150th annivesary of President Lincoln's death
Today is the 150 anniversary of President Lincoln's death.
Editorial cartoon from 1865.The caption reads: (Johnson): "Take it quietly Uncle Abe and I will draw it closer than ever." (Lincoln): "A few more stitches Andy and the good old Union will be mended."
[interesting historical find]
President Lincoln's gold pocket watch (kept at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History) was only recently discovered to have been signed by several watch keepers for normal maintenance, the graffiti was only discovered in 2009. The inscriptions are transcribed below.
"Jonathan Dillon April 13- 1861 Fort Sumpter [sic] was attacked by the rebels on the above date. J Dillon," the brass underside of the watch movement reads. It continues: "April 13- 1861 Washington thank God we have a government Jonth Dillon." The back of the watch movement also bears two other inscriptions: "LE Grofs Sept 1864 Wash DC," probably engraved by another repairer, and what appears to be "Jeff Davis." Whether the latter was intended as a retort by another watchmaker to Dillon's pro-Union sentiments is unknown.
While at Ford's theater, President Abraham Lincoln was shot attending a performance of Our American Cousin and died from his wounds the next day on 15 April, 1865. The body was buried in Springfield, Illinois, and on its train journey there, several stops were made in cities including New York, where the funeral cortege passed underneath Theodore Roosevelt's home on Broadway near Union Square (he can be seen in the window as a young boy in the image below).
Editorial cartoon from 1865.The caption reads: (Johnson): "Take it quietly Uncle Abe and I will draw it closer than ever." (Lincoln): "A few more stitches Andy and the good old Union will be mended."
[interesting historical find]
President Lincoln's gold pocket watch (kept at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History) was only recently discovered to have been signed by several watch keepers for normal maintenance, the graffiti was only discovered in 2009. The inscriptions are transcribed below.
"Jonathan Dillon April 13- 1861 Fort Sumpter [sic] was attacked by the rebels on the above date. J Dillon," the brass underside of the watch movement reads. It continues: "April 13- 1861 Washington thank God we have a government Jonth Dillon." The back of the watch movement also bears two other inscriptions: "LE Grofs Sept 1864 Wash DC," probably engraved by another repairer, and what appears to be "Jeff Davis." Whether the latter was intended as a retort by another watchmaker to Dillon's pro-Union sentiments is unknown.
While at Ford's theater, President Abraham Lincoln was shot attending a performance of Our American Cousin and died from his wounds the next day on 15 April, 1865. The body was buried in Springfield, Illinois, and on its train journey there, several stops were made in cities including New York, where the funeral cortege passed underneath Theodore Roosevelt's home on Broadway near Union Square (he can be seen in the window as a young boy in the image below).