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Death of President Lincoln
No photographs were taken in the back bedroom as Lincoln lay dying. Instead, artists used a mix of fact, imagination, and political expediency to depict the scene. This hand-colored lithograph by Currier & Ives is such a mix. It shows Lincoln being attended by Surgeon General Barnes while dignitaries including Chief Justice Salmon Chase, Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch, Gen. Henry Halleck, Senator Charles Sumner, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles look on. Robert Lincoln covers his face at the foot of the bed, while Mary and Tad weep beside it. Clara Harris is behind Mary. Although the men pictured passed through the Petersen House that night at one time or another, their depiction here is more composite portrait than fact. And Tad was never at the Petersen House—he was cared for at the White House that night.
- Title:
- Death of President Lincoln
- Creator:
- Currier & Ives
- Origin Date:
- 1865
- Object ID:
- 71.2009.081.1810