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Fragment of towel stained with the blood of Abraham Lincoln

Fragment of towel stained with the blood of Abraham Lincoln Fabric, wove white linen
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Fabric, wove white linen, circa 1865

7.5 cm x 8 cm

Artifact # 0475
[Note this artifact was enclosed with a letter that Augustus Clark sent to John A. Andrew, 5 May 1865.]


This piece of fabric is from a woven white linen towel and has a faded brown stain, the blood of Abraham Lincoln. This small artifact was sent as an enclosure in a letter dated 5 May 1865 from Augustus Clark, a War Department employee, to Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew. Clark was one of the men who moved Lincoln, after he was shot, from Ford's Theatre to Peterson's boarding house.