BGuthrie Photos: MD -- Silver Spring -- Natl Museum of Health and Medicine (Forest Glen Annex) -- Exhibit: His Wound is Mortal: The Final Hours of President Abraham Lincoln

MD -- Silver Spring -- Natl Museum of Health and Medicine (Forest Glen Annex) -- Exhibit: His Wound is Mortal: The Final Hours of President Abraham Lincoln:

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Description of Pictures: Medical care during President Abraham Lincoln's final hours to be commemorated in new exhibit opening March 2, 2015

SILVER SPRING, Md. - "His Wound Is Mortal: The Final Hours of President Abraham Lincoln," a temporary exhibition at the National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM) featuring artifacts related to the Lincoln assassination, including the bullet that killed the president, will open to the public on Monday, Mar. 2, 2015. The exhibit will be on display through the end of 2015.

The Lincoln exhibit is part of NMHM's observance of the bicentennial of Lincoln's death, and NMHM has planned several special events (described below.) NMHM, a Department of Defense museum founded during the Civil War as the Army Medical Museum, is open to the public daily and is located on the Fort Detrick-Forest Glen Annex in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Lincoln Exhibit

On the night of April 14, 1865, President Lincoln was shot while watching a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Surgeons from the Army Medical Museum (known today as NMHM) treated the president until he died. Those same surgeons later performed Lincoln's autopsy, during which they recovered the bullet. The bullet, along with several small shards from Lincoln's skull and locks of Lincoln's hair, are featured in the exhibition.

A surgical kit that was among the tools used to perform the autopsy on Lincoln the day he died is also included in the new temporary exhibition. The kit is on loan from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

While many of the Lincoln artifacts have been on display at NMHM almost continuously for several decades, the temporary installation will organize the artifacts in chronological order and supplement them with additional contextual stories from persons involved in the tragedy.

"Rarely can a museum claim to be as much a part of an event as it is the holder of its historical significance," said Adrianne Noe, Ph.D., NMHM director. "In the case of the response to the assassination of President Lincoln, the National Museum of Health and Medicine tells our own history when we describe the medical response to that national tragedy."

"This new display of artifacts and specimens related to Lincoln's care and autopsy provides visitors with a more personal look at the Army surgeons and Medical Museum staff who spent time caring for the president, documenting his last hours and investigating his death," said Andrea Schierkolk, NMHM public programs manager, who curated the updated Lincoln exhibit.

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[1] NMHMLI_150308_002.JPG	[2] NMHMLI_150308_008.JPG	[3] NMHMLI_150308_012.JPG	[4] NMHMLI_150308_020.JPG
[5] NMHMLI_150308_027.JPG	[6] NMHMLI_150308_035.JPG	[7] NMHMLI_150308_059.JPG	[8] NMHMLI_150308_065.JPG
[9] NMHMLI_150308_074.JPG	[10] NMHMLI_150308_082.JPG	[11] NMHMLI_150308_092.JPG	[12] NMHMLI_150308_108.JPG
[13] NMHMLI_150308_112.JPG	[14] NMHMLI_150308_123.JPG	[15] NMHMLI_150308_131.JPG	[16] NMHMLI_150308_134.JPG
[17] NMHMLI_150308_138.JPG	[18] NMHMLI_150308_152.JPG	[19] NMHMLI_150308_172.JPG	[20] NMHMLI_150308_184.JPG
[21] NMHMLI_150308_202.JPG	[22] NMHMLI_150308_212.JPG	[23] NMHMLI_150808_02.JPG	[24] NMHMLI_150808_10.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. NMHMLI_150308_008.JPG: His Wound is Mortal; It is impossible for him to recover
2. NMHMLI_150308_012.JPG: The Injury "His wound is mortal; it is impossible for him to recover." -- Dr. Charles A. Leale Immediately after the shot was heard, Dr. Charles A. Leale, an Army Surgeon attending the play, entered the state box and found Lincoln in a state of general paralysis and his eyes closed. He was in a profoundly comatose condition with stertorous breathing and no perceptible pulse. Leale lifted the president's eyelids and observed evidence of brain injury. While searching for the wound, he discovered a clot situated about one inch below the superior curved line of the occipital bone. Leale cleared the clot of blood and passed the little finger of his left hand through the perfectly smooth opening made by the ball, and found it had entered the encephalon. As soon as he removed his finger, Lincoln's breathing became more regular. Leale then performed artificial respiration until he saw that Lincoln was breathing independently. After administering brandy and water, Leale and two other Army doctors, Charles S. Taft and Albert F. A. King, carried Lincoln to the Petersen House, across the street from the theater.
3. NMHMLI_150308_020.JPG: The Care At the Petersen House, Leale was joined by Lincoln's family physician Dr. Robert K. Stone, members of the president's cabinet, and Mrs. Lincoln's pastor, Reverend Dr. Phineas Gurley. At 10:15 pm, Dr. Stone probed the wound with his finger and determined that the president's death was imminent. To ease his breathing, the doctors positioned Lincoln's head so the wound would discharge freely and keep the site free of clots. He was kept warm with artificial heat and mustard plasters, but received no additional medications. Before 11 pm, Army Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes and Assistant Surgeon Charles H. Crane arrived to assess the president's condition. The wound was left open by means of a silver probe and the head was supported in its position by Drs. Crane and Taft relieving each other. About 2 am, Barnes made an examination with a Nélaton's probe. After probing the wound site and locating the bullet, nothing further was done with the wound except to keep it free from coagula. At 7:21 am Lincoln's breathing ceased. At 7:22 am his pulse stopped.
4. NMHMLI_150308_027.JPG: Lincoln's Last Hours An address delivered by Charles A. Leale, M.D., before the Commandery of the State of New York, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, at the regular meeting, February 1909, City of New York, in observance of the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln.
5. NMHMLI_150308_035.JPG: Nélaton's probe Used during examination of President Abraham Lincoln's wound to locate the bullet. The porcelain tip is missing. "... An examination was made by the Surgeon General and myself who introduced the probe to a distance of about two and a half inches, where it came in contact with a foreign substance... at first supposed to be the ball, but as the white porcelain bulb of the probe did not indicate the mark of lead, it was generally thought to be another piece of loose bone. The probe was introduced the second time and the ball was supposed to be distinctly felt." -- Charles A. Leale (1909)
6. NMHMLI_150308_059.JPG: Bullet that killed President Abraham Lincoln Dr. Edward Curtis dislodged this bullet from President Lincoln's brain during autopsy.
7. NMHMLI_150308_065.JPG: "The shroud is laid back, and see! A smooth clear skin fitting cleanly over well-rounded muscles, sinewy and strong... Next see the back of the head, low down and a little to the left, a small round blackened wound, such as is made by a pistol-shot at close range. There is no counter-opening, so the missile has lodged and must now be found... The part is lifted from its seat, when suddenly, from out a cruel rent that traverses it from end to end, through these very fingers there slips something hard -- slips and falls with a metal's mocking clatter into a basin set beneath. The search is satisfied; a little pellet of lead!" -- Assistant Surgeon Edward Curtis, Personal Recollections of the War of the Rebellion
8. NMHMLI_150308_074.JPG: The Autopsy: The president's body was transported to the White House where a post-mortem investigation took place at 12:10pm in the Guest Room at the northeast corner of the second floor (currently the President's Dining Room). Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes and Dr. Robert K. Stone presided, while Assistant Surgeons Joseph J. Woodward and Edward Curtis of the Army Medical Museum performed the autopsy.
9. NMHMLI_150308_082.JPG: Surgical kit at the autopsy of President Abraham Lincoln Assistant Surgeon Alfred Wilson, who guarded the door during the post-mortem examination, asked for and received this kit.
10. NMHMLI_150308_092.JPG: Locks of President Abraham Lincoln's hair A small amount of hair from the area surrounding President Abraham Lincoln's wound was removed by Dr. C. H. Liebermann, one of the surgeons in attendance at Lincoln's bedside, and given by him to Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes. Dr. Robert K. Stone, who presided over the autopsy, presented a lock of hair to Mary Todd Lincoln and each of the surgeons present at the autopsy. One of these locks was donated to the Army Medical Museum by Mrs. Joseph K. Barnes in 1899 and the other by Mrs. George. M. Sternberg in 1920.
11. NMHMLI_150308_108.JPG: When Curtis was cleaning his medical kit, he found a single fragment of bone from Lincoln's skull.
12. NMHMLI_150308_112.JPG: Bone Fragments from President Abraham Lincoln's Skull: These bone fragments were given as evidence to the War Department's Judge Advocate General after the autopsy.
13. NMHMLI_150308_123.JPG: Dr. Edward Curtis' sleeve cuffs stained with President Abraham Lincoln's blood, Endorsed Envelope: Curtis returned home from the autopsy and found that a few drops of Lincoln's blood had stained the cuffs of his shirt. His wife cut the cuffs from the shirt and sealed them in an envelope. Curtis endorsed the envelope with the following: Shirt sleeves soiled with the blood of President Abraham Lincoln at the autopsy on his body April 15, 1865. -- Edward Curtis, Asst. Surg. U.S.A.
14. NMHMLI_150308_152.JPG: Case History in The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, Part I, Vol. II, Surgical History, 1870: President Abraham Lincoln's case history was described as one of three recorded cases of a contre coup injury in "The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion." In the 19th century, contre coup was described as a fracture of the skull opposite a wound, caused by the transmitted force of the brain. In Lincoln's case, contre coup was evidenced by the fracture of the orbits. Current understanding of contre coup involves trauma of the brain, rather than the skull.
15. NMHMLI_150308_172.JPG: Sketch of the Deathbed Scene of President Abraham Lincoln: Immediately after Lincoln died, Hermann Faber, a hospital steward detailed to the Army Medical Museum as a medical artist, entered the room and sketched the scene. The drawing, approved by Surgeon General Barnes, depicts Army physicians actively caring for Lincoln.
16. NMHMLI_150308_202.JPG: His Wound is Mortal: It is impossible for him to recover Lncoln's Last Hours: April 14-15, 2015, marks the 150th anniversary of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Linooln was attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC. At approximately 10:15pm, John Wilkes Booth entered the president's box and fired a single bullet from a Deringer pistol into the back of Lincoln's head. Army Surgeon Charles Leale, first at the scene, assessed the wound as mortal. Staff of the Army Medical Museum played an integral role in the care of Lincoln during his last hours, conducted the postmortem investigation and documented the results.
17. NMHMLI_150308_212.JPG: Portrait, President Abraham Lincoln, original lithograph, published by Middleton, Strobrdige & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, from a photograph by Matthew Brady.
18. NMHMLI_150808_10.JPG: Sketch of the Deathbed Scene of President Abraham Lincoln Immediately after Lincoln died, Hermann Faber, a hospital steward detailed to the Army Medical Museum as a medical artist, entered the room and sketched the scene. The drawing, approved by Surgeon General Barnes, depicts Army physicians actively caring for Lincoln.
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