Lincoln Abraham








Rare Piece of Wallpaper from Ford’s Theatre Taken the Day after Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination





[ABRAHAM LINCOLN], Fragment of Wallpaper from the Presidential Box at Ford’s Theatre from the night of his assassination, April 14, 1865. 2.5" x 2.25"; framed to 12.75" x 15.75". Also includes notes describing the provenance of the piece, and is accompanied by an original album of newspaper clippings collected during this fateful time in history.





President Abraham Lincoln was shot shortly after 10:00 p.m. on Friday, April 14, 1865, while attending a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The unconscious president was soon moved across 10th Street to a boarding house owned by William Petersen. There, Lincoln died the next morning at 7:22 a.m.





The assassination of Abraham Lincoln shocked the nation and the world. Coming on the heels of the fall of the Confederate capital and the surrender of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, the first assassination of an American president instantly turned joy in the northern states and among freedpeople in the South into mourning. Even those who opposed Lincoln politically were shocked by the act and the related near-fatal attack on Secretary of State William H. Seward. White southerners, fearing a more vindictive North led by President Andrew Johnson, also mourned publicly, though many privately rejoiced.





Mementoes related to the assassination and mourning apparel of all types immediately became popular as the public expressed its sadness and indignation at the crime. Pieces of fabric, carpet, and wallpaper from Ford’s Theatre and the Petersen House where Lincoln died became especially valued artifacts of the horrible event. The wallpaper in the presidential box, of which this offering is a piece, featured a background of deep burgundy red with a repeated pattern of two floral stripes alternated with three columns of much lighter “Pompeiian Pink” leaves on stems. A very fine laurel leaf vine in an “Ivory Black” color runs between the floral stripes.





A soon-to-be clerk in the Treasury Department, perhaps in town seeking the appointment, obtained this piece and evidently gave it to his sister.





Complete Transcript of Attached Notes


a piece of Wall paper from the Box in Fords Theatre where Pres Lincoln was murdered





The enclosed piece of wall paper was removed from the box in the theatre where Prest Lincoln was shot the next day after the murder by my brother Edgar who was in Washington at the time.


M. E. Stevens








Edgar Stevens (b. 1839) was born in Massachusetts to Edward G. Stevens. He lived with his parents and worked as a clerk in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1860. He was appointed from Illinois as a clerk in the Second Comptroller’s office of the Treasury Department on July 1, 1865. He held the position until at least 1869. In 1880, he was a boarder in Mount Vernon, Illinois.





Mary E. Stevens (b. 1833) was born in Massachusetts to Edward G. and Eliza Stevens.








WE PROVIDE IN-HOUSE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.