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1865, Autograph Letter Signed by James Livington

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Historical Memorabilia Start Price:2,400.00 USD Estimated At:3,000.00 - 4,000.00 USD
1865, Autograph Letter Signed by James Livington
Lincoln Related

Lincoln Assassination
“The Provost Marshal there had been notified that it was thought Boothe was on the train...”

April 24, 1865-Dated, Autograph Letter Signed by James Livington, concerning the Assassination and Funeral of President Lincoln and his assassin, John Wilkes Boothe, Choice Very Fine.

In this original, 7.25” x 4.5” six page letter, dated April 24, 1865, written from Elmira, New York, by Paymaster's Clerk James L. Livingston to his father, Captain Robert W. Livingston of the 118th New York. Only nine days after the death of the President and two days before Boothe’s capture and death, James informs his father that, in part:
"...the death of the President made it very gloomy here for a while and for three or four different days, business was all closed. Last Wednesday and Thursday the office was closed and I went down to Williamsport Pa., on a visit...... When we got to Troy on our way home, we found a terribly excited crowd at the Depot. The Provost Marshal there had been notified that it was thought Boothe was on the train, and the people had got wind of it, and were there to meet us. The doors of the cars were locked and no one allowed to get off until a thorough search had been made. I was glad I did not answer to his description. I tell you, for it would have fared hard with a fellow supposed to have been him to have fallen into the hands of that crowd." (He signs) “Your affectionate Son, Jim” Docketed, “J. L. Livingston April 27, 1865”
This letter goes on to request an Ambrotype of his mother and their home. He mentions that the “cherry trees are in blossom here,” inquires on the health of some of his family members and laments that he is not as successful as he would like to be. This sentimental letter is written with beautifully legible penmanship in brown ink. Relatively clean wove period paper with only light toning at the fold and decoratively embossed by the paper manufacturer. An incredible, first-hand account of the mood of the country just following President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.