Figure 1 – Posed false image of Abraham Lincoln on his deathbed. See reference in the text for a detailed discussion.  Image in the public domain.

In the last blog we talked about how Abraham Lincoln’s head was transposed onto John Calhoun’s body.  Ironically this is not the end to the Lincoln head story as it keeps popping up – or maybe not.  Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865.  People were hungry for photographs of the president on his deathbed.  However, Secretary Stanton and the army would not allow it.  This small omission, however, did not stop journalists and entrepreneurs eager to capitalize on the nation’s grief.  There are numerous false images of Lincoln on his deathbed with either other people posing as Lincoln, drawings made to look like photographs, or doctored photomontages. It is all a well heavily studied subject and still somewhat hotly contestrd subject.  An excellent web-based reference on the subject  is “Abraham Lincoln, Nine Hours Before Death.”