#relicts

Relicts - the one (detail) by Leonardo Borazio ( dleoblack on as )

💀decorated skull of St. Nonnosus, 1709, covent work from the treasure of St. Michael's Monastery, today in the cathedral treasure Bamberg, Germany.

People love to collect small souvenirs—perhaps “relics” is a better word—to commemorate special people or important events. That was certainly the case for those who honored Abraham Lincoln's presidency. And over the years many of those bits and pieces of history have found their way to the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection.

For example, this 21 by 9½-inch piece of silk floral-patterned drapery fabric, which was used in the Executive Mansion during Lincoln's administration, is part of the collection.

And this small, frayed, 1¾ by 2¼-inch scrap of maroon wool cloth is pinned to a handwritten note claiming it is “From Lincoln's special car during the war.”

Many of the bits and pieces are relics of Lincoln’s assassination. Some are related to the shooting at Ford’s Theatre. This fragment of red wallpaper is affixed to a note that reads, “A piece of the wallpaper from the box in which Mr. Lincoln sat on the night of his assassination. Taken there by Dr. Homiston on the day after the event; and given to me by him. J.D. Philips; Aug/8/68; Brooklyn, N.Y.”

Laura Keene, who was performing in Our American Cousin the night of the assassination, rushed to the presidential box after Lincoln was shot. This 6 by 6-inch piece of fabric from her dress became a relic of the event. Information with the fabric fragment states, “The piece of cloth is from the dress Miss Keene was wearing at the time and was given to L.A. Avery of Franklin Street, Brandon, Vermont by Mrs Louis Camann.” And this triangular fragment is said to be a “Piece of the dress worn by Laura Kean in the play of ‘American Cousin’ April 14, 1865. Marked by the blood of our martyred President Abraham Lincoln.”

According to the note associated with this 7 by 3¼-inch scrap of silk, “This is part of the silk flag that draped the Presidential box the night of April 14, 1865; the night President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.”

Other bits and pieces are from the bed at the Petersen House where Lincoln died. These two pieces of toweling are each affixed to notes stating that they are stained with Lincoln’s blood. One reads, “A piece of a towel stained with the blood of A.Lincoln, President of the U.States assassinated April the 14th, 1865 at Ford's Theatre Washington.” The other states, “A piece of towel used in dressing the wound of President Lincoln after the assassination on the 14th of April 1865. The President was taken to the house of a Mr. Peterson and his wound dressed. The Peterson's son was surgeon's steward with Dr. C.N. White on board the U.S.S. Roanoke, and this piece was given me by Dr. White. Laurel [?] T. Browne.”

Albert Daggett, a clerk in the Department of State who was in Ford’s Theatre the night of assassination, wrote a series of letters to this mother and sister describing the event and its aftermath. And he sent his sister “some mementoes…One is a piece of the pillow case on which the President’s head rested and the other is a portion of a towel which was bound around his head.” The mementoes are small, roughly 3 by 2 inches each.

A number of relics are associated with Lincoln’s funeral. Mourners kept pieces of the mourning crepe they wore. Elijah Bangs wore this piece of “Linkens Craip” to Lincoln's Washington funeral on April 19th. 

And John E. Wilkins, Adjutant in the 16th Indiana Volunteers, kept this 1½ by 2¾-inch piece of the crepe band he wore “on the death of Pres Lincoln.”

This fragment of black cotton velveteen was “Part of the drapery used in preparing the catafalque at the Capitol for the reception of the President's body after his assassination.”

This is a piece of the upholstery used in the railroad car that carried Lincoln's body from Washington, D.C., to Springfield, Illinois. The piece is 11 inches long and 3¼ inches wide.

And this 11-inch piece of metallic braid is a relic of the end of Lincoln’s funeral journey—it is “from the black velvet pall upon which Abraham Lincoln's casket rested when he was placed in tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois, in 1865.”

Bits of decoration from Lincoln’s casket were also kept as relics. This 9-inch piece of silver fringe was used along the top edge of the casket. This silver metallic tassel was part of the decoration as well.

There is even a piece of the casket itself. According to the information accompanying the tiny piece of metal—it measures 1 by ½ inch—“It was broken off when the casket was opened to view the body when it was transferred from the original tomb to the present one in the monument at Oak Ridge Cemetery at Springfield, Ill. It was presented to Edward Freiberger the day after the transfer by William M. Glenn, who as a reporter for the Chicago Inter Ocean witnessed the transfer.”