BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Ford's Theatre NHS (Center for Education and Leadership)

DC -- Ford's Theatre NHS (Center for Education and Leadership):

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. CEL_120212_036.JPG: The Next Day: As flags came down to half-staff and black crepe draped Washington buildings, news of the assassination spread rapidly across the nation. In Boston the celebrated Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth learned with horror of his younger brother's crime. "It was just as if I was struck on the forehead with a hammer," said Booth, who five months earlier had voted to re-elected Lincoln. At the White House, young Tad Lincoln confronted Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles. "Oh, Mr. Welles," said the boy, "who killed my father?" On the Illinois prairie, the aged Sarah Bush Lincoln responded stoically to the death of her famous stepson. "I knowed when he went away he'd never come back alive," Lincoln had been close to his stepmother, whom he referred to as "Mother." Outrage and Vengeance: Many, including the New York Herald's editors, assumed that Jefferson Davis was somehow responsible for Lincoln's death. In Chicago, a saloonkeeper displayed a portrait of John Wilkes Booth in his window -- until outraged citizens hurled rocks through it. A Lincoln-hating architect in Cleveland was seized by a mob and tossed through a skylight, barely escaping with his life.
2. CEL_120212_060.JPG: April 15, 1865: "Today all the city is in mourning. nearly every house being in black and I have not seen a smile. No business and many a strong man I have seen in tears." -- Dr. G.B. Todd, a physician who was in the audience of Ford's Theatre The church bells began tolling within minutes of Lincoln's death at 7:22 on the gray, drizzly morning of April 15. "There is a sobbing of the strong, And a pall upon the land; But the People in their weeping Bare the iron hand Beware the People weeping When they bare the iron hand." -- Selection from The Martyr, Herman Melville's poem mourning Lincoln, 1866 "That Dreadful House" Around nine o'clock am, Mary Lincoln was helped down the front steps of the Petersen House and into a waiting carriage. Glancing at the shuttered Ford's Theatre across the street, the distraught widow groaned, "That dreadful house... that dreadful house." Meanwhile, several actors from the previous night's performance had been taken into custody as a precaution. For the moment, no one knew exactly who had conspired with Booth, but it was hard to believe he could have acted alone. Attending to the President: Shortly before eleven o'clock am, the door of the Petersen House opened and soldiers exited, carrying the president's body in a plain pine box. They placed it in a horse-drawn wagon, which rattled over cobblestone streets to the White House, where doctors conducted an autopsy i a second floor bedroom. One of the surgeons, Dr. Curtis, wrote this account of the autopsy: "... suddenly the bullet dropped out through my fingers and fell, breaking the solemn silence of the room with its clattered, into an empty basin that was standing beneath. There it lay upon the white china, a little black mass no bigger than the end of my finger -- dull, motionless, and harmless, yet the cause of earth mighty changes in the world's history as we may perhaps never realize."
3. CEL_120212_064.JPG: An International Outpouring of Grief: The American Civil War had transfixed people in many lands, from monarchs anticipating the great "experiment" in democracy would fail, to those who looked to the United States as a beacon of freedom. Modern communications such as the telegraph made Lincoln as vivid a figure in Paris as on the streets of New York. At the news of Lincoln's death, national legislatures passed resolutions of sympathy. Students in Paris marched through the city's Latin Quarter, denouncing Booth's crime against democracy. Flags throughout Scandinavia flew at half-staff. Russian novelist and philosopher Leo Tolstoy pronounced Lincoln "a Christ in miniature." The King of Prussia sent his condolences, as did his royal peers in Japan and Siam (now Thailand). Two Recent Widows: One of the most touching of all the tributes directed to Mary Lincoln came from another recent widow. "No one can better appreciate than I can," wrote Queen Victoria, "who am myself utterly broken-hearted by the loss of my own beloved husband, who was the light of my life, my stay -- my all -- what your suffering must be..."
4. CEL_120212_078.JPG: Going Home: There had never been anything like it, the vast, rolling pageant of grief that lasted 14 days and covered 1,200 miles. An estimated seven million Americans -- one in every three living outside the former Confederacy -- viewed the presidential casket in eleven cities or glimpsed the funeral train as it slowly traced a route similar to the one Lincoln had followed to his first inauguration.
5. CEL_120212_084.JPG: What is a Catafalque? A catafalque is a raised platform that supports a casket. Lincolns catafalque was made of simple pine boards and covered with black cloth. The catafalque still exists: It is occasionally on view in the exhibit hall at the United States Capitol Visitor Center. It is still used for those who lay in state at the Capitol Rotunda -- from presidents and politicians to heroes like the Unknown Soldier and civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks.
6. CEL_120212_090.JPG: East Room Requiem: On Monday, April 17, Lincoln's mahogany casket, lead-lined and covered in black broadcloth, was moved to the East Room of the White House. Lincoln's eight pallbearers removed their shoes so that they could move through the halls of the White House without disturbing Mary Lincoln, who was immobilized by grief in her upstairs bedroom. The next day, an estimated 25,000 mourners filed through the room, which was swathed in black crepe and wool cloth. Workmen labored through the night constructing wooden risers to accommodate the 600 guests invited to Wednesday's funeral. Mrs. Lincoln did not attend the service. The First Funeral: In place of his mother, Robert Todd Lincoln sat at the foot of the imposing catafalque. Beside him were two of his maternal aunts plus Lincoln's White House secretaries, John Hay and John Nicolay. At noon, President Johnson and his Cabinet appeared. Ulysses S. Grant stood alone at the head of the catafalque, fighting back tears. Rev. Phineas Gurley of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, where Lincoln had sometimes attended services, preached the funeral sermon. March to the Capitol: At two o'clock on April 19, to the sound of guns and military bands, Lincoln's remains were taken in procession from the White House to the U.S. Capitol. The 22nd United States Colored Infantry headed the parade. Several thousand African Americans, many of whom were former slaves, marched behind a banner that read, "We Mourn Our Loss." "The day was cloudless," wrote journalist Noah Brooks, "and the sun shone brilliantly upon cavalry, infantry, artillery, marines, associations, and societies, with draped banners, and accompanies in their slow march by mournful dirges from numerous military bands." An Emotional Scene: Beneath the soaring white marble done that symbolized the Union he preserved, Abraham Lincoln lay in the new black suit he had worn to his second inaugural. Before the doors were closed at midnight, 40,000 of his countrymen streamed through the Capitol Rotunda to pay their respects to the late president. "Some would burst into tears and sobs, others would flush up with fire and indignation and mutter curses loud and deep on the cowardly assassins and their instigators," wrote William Gamble, a Union army officer who supervised the honor guard.
7. CEL_120212_111.JPG: The Nation Mourns: "Hastily and reverently the people approached... to seize an impression of the honored features. To those who had not seen Mr. Lincoln in life, the view may be satisfactory; but to those who were familiar with his features, it is far otherwise. The color is leaden, almost brown; the forehead recedes sharp and clearly marked; the eyes deep sunk and close held upon the sockets; the cheek bones, always high are unusually prominent; the cheeks hallowed and deep-pitted; the unnaturally thin lips shut tight and firm as it glued together, and the small chin, covered with slight beard, seemed pointed and sharp..." -- New York Times, April 25, 1865 This letter, written by SS Elder, recounts his summons to the State House in Springfield on May 4, 1864, to seal Lincoln's casket for the last time. Elder never used his sealing tools again. Instead, he writes that he "guarded them... as a precious memento of the sadest [sic] moment in American History. The moment when so far as the world is concerned the face of Abraham Lincoln was covered to be sean [sic] no more on Earth."
8. CEL_120212_117.JPG: "When lilacs last in the door-yard bloom'd And the great star early droop'd in the western sky in the night, I mourn'd, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring." -- Walt Whitman
9. CEL_120212_121.JPG: Coffin Tools: Tools used by tinsmith SS Elder to seal Lincoln's coffin before his burial in Springfield. Note the damage to the blue State House pass. In a letter of his account, Elder wrote that "... the crowd surged up against me so that acid from the bottel [sic] splashed on the blue cardboard pass nearly obliterating the words printed on it."
10. CEL_120212_131.JPG: Mourning Cards: President Andrew Johnson declared June 1, 1865, to be a "national day of fasting and prayer." People all over the country collected mourning cards as a way to take part in the observances.
11. CEL_120212_139.JPG: Tassels from Catafalque: These tassels hung from Lincoln's catafalque platform.
12. CEL_120212_147.JPG: Keys: This set of keys was owned by John Wilkes Booth. It was taken from his body after his capture.
13. CEL_120212_153.JPG: Map of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware: [note that it doesn't mention West Virginia] John Wilkes Booth used this map during his 12-day escape. Soldiers removed it from his pockets after his capture. The interior of the book shows that the map was labeled "Exhibit No. 77" by the military commission trial.
14. CEL_120212_163.JPG: Chasing John Wilkes Booth: The search for Lincoln's killer consumed the grieving nation. For 12 days, John Wilkes Booth eluded his pursuers as he vanished into the sparsely populated terrain of southern Maryland. Accompanied by David Herold, Booth planned on crossing the Potomac River into Virginia, where he hoped Confederate sympathizers would shelter him. Determined to prevent Booth's escape, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton posted a $100,000 reward for information leading to his capture. Stanton also dispatched federal troops to comb Maryland and Virginia in an unprecedented manhunt. Lieutenant Luther Baker, Lieutenant Colonel Lafayette Baker, and Lieutenant Colonel Everton Conger (left to right) plan Booth's capture. Lafayette Baker was the leader of the National Detective Police, which lead the investigation into Lincoln's murder. American Brutus: Booth was stunned to find himself denounced in the press as "a common cutthroat." He had expected to be portrayed as a hero. Instead, he wrote in his diary after the assassination, "After being hunted like a dog through swamps, woods, and last night being chased by gunboats... I am here in despair. And why? For doing what Brutus was honored for." Booth, a Shakespearean actor, saw parallels between his own story and that of Julius Caesar, the Roman emperor from 49-44 BC, had seized dictatorial power. Hoping to restore constitutional government, Brutus and a group of conspirators murdered him. Booth felt that he was Brutus to Lincoln's Caesar. This 1864 photograph shows John Wilkes Booth and his brothers in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. From left, John as Marc Anthony, Edwin as Brutus, and Junius as Cassius. Diary of an Assassin: "Our country owed all her troubles to him, and God simply made me the instrument of his punishment. The country is not what it was. This forced Union is not what I have loved. I care not what becomes of me. I have no desire to outlive my country... "I struck for my country and that alone. A country that groaned beneath this tyranny, and prayed for this end, and yet now behold the cold hands they extend to me." -- Booth's final diary entry, written after Lincoln's assassination on April 14, 1865
15. CEL_120212_180.JPG: The Last Image of Lincoln: During a brief pause in the New York City ceremonies on April 24, 1865, a photographer was permitted to record the scene, including the president in his open casket. On learning of this breach of propriety, Secretary Stanton ordered the resulting glass plates destroyed. One image made from the plates survived, but it did not come to light for nearly a century. In 1952, a 15-year-old researcher examining the papers of John Nicolay at the Illinois State Historical Library discovered this image. It remains the only known photograph of Lincoln in death. This photo of Lincoln in death was taken inside City Hall in New York before the viewing began. During its journey to Springfield, Lincoln's body was tended to by two men who used newly-invented embalming techniques to keep the remains fresh.
16. CEL_120212_185.JPG: This image shows a flag that draped Lincoln's casket during one or more legs of his funeral trip. The original, almost 20' long and 9' high, is part of the National Park Service collection. A replica at 3/4 the size of the original flag drapes the casket behind you. Note that the flag had 34 stars, although there were 36 states by the time of Lincoln's death. West Virginia was admitted to the Union in 1863, and Nevada became a state in 1864.
17. CEL_120212_194.JPG: His Name is Mudd: After a century and a half, controversy still swirls around this Maryland country doctor who, on the night of Lincoln's assassination, set Booth's broken leg and provided him with shelter for the night. Dr. Samuel Mudd claimed not to have recognized the injured traveler who knocked on his front door in the pre-dawn hours of April 15. However, Mudd had met Booth on at least three occasions, twice near the doctor's Maryland farm and once in the capital itself. Innocent or Guilty? Was Mudd innocent or guilty? His wartime involvement with the Confederate underground and his failure to notify authorities immediately when Booth and Herold arrived at his farm are beyond dispute. When questioned on April 18 by military investigators, Mudd not only denied knowing the assassin, but he reportedly lied about the direction the two men took after leaving his house. Pardoned: Convicted of conspiracy, Mudd was sent to the remote Fort Jefferson prison in Florida's Dry Tortugas. While there, yellow fever broke out. When the prison's physician died, Mudd was pressed into service. On Christmas 1867, Mudd wrote a letter to a friend, describing his efforts during the epidemic, adding "Anything that you can do to lessen the prejudice caused by an unlawful and slanderous court shall be kindly cherished and reciprocated by myself and distressed family." Mudd's efforts earned him a presidential pardon in 1869. Returning home to his farm, he resumed his medical practice until his death in 1883 at the age of 49.
18. CEL_120212_206.JPG: The Investigation of the Conspirators: With Booth and Herold on the run, the other members of the conspiracy scattered. The investigations began in the early morning of April 15, 1865, even as Lincoln lay dying in his room at the Petersen House. Booth -- a famous actor -- had been quickly identified as the head of the conspiracy. Detectives then went to Mary Surratt's boarding house, where Booth visited frequently. George Atzerodt and Vice President Johnson: As part of the assassination plot, Booth assigned George Atzerodt to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson. Atzerodt was staying at the same hotel as the vice president, asking questions about Johnson's daily habits. The night of the assassination Atzerodt sat downstairs at the hotel bar, trying to work up his courage. In the end, however, he abandoned his task and drifted out into the streets of Washington. After Lincoln's assassination, a hotel employee contacted detectives about this "suspicious-looking man". A search of Atzerodt's hotel room turned up evidence, including a loaded revolver and a bowie knife. Atzerodt was arrested give days later, on April 20, in his cousin's home in Germantown, Maryland. Lewis Powell and Secretary of State William Seward: Lewis Powell as David Herold were assigned to kill Secretary of State William Seward. Herold fled at the sound of the first screams, but Powell succeeded in stabbing -- though not killing -- the bedridden secretary. Powell hid for three days near the Navy Yard Bridge. On the night of April 17, 1865, he showed up at Mary Surratt's boarding house, while police were questioning her. Carrying a pickaxe, he claimed he had been hired to dig a ditch. Powell was immediately arrested on suspicion of involvement in the assassination plot.
19. CEL_120212_217.JPG: Washington Chronicle: The New President: The new president, Andrew Johnson, hailed from Tennessee. A US Senator before the secession of his state, Johnson had been one of the most prominent War Democrats and supporters of Lincoln. Johnson replaced first-term Vice President Hannibal Hamlin for Lincoln's reelection campaign, in an attempt to enlarge the party's base. Johnson had served as vice president for little more than a month at the time of Lincoln's assassination. He was sword into office as the nation's 17th president on the morning of April 15 by Chief Justice Salmon Chase. An Attempted Assassination: Then-Vice President Andrew Johnson was among John Wilkes Booth's list of assassination targets. George Atzerodt was tasked with killing Johnson in the vice president's hotel suite at the Kirkwood House Hotel. The evening of the assassination, Atzerodt spent hours drinking in the hotel bar, unable to gain the courage to perform the assigned deed. At the military trial of the conspirators, Atzerodt's lawyer defended his client, saying "This man is a constitutional coward... if he had been assigned the duty of assassinating the Vice President, he could never have done it." "No Friend of Our Race": Many historians agree that Andrew Johnson failed to uphold the promises made to African Americans by his predecessor. He vetoed a civil rights bill and approved of the so-called "Black Codes" passed by the states, severely limiting the freedom of former slaves. In a letter to Missouri Governor Thomas Fletcher, Johnson wrote, "This is a country for white men, and by God, as long as I am President, it shall be a government for white men." Frederick Douglass witnessed this side of Johnson at Lincoln's second inauguration. As Johnson noticed Douglass, a look of contempt crossed his face. "Seeing that I observed him," Douglass later recalled, "he tried to assume a more friendly appearance; but it was too late; it was useless to close the door when all within had been seen... I turned to Mrs. Dorsey and said, 'Whatever Andrew Johnson may be, he certainly is no friend of our race.' "
20. CEL_120212_228.JPG: On The Run: After escaping Washington, Booth and Herold hid out in dense woods on the Maryland side of the Potomac River before crossing into Virginia. Cold, wet, and exhausted, the conspirators welcomes assistance from a former Confederate soldier named Willie Jett. On April 24, Jett guided them to the farm of Richard Garrett, near Port Royal in Caroline County, Virginia. Using the false name of James W. Boyd, Booth told the Garretts he was a wounded Confederate soldier making his way home. The family welcomed the travelers. The Snare Tightens: On April 24, tipped off by a report of two men seen crossing the Potomac, 25 soldiers from the 16th New York Cavalry regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Edward P. Doherty, were ordered to join the search for Lincoln's assassin. The 16th regiment was stationed in Washington when the War Department selected them to pursue Booth.
21. CEL_120212_235.JPG: Edward Doherty, commander of the 16th New York Cavalry (right), stands with Boston Corbett (left), the soldier who shot and killed Booth.
22. CEL_120212_237.JPG: Ford's Theatre Society gratefully acknowledges the support of David Rubenstein Family for making this exhibit possible
23. CEL_120212_241.JPG: Ford's Theatre Society gratefully acknowledges the support of The Paul Singer Family Foundation for making this exhibit possible.
24. CEL_120212_244.JPG: The Great Escape "Tonight I try to escape these bloodhounds once more... I have too great a soul to die like a criminal." -- Booth's diary written between April 17-22, 1865 After escaping Ford's Theatre through an alleyway onto F Street, John Wilkes Booth crossed a guarded bridge out of Washington and made his way into Maryland. There he met up with David Herold. The two rode to Mary Surratt's tavern in Surrattsville, Maryland, to pick up guns and other supplies. At four in the morning on April 15, Herold and Booth arrived at Dr. Samuel Mudd's home. John Wilkes Booth escaped Ford's Theatre through this alleyway. This undated photograph was taken sometime after the theater was renovated as an office space in 1867. In Hot Pursuit: After leaving Dr. Mudd's house, Booth and Herold hid in a pine thicket two miles from Rich Hill, Maryland. They killed their horses to avoid detection. Federal soldiers passed by their hiding spot several times. On April 20, they attempted to cross the Potomac River into Virginia but became disoriented and ended up back in Maryland. Two days later, they successfully crossed the Potomac, landing at Point Mathias, Virginia. During their 12 days on the run, Booth and Herold found help from a series of Confederate sympathizers -- though they were turned away by others who found the men's story suspicious. Navy Yard Bridge, one of the few bridges out of Washington, circa 1862. Booth crossed this bridge around 10:00pm on April 14, 1865. Initially, the guard did not want to let him cross, as all bridges were under military orders to close at 9:00pm. Booth managed to talk his way out of town.
25. CEL_120212_272.JPG: Trial Ticket: Ticket to the 1867 trial of John Surratt. John Surratt claimed he was in Elmira, New York, at the time of Lincoln's assassination. Escaping to Canada, he found sanctuary with a Catholic priest in St. Liboire, east of Montreal. After his mother's hanging, Surratt fled to Europe and enlisted in the Papal Guard. Captured in Egypt, Surratt was extradited and returned to the US to stand trial. He was brought before a civilian court in 1867. His trial ended in a hung jury, and a second trial had barely begun when he was suddenly released -- the statute of limitations for his part in the crime had expired. He later went on the lecture circuit, earning money from his infamy.
26. CEL_120212_276.JPG: Pieces from the ropes which were used in hanging the Lincoln conspirators
27. CEL_120212_285.JPG: Key: Key to Dr. Samuel Mudd's jail cell at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, Florida.
28. CEL_120212_288.JPG: Jail Cell Key: Key to Mary Surratt's jail cell at the Old Arsenal Penitentiary. Mary Surratt would become the first woman executed by the United States government.
29. CEL_120212_295.JPG: Wheel from the Ironclad USS Montauk: The ironclad Montauk served as a floating prison for all but two of the suspected conspirators. On April 27 photographer Alexander Gardner took pictures of the conspirators on board the ship: Edman Spangler, Michael O'Laughlin, David Herold, Lewiss Powell, George Atzerodt, and Samuel Arnold, as well as an unknown prisoner thought to be one "Hartman Richter." Coincidentally, on the afternoon of April 14, 1865, President and Mrs. Lincoln took a carriage ride to the Navy Yard to tour the same ironclad, which would later hold the conspirators and serve as a makeshift laboratory for doctors conducting the autopsy of John Wilkes Booth.
30. CEL_120212_314.JPG: Justice or Vigilante Vengeance? Thomas "Boston" Corbett immigrated to America from London while still a boy. He worked as a hatter in New York until, devastated by his wife's death in childbirth, he moved to Boston. There he took the name of his adopted city. When war broke out, Corbett joined the Union army, where he rose to the rank of sergeant. On the morning of April 26, 1865, claiming that "Providence directed me," Corbett aimed his Colt revolver at John Wilkes Booth and fired from a distance of no more than 12 feet. Corbett later claimed that he thought Booth was preparing to fire upon the soldiers. Sergeant Boston Corbett, photographed circa 1865. After the war, Corbett enjoyed a period of celebrity as "the man who avenged Lincoln." His share of the $100,000 reward offered by Secretary of War Stanton was $1,653.84. The Death of John Wilkes Booth: Boston Corbett's bullet partially severed Booth's spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. The wounded man was carried from the barn. "Tell mother, I die for my country," he whispered. Federal agents rifled through Booth's pockets and discovered, among other items, his diary, compass, and knife. The originals are displayed in the basement museum across the street in Ford's Theatre. Print showing the autopsy of Booth's body aboard the USS Montauk. Photographer Alexander Gardner created a record of the autopsy, but Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton ordered the photographs destroyed. This wood engraving, showing Booth being dragged from Garrett's barn, appeared on the cover of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper on May 13, 1865. "Useless, Useless" Dawn was approaching. It had been almost three hours since Booth was shot, and his strength was ebbing. Lying on the front porch of the Garrett farmhouse, he spoke his last words. "My hands," he gasped. They were raised for his inspection. "Useless," muttered Booth. "Useless." Shortly after seven o'clock, John Wilkes Booth died. His body was sewn into a saddle blanket and returned to Washington by steamboat.
31. CEL_120212_327.JPG: The Trial: For seven weeks in May and June 1865, the nation's attention was riveted on the third floor of Washington's Old Arsenal Penitentiary. There, seven men and one woman in leg irons and handcuffs were on trial for their lives; Lewis Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt, Michael O'Laughlin, Samuel Arnold, Edman Spangler, Samuel Mudd, and Mary Surratt. President Andrew Johnson insisted on trying the conspirators before a nine-member military commission, where a simple majority was required to establish guilt and six votes could impose the death penalty. While the accused were allowed by attorneys to question the 366 witnesses, they were not permitted to speak on their own behalf. Members of the military commission that tried the conspirators. Americans still debate the use of military versus civilian courts for major offenses. Sentenced to Death: Two days of deliberations produced death sentences for David Herold, George Atzerodt, Lewis Powell, and Mary Surratt. For their lesser roles in the Lincoln conspiracy, Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlin and Dr. Samuel Mudd were condemned to life imprisonment. Edman Spangler, a stagehand at Ford's Theatre, received a six-year sentence. Now it was up to President Johnson to review the tribunal's work and decide whether, as recommended by some of the judges, to spare Mrs. Surratt's life.
32. CEL_120212_334.JPG: Imprisoned: As the conspirators were arrested, they were brought back to Washington and jailed. Six of them (Arnold, Atzerodt, Herold, O'Laughlin, Powell, and Spangler) were detained at the Navy Yard, on the ironclad vessels Montauk and Saugus. Mary Surratt and Samuel Mudd were held at the Old Capitol Prison. As the trial date approached, all of the conspirators were moved to the Old Arsenal Penitentiary, where the hearing was held. The Old Capitol Prison no longer exists -- it is now the site of the United States Supreme Court building. The Old Arsenal Penitentiary is now the site of Fort McNair, jutting south between the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers. You can still visit parts of the Navy Yard, which remains home to the Chief of Naval Operations. Shackled and Hooded: Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton oversaw the imprisonmet and trial of the conspirators. He ordered the conspirators to wear canvas hoods that covered all of the face except the mouth. In the Washington heat, the hoods became intensely uncomfortable. In addition, dour of the prisoners (Atzerodt, Powell, Herold, and Spangler) wore heavy iron shackles. Stanton excused Mary Surratt from wearing the hood for fear of public outcry. This 1865 political cartoon, created after Lincoln's death, illustrates the country's anger towards the conspirators and Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Uncle Sam points to a caged hyena, representing David. Above him are the "gallow's birds" -- the conspirators awaiting execution.
33. CEL_120212_363.JPG: A Tragic Family Legacy: "Pa is dead. I can hardly believe that I shall never see him again." -- Tad Lincoln After Abraham Lincoln's death, misfortune seemed to follow his family. Mary, fearing poverty, returned to Chicago with her sons. When Robert married in 1868, Mary and Tad left for a two-and-a-half-year trip to Europe. Tad became ill on the voyage home and never recovered. He died at age 18. He was buried in Springfield beside his father and two brothers. Tad's death left Mary bereft. Over time her behavior became increasingly erratic. In 1875 Mary spent 12 weeks in an insane asylum after a jury agreed with Robert Lincoln that his mother required institutionalization. Mary spent the last years of her life in Springfield, IL, with her sister. She died in 1882. In the years following his father's death, Robert became a lawyer; served as Secretary of War; and became president of the Pullman Railcar Company. Robert had the eerie distinction of being present at the assassinations of Presidents Garfield and William McKinley. Mary Lincoln in mourning clothes, circa 1867. Tad Lincoln, circa 1866. Note the mourning band around the hat. Mary said that nothing reminded her of Abraham so much as Tad's "dark, loving eyes." Robert's last public appearance in May 1922 at the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial. End of the Line: Robert Todd Lincoln married and had three children. His son Abraham II (Jack) died at the age of 16. His daughter Mary had one son, who died childless in 1971. Robert's other daughter Jessie wed Warren Beckwith. They raised two children: Mary "Peggy" Beckwith, who died in 1975, and Robert Rodd Lincoln Beckwith, who died 10 years later. Neither had children. Today there are no direct living descendents of Abraham Lincoln.
34. CEL_120212_373.JPG: July 7, 1865: On July 5 President Johnson approved the sentences handed down by the military commission. Frantic efforts were made to prevent Mary Surratt from becoming the first woman executed by the federal government. Her daughter went to the White House to beg for mercy, but the president would not see her. Despite this and other pleas, President Johnson signed the death warrant. 1:26pm: It was just after one o'clock in the afternoon of July 7, when the prisoners were led out into the courtyard of the Old Arsenal Penitentiary. Their graves had been dug a few feet from the gallows. Hundreds of spectators looked on as the trap was sprung at 1:26pm. The bodies were cut down, placed in pine boxes, and buried. The Deed is Done: Outside the prison walls, a crowd celebrated the executions with lemonade and cake. Soon the gallows were broken up and fragments distributed as souvenirs. Three-and-a-half years later the remains of the conspirators were exhumed from the prison yard and released to their families for reburial. George Atzerodt's remains now rest in St. Paul's Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland; Mary Surratt's in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Washington, DC; David Herold's in Congressional Cemetery, Washington DC; and Lewis Powell's in Geneva Cemetery, Florida.
35. CEL_120212_419.JPG: Ford's Theatre Society gratefully acknowledges the support of Sheila C. Johnson for making this exhibit possible.
36. CEL_120212_426.JPG: The Challenges of Reconstruction: The most immediate -- and lasting -- consequence of Lincoln's death was felt in the postwar era known as Reconstruction. The challenges confronting his successors were daunting: how were North and South to be reunited? What was to become of four million former slaves? What punishments, if any, would Confederate leaders face? Had the war permanently strengthened the federal government at the expense of the states? All this and more now fell upon Andrew Johnson -- a very different kind of leader from Abraham Lincoln. Would Lincoln have made the same choices as Johnson? The Road to Reconstruction: Planning for Peace: In December 1863, President Lincoln proposed to readmit any seceding state once 10% of its voters swore allegiance to the Union. Radical Republicans in Congress thought that Lincoln's plans did not sufficiently guarantee civil liberties for freed slaves. They rejected the plan and instead passed the Wade-Davis Bill, which would have made it more difficult for southern states to rejoin. Lincoln pocket-vetoed the bill so it never went into effect, and the political disagreement over whether Congress or the President was in charge of Reconstruction continued. Neither the Ten-Percent Plan nor the Wade-Davis Bill proposed the enfranchisement of African Americans. As the war ground on, however, Lincoln began to shift his stance. On April 11, 1865, in what would be his last speech, Lincoln publicly proposed giving black soldiers the right to vote. Four days later he was dead. This 1861 political cartoon pre-dates Reconstruction, but shown the hopes in the country that Lincoln might be able to repair the split between North and South. Reconstruction or Restoration? Andrew Johnson, like Lincoln, wanted to make it simple for Southern states to return to the Union. Unlike Lincoln, however, Johnson wanted a return to prewar America, where state's rights took precedence over racial justice. Johnson talked of Restoration rather than Reconstruction. Johnson set about establishing new state governments throughout the South. Most of these new regimes passed Black Codes that demoted freedmen to a permanent second-class status. In response Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which ensured full citizenship rights for African Americans. Johnson vetoed the legislation, along with a bill extending the life of the Freedman's Bureau, established a year earlier to assist former slaves. Congress overrode both of Johnson's vetoes. This poster from an 1866 gubernatorial election race attacks the Radical Republicans and their support of civil rights for African Americans. The image depicts an African American receiving benefits for free while white laborers work for their livelihood. Congress Takes Charge: Triumphant from overwhelming victories in Congressional elections, Radical Republicans wasted no time in dividing the South into five separate military districts. States seeking re-admission to the Union had to guarantee African-American men the right to vote. They also had to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment extending benefit of citizens to all. The seeds of a multiracial South were thus planted. Starting in 1867, an estimated 1,500 African Americans were elected to office. The restrictive Black Codes passed by state legislatures were abolished. By July 1870, all of the former Confederate states were back in the Union. Parody of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, showing a group of Radical Republicans celebrating over the political assassination of Andrew Johnson. Harper's Weekly, March 1869. "Let Us Have Peace": The war hero, Ulysses S. Grant, won the presidency in 1868 by declaring, "Let us have peace." Grant supported the Fifteenth Amendment, giving all male citizens the right to vote. When Southern resistance flared up, with violence directed against Republican officeholders, Grant used military force against terrorist groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Over time, northern interest in black rights faded and sectional reconciliation over racial justice. The election of a Democratic Congress in 1874 stalled Reconstruction policies and quickened the decline of federal protection of black civil rights. Meanwhile, state governments in the South increasingly barred blacks from voting. The disputed presidential election of 1876 then gave white supremacists the leverage to make a deal: Democrats would permit Republican Rutherford B. Hayes to assume the presidency; in return, Hayes would end military occupation in the South. This political cartoon, entitled "Re-Construction," shows an African-American holding onto the "tree of liberty," as he offers a hand to a white man being swept downriver. President Grant stands on the shore, urging the white man to accept the black man's help. The Reconstruction Amendments: In the years following Abraham Lincoln's death, Congress passed three constitutional amendments regarding civil rights -- together referred to as the Reconstruction Amendments. The 13th Amendment continued the work started by Lincoln with the Emancipation Proclamation by officially abolishing slavery within the United States. The 14th Amendment guaranteed equal protections to African Americans. The 15th Amendment granted voting rights to all men, regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." This sketch shows a parade scene, surrounded by portraits and vignettes of African-American life, illustrating the rights granted to them by the Fifteenth Amendment.
37. CEL_120212_466.JPG: Excerpt from "Had Lincoln Lived" -- Amos Russell Wells, 1862-1933 Had Lincoln lived, How would his hand, so gentle yet so strong; Have closed the gaping wounds of ancient wrong; How would his merry jests, the way he smiled, Our sundered hearts to union have beguiled; How would the South from his just rule have learned That enemies to neighbors may be turned, And how the North, with his sagacious art, Have learned the power of a trusting heart; What follies had been spared us, and what stain, What seeds of bitterness that still remain, Had Lincoln lived!
38. CEL_120212_470.JPG: Caricature and Icon: Abraham Lincoln is one of the most familiar figures in American history. What person doesn't recognize that distinctive beard and top hat! From the penny to Mount Rushmore, Lincoln's image is everywhere. Because of innovations in photography in the late 1850s and his own fascination with new technologies, Lincoln was frequently photographed -- more than any prior president -- leaving us with an enduring record of this iconic man. Wasting no time, commercial businesses seized on Lincoln's popularity. Within a year of his death, Lincoln's image had been used to sell such products as medicine, pens, tobacco, and clothing. What products have you seen with Lincoln's image on them?
39. CEL_120212_523.JPG: A Legacy in Stone: "Monuments are put up for all ages, while men and ages pass away," said Augustus Saint-Gaudens, whose enormous Standing Lincoln in Chicago marked a turning point in how Americans saw Lincoln and his legacy. Most early depictions of Lincoln commemorated The Great Emancipator. But with the postwar betrayal of former slaves' political and economic rights, the reunited nation was eager to move on. It wasn't the abolition of slavery that assured Lincoln's place in the history's books, but the preservation of the Union.
40. CEL_120212_527.JPG: Lincoln and the Sculptress: In 1866, Congress voted $10,000 to commission a full-length statue of the late president for the Capitol. Over the objections of some, including Mary Lincoln and Senator Charles Sumner, the work was entrusted to Vinnie Ream -- the first woman to receive a federal art commission. The 19-year-old artist living in Washington, Ream had already fashioned a bust of Lincoln from life. The president had enjoyed her company, saying she reminded him of his late son Willie. In creating his marble likeness, Ream worked from the suit of clothing Lincoln wore to Ford's Theatre the night of his assassination. The statue stands today in Statuary Hall at the US Capitol. Vinnie Ream poses with her bust of Lincoln. The bust rests upon the stand she used while President Lincoln posed for her in this White House.
41. CEL_120212_530.JPG: The Freedman's Memorial: Funded entirely by contributions from emancipated slaves, the Freedman's Memorial in Lincoln Park, several blocks east of the US Capitol, depicts Lincoln striking the shackles from a kneeling ex-slave. The latter was modeled on a photograph of Archer Alexander, the last person to be recaptured under the prewar Fugitive Slave Act. On April 14, 1876, 25,000 people attended the dedication ceremony of the Memorial. Frederick Douglass was the keynote speaker. "Viewed from the genuine abolition ground, Mr. Lincoln seemed tardy, cold dull, and indifferent." Douglass acknowledged, "but measuring him by the sentiment of his country... he was swift, zealous, radical and determined." Depicting a shackled, shirtless African American, the Freedman's Memorial was -- and remains -- controversial. Frederick Douglass acknowledged this at the dedication, saying that the sculpture "showed the Negro on his knees when a more manly attitude would have been indicative of freedom."
42. CEL_120212_533.JPG: Standing Lincoln: Relying on Mathew Brady's photographs and Leonard Volk's 1860 life mask, Augustus Saint-Gaudens spent four years creating for the citizens of Chicago what was universally held to be the finest Lincoln statue to date. At is dedication in October 1887, Lincoln's friend Leonard Swett predicted that the name of Abraham Lincoln would be honored "wherever the slave shall groan under the lash, or the poor shall sigh for something better than they have now."
43. CEL_120212_536.JPG: Writing Lincoln's Life: Shortly after Lincoln's death, writers began competing to see who could craft the definitive biography. The first appeared late in 1865. The work of journalist Josiah Holland, the book sold over 100,000 copies. In 1872 another Lincoln friend, Ward Hill Lamon, entrusted his memories to a ghostwriter who asserted that the late President was illegitimate and an atheist. In the 1890s, to counteract his earlier book, Lamon published another account of his friend, but it was overshadowed by the work of 37-year-old investigative journalist Ida Tarbell. By interviewing virtually every living Lincoln associate, Tarbell succeeded in creating a unique, lifelike portrait of the president. William Herndon, circa 1880. Herndon, Lincoln's old law partner, collaborated on a biography in 1886 with Jesse Welk. It was completed the same year as a massive, ten-volume work by Lincoln's secretaries, John Hay and John Nicolay.
44. CEL_120212_538.JPG: The 1909 Centennial of Lincoln's Birth: The Lincoln Centennial generated a host of activities. In New York City, an estimated one million people took part in observances. At Hodgenville, Kentucky, Theodore Roosevelt laid the cornerstone for a memorial housing Lincoln's boyhood cabin. Nation-wide the penny became the first American coin to bear a president's likeness. Casting a cloud over the Centennial festivities was the nation's festering race problem, made worse by segregation and Jim Crow law throughout the country. In August 1908, a savage race riot engulfed Springfield, Illinois. Six months later, Springfield's official Lincoln centennial banquet was a whites-only affair. A local black pastor, LH Magee, looked ahead to the 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial, but which he hoped that "prejudice shall have been banished as a myth and relegated to the dark days of 'Salem witchcraft'."
45. CEL_120212_541.JPG: Birth of the NAACP: IN the two months preceding the Springfield race riot, no less than 25 African Americans had been lynched in the United States. In 1908 lynching had become so routine that it hardly qualified as news. Violence was regularly perpetuated against blacks by the Ku Klux Klan and similar groups. The 1908 race riot in Springfield, Illinois, inspired a national conference, held in New York City, in conjunction with the Lincoln centennial. It was beginning of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "Abraham Lincoln began the emancipation of the Negro American," the new organization declared. "The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People proposed to complete it."
46. CEL_120212_544.JPG: Lincoln's Legacy: "He has gone to the firmament of Washington, and a new light shines down upon his beloved countrymen from the American constellation. Behold the image of the man." -- Richard J. Oglesby, President, Lincoln National Monument Association, October 15, 1874
47. CEL_120212_549.JPG: A Legacy Takes Shape: In the immediate aftermath of Lincoln's death, Americans rushed to memorialize their fallen leader. An elaborate tomb, grander than anything previously built to honor a president, was planned for Springfield, Illinois. Other cities raised their own monumental tributes. Lincoln was the first American president to be assassinated, and his death rocked the nation. A grieving country struggled to come to terms with his death, and what it meant for the future. Why does Abraham Lincoln still fascinate the world? What is it about this frontier man that holds our imagination? What do you think is Lincoln's greatest legacy? Lincoln the man was scarcely laid to rest when Lincoln the martyr took his place in the pantheon of American democracy. For millions of his grieving countrymen it required no stretch of imagination to picture George Washington, the Father of His Country, welcoming the Savior of the Union to Heaven. The First American: In this excerpt from a commemorative ode recited at Harvard University on July 21, 1865, poet James Russell Lowell captured the reverential mood among Americans as the first shock of Lincoln's death gave way to reflections on the meaning of his life. "Great captains, with their guns and drums, Disturb our judgment for the hour, But at last silence comes; These are all gone, and, standing like a tower, Our children shall behold his fame, The kindly, earnest, brave, foreseeing man. Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame, New birth of our sail, the first American."
48. CEL_120212_552.JPG: A Global Anniversary: In 1909 people around the world observed the centennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. In London, which boasted a 200-foot Lincoln Tower, 2,000 admirers crowded into the Whitefield Tabernacle to pay tribute to America's 16th president. Transcending barriers of nationality, language, and politics, commemorative ceremonies took place in Paris, Berlin, Manila, Rome, Mexico City, and Tokyo. The Immigrant's Lincoln: By the turn of the 20th century, millions of immigrants to America took inspiration from Lincoln's humble origins and his unshakeable faith in the common man's right to rise. Among those seeking a new life far from home was a young girl born of Ukrainian parents under Czarist tyranny. Immigrating as a child to Milwaukee, she worked in her parents' grocery store. As a young woman, she portrayed Miss Liberty in a pageant and shook hands with another fellow patriot dressed as the Great Emancipator. Few in the audience could have imagined the history she would go on to make as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.
49. CEL_120212_556.JPG: United Under Lincoln: In the 1860s, a young Frenchman named Georges Clemenceau shared in the global grief occasioned by Lincoln's death. 54 years later, Clemenceau and David Lloyd George (Prime Ministers of France and England respectively) negotiated the post-World War I map of Europe and its accompanying geo-political power with their American counterpart, Woodrow Wilson. In 1919, at the Paris Peace Conference, which established a series of treaties that would end World War I, mutual admiration of Lincoln was a favorite topic of conversation among the three leaders, who agreed upon little else. World War I: On the eve of World War I, Abraham Lincoln the war leader had evolved into a mythical emissary of world peace. ...
50. CEL_120212_560.JPG: Columbian Exposition Ticket: This ticket, bearing Lincoln's image, is from the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago -- also known as the Chicago World's Fair. Participants in the fair came from 46 nations.
51. CEL_120212_570.JPG: Abraham Lincoln Around the World: The loss of America's 16th president was felt keenly outside the nation's borders. Britain's Queen Victoria and the Empress Eugenie of France sent their condolences to Mary Lincoln. In a modest home in Wales, a shoemaker by the name of Richard Lloyd hung a portrait of the American leader in a place of honor, where it inspired lifelong hero worship in his nephew David. That boy, David Lloyd George, would grow up to become Prime Minister of Great Britain during the First World War. "In his life, he was a great American. He is no longer so. He is one of those giant figures, of whom there are very few in history, who lose their nationality in death. They are no longer Greek, or Hebrew, or English, or American; they belong to mankind." -- British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, dedicating the Standing Lincoln statue in London, 1920
52. CEL_120212_574.JPG: A Global Legacy: In 1900 there were books about Lincoln published in 16 languages; today this figure exceeds 50. Lincoln has become synonymous with freedom, Africans utilized Lincoln in their opposition to European colonialism from the mid-1880s to the 1960s, finding in him a symbol of liberty. In the 1950s and '60s, Cuban rebels struggling for freedom invoked his name to rally support. Eastern European countries looked to his democratic example after the fall of Communism in the early 1990s. This 1950s American editorial cartoon shows the ghostly head of Abraham Lincoln watching as a Soviet soldier covers the face of a man shackled with a ball and chain. Invoking the spirit of Lincoln, the cartoonist speaks to the need to oppose Soviet tyranny during the Cold War.
53. CEL_120212_577.JPG: Ford's Theatre Society gratefully acknowledges the support of AT&T for making this exhibit possible.
54. CEL_120212_579.JPG: Star of Stage, Screen, and Television: The first film about Abraham Lincoln was 1908's The Reprieve: An Episode in the Life of Abraham Lincoln. In less than 20 years, the character of Lincoln appeared in over 40 silent films. Two fo the most famous depictions of Lincoln on film are Henry Fonda's 1939 Young Mr. Lincoln and Raymond Massey's 1940 Abe Lincoln in Illinois. British playwright John Drinkwater's 1918 play, Abraham Lincoln, had runs on Broadway and in London's West End. While most of us envision Lincoln as he has been portrayed on film and television -- a deep-voiced, powerful figure -- reports from his time claim that his voice was rather high and squeaky.
55. CEL_120212_595.JPG: Which Lincoln is Our Lincoln? Abraham Lincoln was not a simple man. Once accused by a political rival of being "two faced," Lincoln deftly turned the tables. "I leave it to you," he told his audience, "if I really had two faces, do you think I would hide behind this one?" Yet, just as he eluded easy labeling in life, so the historical Lincoln wears many faces. Lincoln had been claimed by groups from the American Communist Party to the Ku Klux Klan. Politicians of every party quote identical Lincoln passages to prove opposite conclusions. Spiritualists and atheists; supporters and opponents of Prohibition; Wall Street and organized labor; each insists that Lincoln is on its side. Everybody's Lincoln: Each generation discovers and defines "the real Lincoln" for itself. His spiritual life, the source of his melancholy, the state of his marriage, his skills as a military strategist, his breathtaking assertion of executive power in wartime, his complex and evolving views on race -- all these and other visions of our 16th president fuel an unending debate.
56. CEL_120212_603.JPG: Dwight D. Eisenhower 34th President, 1953-1961 Arguably few presidents have shown a higher regard for Lincoln than Eisehower. As a military man, he admired Lincoln's generosity toward subordinates like George B. McClellan. As president, Eisenhower occupied the Lincoln Pew in the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. At the White House, he kept a complete set of Lincoln's Collected Works in the Oval Office and he even painted a portrait of the first Republican president and hung it in the Cabinet Room. Eisenhower's Pennsylvania home bordered the battlefield immortalized by Lincoln's November 1863 Gettysburg Address. He liked nothing better than conducting world leaders over the landscape that inspired Lincoln's "new birth of freedom." In 1957, Eisenhower's administration spearheaded the first major civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. This cartoon shows Eisenhower as the "New Emancipator," smashing the chains that held the South. The 1952 presidential election, which Eisenhower won, was the first time in years that four Southern States (Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia) voted for the Republican candidate.
57. CEL_120212_606.JPG: Franklin Delano Roosevelt 32nd President 1933-1945 "I think it is time for us Democrats to claim Lincoln as one of our own," wrote Franklin Roosevelt, then governor of New York, in 1929. Lincoln was "a many-sided man... emancipator -- not slaves alone, but of those of heavy heart everywhere." Roosevelt visited the Lincoln Memorial on every February 12 -- Lincoln's birthday -- that he was in Washington. He read Carl Sandburg's epic biographies of Lincoln. In the eve of World War II, evaluating Lincoln's team of rivals, the Democratic president invited Republicans to join his Cabinet. On a darker note, Roosevelt's wartime imprisonment of over 100,000 Americans of Japanese descent prompted comparisons with Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus. Like Lincoln, Roosevelt died before he could grapple with the challenges of a postwar world. Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt arrive at the Lincoln Memorial for Lincoln's birthday celebration, February 12, 1938.
58. CEL_120212_612.JPG: A Shared Philosophy: "The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but cannot do at all, or cannot well do for themselves in their separate and individual capacities. In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere."
59. CEL_120212_628.JPG: An Asian Hero: Lincoln's hold on the popular imagination was not limited to Europeans. In Japan, the first book about the United States' celebrated president appeared in 1890. Abraham Lincoln's stories became even more widespread in Japan upon its inclusion in the 1903 national textbook for moral education. Containing twenty-eight lessons, the book taught ethical values through the use of anecdotal stories. Lincoln was the only foreigner included, and he featured in five lessons including those on studying, honesty, sympathy, and personal freedoms. In 1912, famed Japanese scholar and diplomat Inazo Nitobe called Lincoln "the kindest man among the great men, and the greatest men among the kind men." Lincoln in China: Dr. Sun-Yat-Sen, founder of the modern Chinese government hung a single portrait in his Shanghai home -- that of Abraham Lincoln. From the Gettysburg Address, he took his "three principles of the people": Minzu: Nationalism ("of the people") Minquan: Democracy ("by the people") Minsheng: Socialism ("for the people") Ironically, the same speech inspired Mao Zedong and his Communist legions to overthrow Sun's successor, Chiang Kai-Shek and establish the People's Republic of China in 1949. Mao directed his followed to memorize Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
60. CEL_120212_631.JPG: The Heart of France: On December 4, 1866, a gold medal -- paid for with the contributions of 40,000 French admirers -- was handed to the American minister in Paris to be given to Mary Lincoln. "Tell Mrs. Lincoln that in this little box is the heart of France." Spearheaded by writer Victor Hugo and supporting the Committee of the French Democracy, the medal was created despite opposition from the dictatorship of Napoleon III. "If France had the freedom enjoyed by republican America," the committee said, "not thousands, but millions among us would have been counted as admirers." Even overseas, Lincoln's image was used to sell a variety of goods This wrapper for French gloves features his likeness, with the words, "dedicated to the immortal Abraham Lincoln." Lincoln In Africa: On his 1958 visit to the United States, Prime Minister of Ghana Kwame Nkrumah, visited the Lincoln Memorial and placed a wreath at the base of the statue. The next year, Ghana commemorated Nkrumah's visit with a postage stamp marking the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's birth. In 1965, Ghana issued four commemorative stamps with Lincoln's image to recognize the centennial of his assassination. During a 1959 interview for the Voice of America broadcast, "In Search of Lincoln," Nhrumah claimed that Lincoln's significance for Africans was his role in "the eventual emancipation of peoples of African descent in the United States," and in ending the evil of slavery. Alluding to racial issues in the US, he stressed [???] the continual need for vigilance in the name of justice and equal treatment, and he lamented that Lincoln's egalitarianism "tends to be forgotten even in these neglected times." A Fitting Memorial: An influential Romantic poet and a leader of the Spanish Abolitionist Society, Carolina Coronado influenced Lincoln's early reputation in Spain with her "Ode to Lincoln," published after his election in 1860. In it, she praised Lincoln as "the faithful son of the glorious, just, kind-hearted Washington." Upon Lincoln's assassination, Coronado penned another poem in honor of the fallen president and, like many, elevated the man to martyr. .... excerpt from "The Redeeming Eagle": Blood overflowing from its throat and shaking the fouled mud onto Richmond, the victorious eagle lifts America up and its flight astounds the world. But my tongue doesn't sing its victory for its wrathful valor in battle; I sing to God for sending it to the earth to triumph in the Christian war. ... In you the new dynasty was born that will reign over the world throughout the ages that majesty of majesties that heaven entrusts only to virtue. The scepter without human tyranny, the crown without crazy vanities, sprayed with your purest blood the New World was left consecrated. Humble woodcutter, the monarchs go to place flowers upon your grave, and rich ships and poor boats alike lower their banners of a hundred colors. For you, in all the regions of the world sublime orators raise their voices and the Christian church with its many rites lifts your glory to infinity. -- Carolina Coronado, 1865
61. CEL_120212_639.JPG: The Ford's Theatre Society gratefully acknowledges the support of T. Boone Pickens for making this exhibit possible.
62. CEL_120212_658.JPG: A Tower Of Books "Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new at all." -- Abraham Lincoln In 1922, the New York Times wrote, "It is, perhaps, a fact that among modern Americans no one has had more books devoted to the multifarious phases of his career and personality than Abraham Lincoln." Eighty years later, this is still true. There are over 15,000 books about Lincoln currently in print -- with more being written every day. The last word about our 16th president will never be written, if only because each generation creates its own Lincoln.
63. CEL_120212_711.JPG: Ford's Theatre Society gratefully acknowledges the support of State of Qatar for making these Education Studios possible.
64. CEL_120212_883.JPG: Postage Stamp: This 16-cent United States postage stamp is from a 1938 presidential series. [Note that the sign is wrong. The stamp is from San Marino.]
65. CEL_120212_925.JPG: Ford's Theatre Society gratefully acknowledges the support of Samsung for making this exhibit possible.
66. CEL_120220_002.JPG: Coffin Handle: Handle from Abraham Lincoln's casket. It is not known how or why this handle was removed.
67. CEL_120220_015.JPG: Inside Garrett's Tobacco Barn: Booth, needing to rest his broken leg, arrived at Garrett's farm in Port Royal, Virginia, on April 24, 1865. Booth was insulted to learn from a Richmond newspaper that the United States government was offering only $140,000 for his capture. "I would sooner suppose more like $500,000," he remarked to his hosts. The Garretts became suspicious of their uninvited guests, thinking that they might be thieves. The second evening, Booth and Herold were told to sleep in the tobacco barn, which the Garretts locked to prevent them from stealing their horses. The Conspirators Cornered: Acting on information supplied by Willie Jett, Edward Doherty and the soldiers of the 16th New York Cavalry arrived at the Garrett farm before dawn on April 26. The soldiers threatened Richard Garrett with hanging unless he revealed the whereabouts of the wanted me. Garrett's son John pointed to the tobacco barn less than 200 feet away. The soldiers quickly surrounded the barn, but Booth and Herold refused to surrender. When negotiations failed, the soldiers piled brush and kindling against the wooden structure, preparing to set it aflame. At length, David Herold emerged, but Booth refused to leave. Smoking Him Out: Around 3:00am, the barn was set ablaze. Through cracks in the wall, the soldiers could see the assassin leaning heavily on a crutch, with a gun in his right hand. Suddenly a shot rang out. Booth, mortally wounded with a bullet through his neck, crumpled to the ground.
68. CEL_120220_057.JPG: Cuban Postage Stamp: This 1942 postage stamp from Cuba features four world leaders: Lincoln; beloved Mexican leader Benito Juarez; South American leader and revolutionary Simon Bolivar; and Antonio Maceo, a Cuban independence leader.
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