A photograph of Michael O'Laughlen (1840-1867), one of eight Lincoln conspirators convicted for his role in the coordinated plan to simultaneously assassinate 16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, Secretary of State William H. Seward, and General Ulysses S. Grant on April 14, 1865. Printed ca. 1910, from the personal collection of world-renowned Lincoln collector Frederick H. Meserve (1865-1962). The photo is hand-stamped "Collection / Of / Americana / Frederick H. Meserve / 265 Edgecombe Avenue / New York City" verso. The photo is housed in construction paper wrappers inscribed in Meserve's hand as "O'Laughlin" (an alternate spelling of his surname) along the bottom edge. Expected surface wear including gentle corner and other folds, else near fine. The photo measures 2.125" x 3.25."

Michael O'Laughlen, John Wilkes Booth's childhood friend, had been involved in the Lincoln kidnapping plot as late as March 1865, and had been tapped to assassinate Ulysses S. Grant. O'Laughlen was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was incarcerated at Fort Jefferson, a half-finished military installation/prison located in the Dry Tortugas approximately 70 miles west of Key West, until he died there of yellow fever in September 1867. President Andrew Johnson pardoned O'Laughlen's fellow convicted Lincoln conspirators Samuel Arnold, Samuel Mudd, and Edmund Spangler, also imprisoned at Fort Jefferson. The remaining four of the other eight Lincoln conspirators-- Mary Surratt, George Atzerodt, David Herold, and Lewis Powell--had been executed on July 7, 1865 at Washington's Old Arsenal Penitentiary, today Fort Lesley McNair.

The photograph shows O'Laughlen wearing a plaid double-breasted vest and black tie. The prisoner was seated aboard either the "U.S.S. Saugus" or the "U.S.S. Montauk," two ironclad monitor ships where the most high-profile conspirators were incarcerated in April 1865. The photograph was originally taken by Alexander Gardner (1821-1882) in late April 1865. Gardner had been hired by the federal government to document the imprisonment and execution of Lincoln's conspirators.

Frederick H. Meserve was a preeminent collector of Lincoln and Civil War era photography, ephemera, maps, and books. He began collecting Lincolniana in 1897, with the intention of illustrating his father's Civil War diary. In the early 1900s, Meserve acquired 10,000 original Brady negatives including seven Lincoln portraits. Meserve continued collecting Lincoln likenesses, as well as photos of Lincoln's contemporaries, over the next sixty years. He eventually amassed a collection of 200,000 pieces including some previously "lost" or unknown images of Lincoln. Meserve's collection was so esteemed for its completeness that he essentially became the custodian of "Lincoln's image." Meserve was approached by medal and currency engravers, as well as by the sculptors of Lincoln's Memorial Monument, for direct access to his presidential photographs. In 2015, the Meserve-Kunhardt Collection was acquired by the Yale Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (New Haven, Connecticut.)

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

WE PROVIDE IN-HOUSE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE!