This book explores three frock coats that belonged to Abraham Lincoln, and the faithful White House servants who cherished them after his untimely demise. Each garment, recognized as the "bloodstained coat Mr. Lincoln wore on that memorable occasion," evoked "tears that fell like rain" until a renowned historian established only one as the authentic assassination relic and discarded another as a fake. The third frock coat endures as a "significant emblem of American royalty." This work takes a diverging opinion. It looks beyond the palpable adulation of those who claimed Lincoln's "tragedy-soaked raiment" and examines the heroic actions of two army surgeons who treated the nation's liberator at the crime scene. It carefully inspects their written accounts and the visual proof to identify which frock coat manifests evidence of the mortal blow that upended a wounded nation yearning to unite as "one country, one destiny.".
Lincoln's Frock Coat : The Enduring Mystery of an Assassination Relic