Lincoln relic on exhibit at Pearce Museum

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May 19, 2010

From Staff Reports Corsicana Daily Sun The Corsicana Daily Sun Wed May 19, 2010, 05:49 PM CDT

Corsicana — On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln decided to pursue one of his favorite pastimes, theatre. The play was “Our American Cousin,” and the venue was Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. But what began as a rare evening out became one of Lincoln’s final brushes with history.

After intermission, while the Lincolns were enjoying the play, Southern sympathizer John Wilkes Booth made his way to the presidential box. The Lincolns’ bodyguard had left his post at intermission and did not return. As an actor, Booth knew the play well and waited for the perfect time when audience laughter would cover the sound of a gunshot. The moment came, and Booth fired shooting Lincoln in the back of the head from point-blank range with a Derringer pistol. Booth jumped from the box to the stage and escaped only to be captured later.

Lincoln was lowered to the stage of the theatre, where a doctor discovered the wound on the back of his head. A bandage was wrapped around his head, and he was moved to the boarding house across the street. In the first-floor room, Lincoln was laid diagonally across the bed as he was too tall to fit otherwise. He lingered there until the morning of April 15, 1865, when he died.

Afterward, pieces of the bandage from his head were cut away and given to those in attendance. These relics were treasured and passed down through families. Eventually, they were sold or placed in museums. One of those museums is the Pearce Museum at Navarro College.

A portion of the bandage that was wrapped around Lincoln’s head is currently on display at the Pearce Museum. The exhibition has been extended through Memorial Day, May 31, as part of the “Lincoln & Davis: Commanders in Chief” exhibit. You are invited to come see this personal tie to one of the greatest presidents before it goes back in storage.

The Pearce Museum on the campus of Navarro College in Corsicana is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and from noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays. General admission applies. For more information about the Pearce Museum, call (903) 875-7642 or see the Web site at www.pearcecollections.us.

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