Back on April 7, 2008 I posted an article about a museum in Pennsylvania which owns one of the American flags which draped the presidential box at Ford's Theater the night Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The original post describes the flag, how it came into the possession of the Pike County (Pennsylvania) Historical Society, and how the flag was authenticated. The flag not only draped the box, but it was used for a time to cradle Lincoln's head as he lay mortally wounded in the theater.
I received an email yesterday from a reader who pointed out that I left out some pertinent information about the flag. Although I mentioned in the original post how the flag was authenticated, I neglected to mention that it was authenticated by Mr. Joseph Garrera, who serves as the president of the Lincoln Society in New York, New York. He is also the director of the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum in Allentown, PA. Apologies to Mr. Garrera, but the original news article I saw about the flag didn't mention his name.
This link contains an older story about how the flag was lent to the now-defunct Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It has more details about the flag itself as well.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Update: Pennsylvania Museum's Lincoln Flag From Ford's Theater
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2 comments:
Is this the same flag, then, that John Wilkes Booth caught himself on as he jumped from the Presidential balcony? Or was there more than one flag draping the President's booth?
Carol,
There were, I believe, 3 or 4 flags draping the President's box that evening.
I don't know that this particular flag was the one which Booth caught himself on. I suspect not, since the articles don't mention it.
Thanks for reading!
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