LINCOLN'S ROCKING CHAIR AT FORD'S THEATRE
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National Archives Photograph |
This is the black walnut rocking chair Abraham Lincoln was sitting in when he was shot by John Wilkes Booth. It was the president's favorite and was brought from John T. Ford's personal apartment in the theater. There was a dark stain on the red upholstery of the back of the chair due to soiling from the hair pomade that was fashionable for men at the time. At one time this was thought to be the president's blood, but it is not. In 1921, Harry Ford's widow, Blanche Chapman Ford, asked the U.S. Government for custody of the rocker, claiming it as the Ford family's personal property. In 1929 she received the rocker. Ford then had it sold at auction in New York City where it was purchased by one of Henry Ford's (no relation to the "theater" Fords; this was the "automobile" Ford) agents for $2,400. Today the chair is in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
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