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

1 p. on bifolium; 8 x 5 in. (203 x 117 mm), on Executive Mansion stationery; separated into two sheets along central fold; old creasing from when folded, separations along all of same, and traversing "L" in Lincoln's signature; old ink stain on first page; sheet toned.

REGARDING DR. CHARLES D. BROWN, THE PHYSICIAN WHO WOULD EMBALM LINCOLN.

In full: "Hon. Sec. of War Dr. Brown, the Embalmer, who has so long gone with our Armies, says he is now prevented in consequence of the loss of a paper--I suppose he should be given another, unless there be some reason to the contrary unknown to me. Yours truly A. Lincoln".

Dr. Charles Da Costa Brown (1817-96) established one of the first embalming firms in Washington, D.C. At the beginning of the Civil War, he and his partner, Dr. Joseph B. Alexander, relocated from New York City to capitalize on the soaring demand for embalming services for the war's mass casualties. Dr. Brown utilized a modern embalming process developed by French physician J.P. Sucquet--whose American franchising rights he owned--that administered zinc chloride into the popliteal artery of the deceased's body. The process, as Dr. Brown advertised, rendered "the body hard and marble-like in character…restored to the color and fullness of vigorous life.” This method became the dominant form of preservation before the implementation of formaldehyde in the late 1860s. It was used throughout the war, as Brown's men often accompanied the Union Army to various camps and battlefields to perform their services.

It was Dr. Brown’s embalming of Lincoln's 11 year old son, Willie, who died from typhoid fever in February 1862, that made him the preeminent practitioner in Washington, D.C. Three years later, on April 15, 1865, Dr. Brown was chosen again, this time to embalm the late President's body following his assassination. Brown's assistant, Henry P. Cattell, used the same embalming method used on Willie. Later, Brown's men accompanied Lincoln’s body on the long train journey to his burial place in Illinois. During this time, they prepared Lincoln's body before each of the public wakes that were held in the nation’s major cities, including Washington, D.C., New York, Cleveland, Chicago, and finally his home of Springfield. It was this extended public viewing, made possible through Brown's embalming, that helped shape the public image of Lincoln as a secular martyr in the minds of his countrymen. Basler 6, pp. 421-422; Tracy, Uncollected Letters of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 231-232.

Provenance:

Elsie O. and Philip D. Sang Foundation; previously sold, their sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., 14 November 1978, lot 492

Forbes Collection; previously sold, his sale, Christie's, New York, 15 December 1995, lot 205

Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California