By Dean Murray
A bloodstained swatch of fabric said to be from the head bandage of President Abraham Lincoln has sold at auction.
The extraordinary piece of American history sold for $44k, according to Boston-based RR Auction.
Lincoln was shot in the head by actor John Wilkes Booth as he attended a play at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865.
The mortally wounded president was taken to William Petersen’s boardinghouse across the road from the theater, where he would succumb to his injuries.
It was there that Henry S. Safford, a 25-year-old War Department employee and lodger at the boardinghouse, was able to obtain the bandage fragment.
Accompanying the swatch is a one-page handwritten letter from Safford, penned on Ordnance Office, War Department letterhead, and dated May 3, 1865.
Addressed to a T. J. Deuscher, the letter reads: “I send you enclosed a piece of cloth stained with the blood of our late President Abraham Lincoln. It is a piece of the bandage that was placed around his head. I procured it from the room in which he died. I reside in the same house. I’m sorry I cannot send you a bigger piece.”
Eyewitness accounts and historical records indicate that it was Henry S. Safford who, amidst the chaos following the tragic event, offered one of the Petersen House’s bedrooms to President Lincoln as he fought for his life.
The swatch, measuring 2.5″ x 2″, is set against a fabric backdrop featuring a 42-star American flag.
“The sale of this bloodstained bandage swatch serves as a poignant reminder of one of the darkest chapters in American history, while also highlighting the bravery and humanity displayed by individuals like Henry S. Safford during a time of national crisis,” said Bobby Livingston, Executive Vice President at RR Auction.
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