22 June 1865

Bailey, D.C., fl. 1864-1865

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary E. Bailey

States that he is grateful and thanks God that he and his family have been safe from sickness and harm. Reports that a part of his regiment is in Madison and will probably be there for some time. He hopes that if he is to stay long somewhere, it is in a town that he is familiar with. Gives instructions on plowing around the potato crop, killing weeds, and shoeing his horses. He is being kept in a camp near Tennally Town, Washington D.C. to defend the city while the Lincoln assassination trials are going on. Reports that all the testimony from the trial has been taken. Hopes that the…

GLC02664

1858-1900

Wright, Family, fl. 1858-1900

Header Record

Title: Augustus R. & Miller Wright archive: Confederate turncoat [partially decimalized .01-.12]

This collection comprises personal and military correspondence relating to U.S., and later Confederate, congressman Augustus Wright and his son Miller, both Southerners with Unionist sympathies. Topics include battles (including First Manassas), conflicts between Jefferson Davis and Governor Joseph Brown, wounded soldiers and prisoners of war, conscription, peace negotiations, Confederate surrender, and Lincoln's assassination. The collection includes a number of orders by Robert E. Lee's son George Washington Custis Lee, Miller's commanding officer for much of the war. Augustus Romaldus…

GLC02691

1860-1865

Book

Title: Collection of one book and pamphlets on Abraham Lincoln [Decimalized .01-.09]

Includes one paperback book entitled "Life and Public Services of Hon. Abraham Lincoln" and eight eulogy pamphlets.

GLC02913

22 April 1865

Gutekunst, Frederick, 1831-1917

Photograph

Title: Albumen of Ulysses S. Grant at time of Lincoln funeral

Portrait of General Ulysses S. Grant. Grant wears a black mourning armband, his left hand tucked in his coat in a "Napoleonic" pose. Probably taken while Lincoln's courtege traveled through Philadelphia. (See GLC01270, carte de visite).

GLC03094

8 October 1904

Mosby, John S., 1833-1916

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Gaston

Written as Assistant Attorney General, he comments that anyone joking about McKinley's assassination is "a brute." Written on Department of Justic letterhead.

GLC02827

15 March 1781- 9 May 1782

Pickering, Timothy, 1745-1829

Autograph manuscript

Title: [Pickering's letterbook]

Inventory attached. Contains two alphabetical lists of recipient's names. One eight page list is attached to the inner front cover by string and measures 23.2 x 19 cm. The other list is bound in as part of the letterbook. Contains letters to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Baron von Steuben, among various others. Letters within this book were created in various locations, and most were written by Pickering. The last, written to Pickering, is attached to the inner back cover. Includes an envelope attached to the inner front cover containing a transmission letter dated 30…

GLC03425

1865

Bingham, John Armor, 1815-1900

Book

Title: Trial of the conspirators for the assassination of president Lincoln, &c. Argument of John A. Bingham, Special Judge Advocate, in reply to the arguments of the several counsel for Mary E. Surratt, David E. Herold, Lewis Payne, Geroge Atzerodt, Michael O'Laughlin, Samuel A. Mudd, Edward Spangler, and Samuel Arnold, charged with conspiracy and the murder of Abraham Lincoln, late president of the United States

Published by the Government Printing Office. Accuses the conspirators of aiding the rebellion and undermining the Constitution and the laws of the nation. Also makes accusations regarding the involvement and instigation of Jefferson Davis (president of the Confederate States) and other rebel leaders. Asserts that everyone involved with the conspiracy is guilty by way of "common design." Bingham argues that there should be no distinction between those were simply involved in the plotting of the conspiracy and those who carried out the vicious attacks.

GLC03345

9 January 1876

Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Conness

Commander in Chief of the Army Sherman writes to Conness about the quarrel he had with Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton over the terms of Confederate General Joseph Johnston's surrender in 1865. Sherman suggests that he may have acted wrongly. " ... I do not profess to be infallible, or more than mortal. I have made some fearful mistakes in life which in a retrospect would be corrected, among them in regard to Mr. Stanton." Admits that he felt Stanton was trying to destroy him, " ... because he supposed I was not acting in full harmony on the then policy with the Negros - And failing…

GLC03341.01

circa 1861-1865

Richards, Leonard H., fl. 1864-1865

Header Record

Title: [Collection of Leonard H. Richards, D company, 75th regiment, Illinois, infantry]

Richards was a devout young soldier, greatly in love with his wife. Letters mention battle of Nashville, Lincoln's death, etc.

GLC03523.29

1863-1865

Widdifield, Charles T., fl. 1863-1865

Diary

Title: [Diaries of Charles T. Widdifield, K company, 12th regiment, Pennsylvania, cavalry]

Autograph manuscripts signed. The 1863 and 1865 diaries (approximately 150 and 122 pages, respectively) contain entries written under printed dates, while the 1864 diary (approximately 71 pages) is in a notebook with days and months written by author. All three are mostly written in pencil and signed by the author. Also included are four loose note sheets that originally were stuck within the diary pages from 1864. Widdifield's unit served in Western Virginia near Martinsburg, Winchester, and Charles Town. His unit did not fight at Gettysburg, having retreated from the Valley in June…

GLC03131.02

15 April 1865

Object

Title: [Funeral ribbon]

Brown velvet with silver fringe surmounted by a tin eagle with tintype portrait of Lincoln in metal frame. Participating mourners of the funeral procession were required to wear funeral ribbons.

GLC00382

1906

Pinkerton, Allan, 1819-1884

Pamphlet

Title: History and evidence of the passage of Abraham Lincoln from Harrisburg, Pa. to Washington, D. C. on the 22d and 23d of February, 1861

Documents the attempted assassination of then President-elect Abraham Lincoln on his way to his inauguration. Written in response to a published letter by John A. Kennedy, who claimed, along with his detective force, the responsibility of discovering the plot and stated "I know nothing of any connection of Mr. Pinkerton with the matter." Pinkerton explains this with "In this respect, Mr. Kennedy spoke the truth: he did not know of my connection with the passage of Mr. Lincoln, nor was it my intention that he should know of it. Secrecy is the one thing most neccessary to the success of the…

GLC00267.276

20 July 1865

Ordway, K.G., fl. 1855-1865

Object

Title: [Congressional mourning ribbon]

Black ribbon with gold trim and fringes. There is a white rosette sewn on to the top with a gold sequence star and two sequence stars on the black part of the ribbon directle below the rosette. The entire ribbon is covered in black transparent silk. Originally accompanied by a letter from K.G. Ordway, the ribbon's designer and an inauguration day admission card for March 4 1865.

GLC01423.01

1 May 1865

Stanton, Edwin M. (Edwin McMasters), 1814-1869

Autograph document

Title: Order for a military commission

Written on War Dept. stationery, with "War Department" struck and substituting "Executive Chamber." Title taken from docket. A draft for the orders by which the Booth conspirators were given military trial. Written as Secretary of War.

GLC01975

15 April 1865

McClees, J.E., fl. 1855-1865

Broadside

Title: Announcement of death of Lincoln

Announces the death of President Lincoln to the soldiers at the U.S. General Hospital. Signed on verso by Jacob Campbell, Company S, 2nd Regiment, PA with a short note bidding farewell to the "sacred evil of old Virginia."

GLC02030

2 June 1865

Stanton, Edwin M. (Edwin McMasters), 1814-1869

Document signed

Title: Pass for John Ford

Signed by Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War. Pass for John Ford to visit the stage and private boxes in Ford's Theatre.

GLC02011

16 April 1865

Stanton, Edwin M. (Edwin McMasters), 1814-1869

Broadside

Title: General orders no. 66

Secretary of War Stanton announces the death of President Lincoln to the armies. States that "headquarters of every department, post, station, fort, and arsenal will be draped in mourning for thirty days." Also, funeral honors will take place at every military post and at West Point. W.A. Nichols announces that troops and cadets of West Point and all military posts will be paraded at 10 o'clock a.m. Also commands that flags be displayed at half-staff, thirteen guns be fired at dawn, and that officers of the armies of the U.S. wear a badge of mourning. Officers' command and regiment…

GLC02031

1864-1865

Nicholson, Charles, fl. 1864-1865

Header Record

Title: [Collection of Charles Nicholson, battery L, 5th regiment, Pennsylvania, heavy artillery] [Decimalized .01- .12]

Charles Nicholson was a Private in the 5th Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, Co. L. Other letters were written by another soldier in the same family, to their cousin Alice. Writes about Lincoln's death and a cousin's death in Libby prison. Collection contains 10 items, 5 envelopes, 2 photographs, as well as various clippings.

GLC02171

1864-1868

Morse, George F., fl. 1864-1868

Header Record

Title: [Collection of George F. Morse, 91st regiment, New York, volunteers] [decimalized]

Collection of George F. Morse, private, 91st New York Volunteers. There are 52 items in the collection, including 17 letters from Morse, from his enlistment in October 1864, until his discharge in July 1865. Letters were written from Kingston, New York; Harts Island, New York Harbor; Fort Federal Hill, Baltimore, Maryland; and Hatcher's Run, Virginia, 1864-1869. As a member of the brotherhood of State Street (Brooklyn, New York), Morse corresponds with other brotherhood members (some military, some civilian) regarding the war, politics and religion. Content includes discussion of…

GLC02180

ca. 16 April 1865

Stanton, Edwin M. (Edwin McMasters), 1814-1869

Envelope

Title: [Envelope addressed to Major Vincent]

A free franked envelope (War Department stationery) signed as Secretary of War, allowing the bearer, Major Vincent, to see the Board of Inquiry into Lincoln's assassination.

GLC02256

15 April 1865

Broadside

Title: Herald extra President Lincoln assassinated

Announces the death of President Lincoln and assassination attempt of Secretary Seward. Dated from Chicago, but the newspaper printing the small hand-bill is unknown. Has remnants of a doily around the borders.

GLC02364

1865

Saunders, Rolfe S., fl. 1864-1865

Pamphlet

Title: An oration on the death of Abraham Lincoln late president of the United States

Published by W.A. Whitmore, Steam Book and Job Printer. Signed in pencil by Fillmore on title page. The speech was delivered on Island 40, April 25, 1865.

GLC02120

June 6, 1865

McCaleb, Edwin H., fl. 1844-1865

Autograph letter signed

Title: To T.P. Chandler, Esq.

McCaleb thanks Chandler and his family for their kindness while a prisoner of war in the North. He writes that "All good citizens deeply deplore the assassination of Pres. Lincoln... Mr. L -- was a great man and more than that was a good man and countryy [sic] could ill afford to lose his services at this important crisis...." He expresses his concern with Andrew Johnson's use of military courts to try citizens and feels he is "overstepping his oath of office." He protests that turning an ignorant Black person into a self reliant citizen will stump the growth of the South. Finally, he defines…

GLC01594

April 21, 1865

Park, William E., fl. 1855-1865

Autograph letter signed

Title: To Mr. Newton

Writes to his cousin about the Union soldiers' reaction to the assassination of Lincoln. States that "the boys are in for exterminating the Rebels altogether." He also writes that there are many men who would re-enlist now that would not have done so a week ago. Expresses his hope that President Andrew Johnson is capable of conducting public affairs and doesn't show any mercy to the traitors. Also appends a short note to his cousin Mollie stating that since the death of Lincoln, he feels like re-enlisting and "help exterminate those accursed Rebels".

GLC01545.05

January 14, 1865

Booth, Edwin, 1833-1893

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Col. Adam Badeau

Writes that the only spare room he has is for the Clarkes and the spare bed for John Wilkes. Remarks that Badeau is a bit sensitive. States that he will go downtown to visit Badeau soon. Includes a card with Edwin Booth's signature and is dated February 1884.

GLC02508.01