Lincoln’s Legacy: Historic Americana from the Life of Abraham Lincoln

Gold and black enamel cuff button, with letter "L"; gold backing; housed in a custom fitted silver box with beveled glass lid. Button: 1/4 x 3/4 in. (6 x 19 mm); clasp diameter 1 in. (25 mm); box: 1.5 x 2 x 3/4 in. (38 x 51 x 19 mm).

CUFF BUTTON WORN BY PRESIDENT LINCOLN ON THE NIGHT OF HIS ASSASSINATION: "A gold-and-onyx initial sleeve-button that I took out of Mr. Lincoln's cuff when his shirt was hastily removed in searching for the wound, was subsequently presented to me by Mrs. Lincoln and is still in my possession." (Dr. Charles Sabin Taft, from his notebook recording events at Lincoln's deathbed).

Dr. Charles Sabin Taft was seated in the orchestra pit almost directly below the presidential box during the 14 April performance of Our American Cousin. He was accompanied by his wife Sarah and Ann Frances Wright, wife of Ford's stage manager John B. Wright. Dr. Taft knew the Lincolns well, as his half-sister Julia had befriended them while acting as chaperone for her younger brothers during their visits to the White House to play with Lincoln's sons, Willie and Tad.

After the fatal shot rang out the theater erupted into pandemonium. Dr. Taft fought his way to the stage, shouting that he was a doctor, and was boosted into the presidential box by the assembled crowd. Once inside he found Dr. Charles Leale already kneeling beside Lincoln. Amidst the cacophony of screams and cries Taft lifted the president's right hand and tore open the cuff, as he desperately searched for a pulse, sending the cuff button clattering to the floor. The cuff button was later presented by Mary Lincoln to Dr. Taft in gratitude for trying to save her husband's life.

The fitted silver box that the cuff button is set into is engraved with the inscription: "Abraham Lincoln April 14th 1865." The reverse reads of the same reads: "Enclosed sleeve button worn by President Lincoln April 14th 1865 was given by Mrs. Lincoln to Dr. Taft, an attending surgeon who had removed it in search for wound / bought from his son C.C. Taft by W.H. Lambert March 11th 1908." 

The cuff button from the other sleeve is now in the Library of Congress as part of the Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana. It was donated in 1937 as part of the gift from Lincoln's granddaughter, Mary Lincoln Isham.

Provenance:

Mary Todd Lincoln

Dr. Charles Sabin Taft (1835-1900), gift from above

Charles Clement Taft (1864-1925), son of above

William Harrison Lambert (1842-1912), Lincoln collector and founder of The Lincoln Fellowship, purchased by him in 1908 from above

Previously sold, his sale, Anderson Galleries New York, 16 January 1914, Lambert sale of Lincolniana, lot 826 and illustration on p. 105

Louis J. Kolb (1865-1941), American banker and collector; previously sold, his sale, Wm. D. Morley, Inc., 17 November 1941, lot 226

Previously sold Christies New York, 2 June 1990, lot 89 (according to the catalogue note, an accompanying note card from Taft regarding the provenance, not present here: "This cuff button, with the initial "L" set in black enamel was removed by me from President Lincoln's cuff, when taking off his shirt in the box at Ford's Theater, the night he was assassinated April 14 1865, Charles Sabin Taft, Attending Surgeon, Mt. Vernon, N.Y., June 20 1900").

Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California

Exhibition:

The Last Best Hope of Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America, at the Huntington Library, October 1993-August 1994

Blood on the Moon, at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, 19 April-16 October 2005