American Flags
Of the three American flags displayed in the presidential booth the night of Lincoln’s assassination, only one is accounted for. This flag, deemed the "Lincoln flag," is a 36-star flag used to cushion Lincoln’s head after he was shot. It is kept at the Pike County Historical Society located at The Columns Museum in Milford, PA. President of the Lincoln Group of New York, Joseph E. Garrera studied the Lincoln Flag independently for one year. In his research document, The Lincoln flag of the Pike County Historical Society, Garrera confirms his findings, declaring the Lincoln flag genuine.
The blood stains on the flag were tested twice, and both tests showed the stains were from human blood. The blood stains were contact stains, and in his forensic research, Garrera found them consistent with the type of stain that would occur in such a situation. He also tested the material used in manufacturing the flag, policies at that time on displaying the American flags in ceremonies and the disposition of all the flags at Ford’s Theatre. All of Garrera’s tests prove the flag is authentic.
In tracing the events of the night of Lincoln’s assassination, Garrera found that Laura Keene, the star of that evening’s performance of "Our American Cousin" pulled the flag to the floor and placed it partially under Lincoln’s head, which she cradled in her lap. After Lincoln was moved next door to the Peterson House, part-time stage manager, Thomas Gourley, took the flag from the booth. In the 1880s he gave it to his daughter, Jeannie Gourlay Struthers, who passed it along to her son V. Paul Struthers. In 1954 he donated the flag to the Pike County Historical Society with an unbroken oral history of the flag’s ownership dating back to the day of Lincoln’s assassination.
Nationally known Lincoln scholars like Michael Maione, Historian at Ford’s Theatre; Dr. Wayne Temple, Director of the Illinois State Archives; Dr. Edward Steers, Jr., a Lincoln assassination expert; Frank J. Williams, Chairman of the Lincoln Forum and others agree with Garrera’s findings that the Lincoln flag is authentic.
Read more about this topic: Lincoln Assassination Flags
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