never heard of the Lincoln angle.....

[AussieMick]

(07-11-2018 07:26 PM)BettyO Wrote:  

Quote:Interesting Relic
In 1845, Sir John Franklin of the Royal British Navy and 134 crew members set out with two ships to chart the Northwest Passage. He and his crew were never heard from again. Until their belongings began turning up on the Canadian tundra.
The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, has more than 400 of the relics from the expedition, recovered by 19th-century search parties. Personal belongings, like bone combs and soap, are emotional to contemplate. A piece of uniform found beneath a skeleton in 1859 was placed in Abraham Lincoln’s coffin by a dignitary.

The Franklin Expedition is another interest of mine - fascinating story....never heard of the Lincoln angle.....

It is a fascinating story. One with questions to which, I assume, we will never have answers. Such as which dignitary, what was in his/her mind as she placed the piece, what would Mary have thought of the idea, how and when was it done, were any other items placed in the coffin.
( It seems a little presumptuous to be using someone else's coffin as a rubbish bin .... even though I'm sure that wasnt the original intention).

[Gene C]

(07-11-2018 02:26 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  When Lincoln's remains were last viewed in 1901 the observers reported that there were some bits of red fabric in the coffin. Possibly from the relics placed there in 1865?

I thought the red fabric was from a flag.

[RJNorton]

(07-12-2018 07:12 AM)Gene C Wrote:  I thought the red fabric was from a flag.

I agree - that has always been the speculation, Gene. However, at the moment, I do not think I have ever read that Abraham Lincoln was buried with a flag or that one was placed in the coffin along the route of the funeral train (or in Washington prior to the train's departure). I certainly may be wrong.

Does anyone have a definite answer - was Abraham Lincoln buried with a flag inside the coffin?

[Finnigan]

(07-12-2018 07:48 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Does anyone have a definite answer - was Abraham Lincoln buried with a flag inside the coffin?

I wrote on my Lincoln's Tomb FAQ that the remains were dressed in a suit with a flag draped over the hands.

I didn't put any sources for the FAQ since it wasn't intended for academic audiences. But I didn't dream up the answers, either. I'll look it up this evening in my Tomb files.

(07-11-2018 01:34 PM)Rsmyth Wrote:  A piece of uniform found beneath a skeleton in 1859 was placed in Abraham Lincoln’s coffin by a dignitary.

I never heard of this, but then again, I'm less interested in the funeral and more interested in the events that happened after Mr. Lincoln's return to Springfield in May 1865. I will look into this too. I will remark that the remains changed coffins several times.

Also I see, according to the excerpt on the Wikipedia article, that the New York Herald article doesn't definitely say that these relics were placed in the coffin, only that they were "presented to Gen. Dix, with a view of their being interred in the coffin."

[LincolnMan]

Never heard if the story. Thank you for posting.

[Finnigan]

(07-12-2018 03:27 PM)Finnigan Wrote:  I'll look it up this evening in my Tomb files.

Here is my report:

I spent over an hour looking through my Tomb files, which include both primary source documents, secondary sources, and newspapers.

While I could find some contemporary accounts of the state of Lincoln's coffin and remains from both the 1887 and 1901 reburials, I could find nothing describing a flag or red cloth fragments. They all described his physical appearance or the clothes he was wearing.

However, I did find this:

------------

"There were red spots, too, that looked like vestiges of material, and someone said there must have been a small American flag that had rotted away."

Dorothy M. Kunhardt, "Saga of Lincoln's Body," LIFE, February 15, 1963, p. 88

------------

That, I think, is the source I used for my Tomb FAQ. But as I skimmed it again last evening, I find that I really don't like it as a reliable source.

Besides the fact that the article contains at least 2 errors that I noticed while skimming through it*, there are no sources cited, though I assume that the source for the article was Fleetwood Lindley of Springfield. The description of the "red spots" sounds like guesswork at best.

My question is: how could a flag deteriorate so much in about 35 years such that its fragments could no longer be positively identified?

Also, I found no mention of the uniform in the coffin. My search was not exhaustive. For example, I only checked my "quick newspaper archive" and not my full newspaper archive. The flag in the coffin may be described in an 1865 account during the funeral or somesuch.


* errors: article says Fleetwood was 13. He was in fact 14, as his birthday was 4th April 1887. Then the article describes Memorial Hall as "unfinished." Well in September 1901, it was finished. Reconstruction of the Monument was completed in Spring 1901 when the family caskets were all pulled out of the temporary tomb and reburied in the newly-rebuilt Monument in April.

[RJNorton]

David, thank you very much for posting your research on my question.