Lincoln Assassination Flags
Encyclopedia
On April 14, 1865, the night President Abraham Lincoln
was fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth
, five flags decorated the presidential box of Ford's Theatre
. Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln
, were in this box watching a production of Our American Cousin
. Three of the flags were American flags and the other two were Treasury Guard flags. According to Civil War
historians, three of these five original flags are currently accounted for.
, where they were returned the day after Lincoln’s assassination. (All five flags were removed after the Lincoln was shot to prevent "souvenir hunters" from stealing them.) After their return, the two Treasury Guard flags were displayed in parades honoring Civil War veterans and at the inauguration
of President Andrew Johnson
.
One of the Treasury Guard flags, which is currently on display at the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford, Connecticut
, contains thirteen alternating red and white stripes and a blue canton with an oil painted eagle and 35 stars. The canton contains the words "Presented to Treasury Guard Regt. by the Ladies of the Treasury Dept. 1864." Experts agree that this flag was positioned on a pole to the left of Lincoln in the presidential booth. The flag is six-foot-square and made of silk.
The flag was placed in storage at the Treasury Department, until a former captain of the watch took the flag. It eventually ended up in the hands of a Civil War veteran in Hartford who passed it along to his son, Dr. Robert M. Yergason. Yergason donated the flag to the Connecticut Historical Society in 1922. The flag remained in a storage area with other Civil War artifacts for 76 years, until it was rediscovered by a former head librarian in 1998. The flag was then restored at the Textile Conservation Workshop in New York
.
After three years of researching, the Treasury Guard flag was deemed authentic by several prominent Civil War experts, including Harold Holzer, a vice president at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
and author of 18 books on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War and Howard Michael Madaus, chief curator of the National Civil War Museum
in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
.
This flag is part of the Civil War Treasures exhibit at the Connecticut Historical Society and has been on display since 2001. It is behind glass and under a fine mesh to help preserve it.
While some accounts and period illustrations suggest that Lincoln may have grasped this flag after being shot, or pushed the flag aside to watch the performance, these claims cannot be verified. However the proximity of the flag to Lincoln makes both scenarios possible. An illustration from Currier & Ives depicts the Lincoln assassination, showing Lincoln clutching a flag to his left. This flag, which is shown with red and white stripes and a blue canton with stars could be the Treasury Guard flag or an American flag.
It has also been suggested that Booth may have caught his spur on the Treasury Guard flag while trying to escape after assassinating Lincoln. It is widely debated which flag, if any, Booth tripped over in the escape, breaking his leg.
The second Treasury Guard flag was placed at the front of the presidential box at Ford’s Theatre, the night of Lincoln’s assassination. This flag, which is dark blue, features an eagle, 34 stars and a banner with the words "U.S. Treasury Guards" below the emblem. A shield with vertical red and white stripes and a blue chief covers the eagle’s chest. This flag is silk and measures 71.5" x 77.5". It is displayed at Ford’s Theatre National Historical Site in Washington, D.C.
A tear in this flag has led many to believe that it is the flag Booth tripped over in the escape.
This Treasury flag was displayed at the Treasury Building after Lincoln’s assassination. It was placed in a corridor outside the Secretary’s suite. A reproduction of this flag, which even replicates the tear in the original, is still displayed there today.
The blood stains on the flag were tested twice, and both tests showed the stains were from human blood. The blood stains were contact stains, and in his forensic research, Garrera found them consistent with the type of stain that would occur in such a situation. He also tested the material used in manufacturing the flag, policies at that time on displaying the American flags in ceremonies and the disposition of all the flags at Ford’s Theatre. All of Garrera’s tests prove the flag is authentic.
In tracing the events of the night of Lincoln’s assassination, Garrera found that Laura Keene
, the star of that evening’s performance of "Our American Cousin
" pulled the flag to the floor and placed it partially under Lincoln’s head, which she cradled in her lap. After Lincoln was moved next door to the Peterson House, part-time stage manager, Thomas Gourley, took the flag from the booth. In the 1880s he gave it to his daughter, Jeannie Gourley Struthers, who passed it along to her son V. Paul Struthers. In 1954 he donated the flag to the Pike County Historical Society with an unbroken oral history
of the flag’s ownership dating back to the day of Lincoln’s assassination.
Nationally known Lincoln scholars like Michael Maione, Historian at Ford’s Theatre; Dr. Wayne Temple, Director of the Illinois State Archives; Dr. Edward Steers, Jr.
, a Lincoln assassination expert; Frank J. Williams, Chairman of the Lincoln Forum and others agree with Garrera’s findings that the Lincoln flag is authentic.
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
was fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. Booth was a member of the prominent 19th century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and, by the 1860s, was a well-known actor...
, five flags decorated the presidential box of Ford's Theatre
Ford's Theatre
Ford's Theatre is a historic theater in Washington, D.C., used for various stage performances beginning in the 1860s. It is also the site of the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865...
. Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln
Mary Todd Lincoln
Mary Ann Lincoln was the wife of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and was First Lady of the United States from 1861 to 1865.-Life before the White House:...
, were in this box watching a production of Our American Cousin
Our American Cousin
Our American Cousin is an 1858 play in three acts by English playwright Tom Taylor. The play is a farce whose plot is based on the introduction of an awkward, boorish but honest American, Asa Trenchard, to his aristocratic English relatives when he goes to England to claim the family estate...
. Three of the flags were American flags and the other two were Treasury Guard flags. According to Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
historians, three of these five original flags are currently accounted for.
Treasury Guard flags
Hours before Lincoln’s arrival at Ford’s Theatre, theater owner, James R. Ford sent workers to find flags for the presidential box. The two Treasury Guard flags are from the United States Department of the TreasuryUnited States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
, where they were returned the day after Lincoln’s assassination. (All five flags were removed after the Lincoln was shot to prevent "souvenir hunters" from stealing them.) After their return, the two Treasury Guard flags were displayed in parades honoring Civil War veterans and at the inauguration
Inauguration
An inauguration is a formal ceremony to mark the beginning of a leader's term of office. An example is the ceremony in which the President of the United States officially takes the oath of office....
of President Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
.
One of the Treasury Guard flags, which is currently on display at the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
, contains thirteen alternating red and white stripes and a blue canton with an oil painted eagle and 35 stars. The canton contains the words "Presented to Treasury Guard Regt. by the Ladies of the Treasury Dept. 1864." Experts agree that this flag was positioned on a pole to the left of Lincoln in the presidential booth. The flag is six-foot-square and made of silk.
The flag was placed in storage at the Treasury Department, until a former captain of the watch took the flag. It eventually ended up in the hands of a Civil War veteran in Hartford who passed it along to his son, Dr. Robert M. Yergason. Yergason donated the flag to the Connecticut Historical Society in 1922. The flag remained in a storage area with other Civil War artifacts for 76 years, until it was rediscovered by a former head librarian in 1998. The flag was then restored at the Textile Conservation Workshop in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
After three years of researching, the Treasury Guard flag was deemed authentic by several prominent Civil War experts, including Harold Holzer, a vice president at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
and author of 18 books on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War and Howard Michael Madaus, chief curator of the National Civil War Museum
National Civil War Museum
The National Civil War Museum, located at One Lincoln Circle at Reservoir Park in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is a permanent, nonprofit educational institution created to promote the preservation of material culture and sources of information that are directly relevant to the American Civil War of...
in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...
.
This flag is part of the Civil War Treasures exhibit at the Connecticut Historical Society and has been on display since 2001. It is behind glass and under a fine mesh to help preserve it.
It has also been suggested that Booth may have caught his spur on the Treasury Guard flag while trying to escape after assassinating Lincoln. It is widely debated which flag, if any, Booth tripped over in the escape, breaking his leg.
The second Treasury Guard flag was placed at the front of the presidential box at Ford’s Theatre, the night of Lincoln’s assassination. This flag, which is dark blue, features an eagle, 34 stars and a banner with the words "U.S. Treasury Guards" below the emblem. A shield with vertical red and white stripes and a blue chief covers the eagle’s chest. This flag is silk and measures 71.5" x 77.5". It is displayed at Ford’s Theatre National Historical Site in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
A tear in this flag has led many to believe that it is the flag Booth tripped over in the escape.
This Treasury flag was displayed at the Treasury Building after Lincoln’s assassination. It was placed in a corridor outside the Secretary’s suite. A reproduction of this flag, which even replicates the tear in the original, is still displayed there today.
American flags
Of the three American flags displayed in the presidential booth the night of Lincoln’s assassination, only one is accounted for. This flag, deemed the "Lincoln flag," is a 36-star flag used to cushion Lincoln’s head after he was shot. It is kept at the Pike County Historical Society located at The Columns Museum in Milford, PA. President of the Lincoln Group of New York, Joseph E. Garrera studied the Lincoln Flag independently for one year. In his research document, The Lincoln flag of the Pike County Historical Society, Garrera confirms his findings, declaring the Lincoln flag genuine.The blood stains on the flag were tested twice, and both tests showed the stains were from human blood. The blood stains were contact stains, and in his forensic research, Garrera found them consistent with the type of stain that would occur in such a situation. He also tested the material used in manufacturing the flag, policies at that time on displaying the American flags in ceremonies and the disposition of all the flags at Ford’s Theatre. All of Garrera’s tests prove the flag is authentic.
In tracing the events of the night of Lincoln’s assassination, Garrera found that Laura Keene
Laura Keene
Laura Keene was a British-born American stage actress and manager. In her twenty-year career, she became known as the first powerful female manager in New York.-Early life:...
, the star of that evening’s performance of "Our American Cousin
Our American Cousin
Our American Cousin is an 1858 play in three acts by English playwright Tom Taylor. The play is a farce whose plot is based on the introduction of an awkward, boorish but honest American, Asa Trenchard, to his aristocratic English relatives when he goes to England to claim the family estate...
" pulled the flag to the floor and placed it partially under Lincoln’s head, which she cradled in her lap. After Lincoln was moved next door to the Peterson House, part-time stage manager, Thomas Gourley, took the flag from the booth. In the 1880s he gave it to his daughter, Jeannie Gourley Struthers, who passed it along to her son V. Paul Struthers. In 1954 he donated the flag to the Pike County Historical Society with an unbroken oral history
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
of the flag’s ownership dating back to the day of Lincoln’s assassination.
Nationally known Lincoln scholars like Michael Maione, Historian at Ford’s Theatre; Dr. Wayne Temple, Director of the Illinois State Archives; Dr. Edward Steers, Jr.
Edward Steers, Jr.
Edward Steers, Jr. is an American historian specializing in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Steers worked as a research scientist at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland for thirty-two years until he retired in 1994 and started a new career as a writer...
, a Lincoln assassination expert; Frank J. Williams, Chairman of the Lincoln Forum and others agree with Garrera’s findings that the Lincoln flag is authentic.