1. Curated Grouping:
  2. “O moody, tearful night!”

Death Bed of the Martyr President Abraham Lincoln

Creator:
Currier & Ives, Golden & Sammons
Location:
New York, New York; Illinois, Chicago
Origin Date:
1865
Materials:
paper
Measurements:
overall: 14 13/16 in x 18 3/4 in
Item ID:
71.2009.081.1818
Holding Institution:
Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, courtesy of the Indiana State Museum
Available for Viewing:
No
Category:
Fine Art

Description

This lithograph is the artist's version of the visitors to the deathbed of President Abraham Lincoln in the Petersen house in Washington, D.C., in the early morning of April 15, 1865. Lincoln is shown lying in the bed with eyes closed. A doctor is seated in a chair to the left of the bed holding Lincoln's wrist in his right hand and a pocket watch in his left hand. The president's son, Robert, is shown standing behind the doctor's chair weeping into a handkerchief. Thirteen men including most of Lincoln's cabinet members a two Union generals are shown standing in various positions around the bed. The names are printed in the margin just below the image: Genl. Halleck, Genl. Meigs, Vice Prest. Johnson, Sec. Stanton, Postmaster Dennison, Clergyman, Surgeon, Mr. Colfax, Chas. Sumner, Chief Justice Chase, Secy. McCulloch, Surgeon, and Sec. Welles. Miss Harris, Mrs. Lincoln and son [Tad] are shown just outside the open hall door. On the back wall of the room is a shelf on which rests a clock showing the time 7:22, the time of Lincoln's death. Two framed picutres are on the wall to the right of the clock. For more information on other Lincoln deathbed prints with various numbers of visitors present, see Lincoln Lore, number 1517, July, 1964. Copy and paste the following URL into a browser to read the issue online: https://archive.org/details/assassix00linc Part of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, courtesy of the Indiana State Museum