Civil War Exhibit at the Huntington

[BettyO]

A WONDERFUL exhibit at the Huntington Museum - regarding Gardiner's photographs -

Check out Powell's knife - never KNEW it had a sheath! So apparently he COULD have worn a gun belt and had the darn thing holstered....remember ALL Victorian gentlemen wore suspenders not belts with their trousers, so the only thing I could possibly assume is that Lew did perhaps wear a gun belt that night under his frock coat and overcoat....

Nothing regarding Eckert's papers, though.....

Excellent photos of the knife and other memorabilia! If the assassination page doesn't pop up automatically, scroll down to "Image Galleries" and click on "Assassination"....

http://huntington.org/civilwar/gallery.h...assination

[LincolnMan]

If Powell was wearing a belt to hold the sheath-then did Booth also wear a belt for his knife?

[BettyO]

This is new to me, Bill.....

I've seen photos of Powell's knife but NEVER knew that there was a sheath! Now - it could be that the knife was sheathed in the top of his boot - a lot of men did that as well. Remember that Davey Herold had a knife tucked into his boot top and a friend noticed it the day of the assassination.

I'm assuming that Powell perhaps wore a gun belt - who knows? It was NOT on him when captured and not found with his discarded overcoat - so he may not have worn a gun belt.... The knife could have just been sheathed in his boot top. But....there is no mention MADE of a knife sheath being found on his person! I wonder if perhaps the sheath was somehow attached to his saddle pommel (front of the saddle) via a "D-Ring" - since there is no RECORD in Powell's personal effects of a knife sheath being found - it could have been attached to the saddle - so no gun belt would have been worn.

I don't know about JWB - but did HIS knife have a sheath as well? Since it appears like they bought them in "bulk" (early Sam's Club or Costco perhaps! HA!) that the knives came with sheaths of course....

[Rsmyth]

Thank for posting Betty! I also see a rare 3 CDV pasted reward opposter and the Oincoln hair cut by Dr. Brown.

[LincolnMan]

Betty: So this was new news to you? Wow, that must be surprizing! Actually, I think I read somewhere that one of Booth's booth was designed to hold a knife. Does anyone remember that?

[RJNorton]

Betty, I know Jim Bishop's book is not the best of sources, but on p. 185 he writes that the sheathed knife was stuck in the waistband of Booth's trousers.

[BettyO]

No - I never heard that either Powell NOR JWB had a sheath to their knives.... since they apparently did - Powell's could very well have been attached to his saddle; especially since it does not appear in his list of personal effects. JWB probably did have it sheathed in his trouser band - that would make sense as would the knives being sheathed in both guys' (Powell's and JWB's) boot tops at the times of the attacks.....

Thanks ya'll!