Description:

Lincoln Assassination They Guarded Conspirators - Frederick Meserve Collected & Inscribed

A photograph showing eight members of Washington's Old Arsenal Penitentiary staff tasked with safeguarding the Lincoln conspirators in the spring and summer of 1865. Printed ca. 1910, and printed from Brady negatives in the personal collection of world-renowned Lincoln collector Frederick H. Meserve (1865-1962). The photo is housed in a stock paper holder inscribed in Meserve's hand at left as: "Gen Hartranft and / the guard of the prison." The photo is hand-stamped "Collection / Of / Americana / Frederick H. Meserve / 265 Edgecombe Avenue / New York City" verso. Expected surface wear to the photo including isolated minor wrinkles and a minor imperfection in the lower left corner, else very good to near fine. The photo measures 3.25" x 2.125" while the slotted and annotated photo holder measures 5.75" x 3.75" completely unfolded.

Eight people were arrested and eventually tried for their roles in the coordinated plan to simultaneously assassinate Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, William H. Seward, and Ulysses S. Grant on April 14, 1865. After a seven-week-long trial, four of the eight defendants, Mary Surratt, David Herold, George Atzerodt, and Lewis Powell (sometimes called Lewis Payne), were sentenced to death by hanging. The condemned prisoners were incarcerated at Washington's Old Arsenal Penitentiary, today Fort Lesley McNair, from April 29, 1865 until their executions on July 7, 1865.

The photograph of "Gen Hartranft and the guard of the prison" was originally taken by Alexander Gardner (1821-1882), who was hired by the federal government to document the imprisonment and execution of the alleged conspirators. It is possible, though unlikely, that Meserve printed this photograph from original negatives, since it is discretely numbered in stone at lower right. Nevertheless, the photo shows a satisfying level of sharp detail.

The photograph depicts General John F. Hartranft (1830-1889), then serving in his dual role as the commanding officer of Old Arsenal Prison and the provost marshal of the conspirators' trial, flanked by members of his staff including guards and doctors. It is a testament to the professionalism of General Hartranft's staff that three of the four prisoners sentenced to die (excluding Mary Surratt) thanked them, on the execution scaffold, for their care while in prison. The photograph shows, from left to right, beginning in the back row:

1. Lieutenant Colonel G.W. Frederick

2. Lieutenant G.W. Geissinger

3. Dr. George Loring Porter (1838-1919), the Surgeon-in-Charge responsible for evaluating prisoners' physical and mental health during their incarceration. Though this impulse was partly humanitarian, Porter also wanted to keep the prisoners alive until their execution, and that entailed preventing death through physical decline or suicide. Porter proved instrumental in improving the prisoners' living conditions. He successfully lobbied for the removal of irons and hoods, and argued for better food and exercise. On execution day, Porter also confirmed that the four executed criminals were dead. (Prior to providing medical care to the prisoners, Porter had been personally appointed by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to secretly bury John Wilkes Booth's body.)

4. Captain A.R. Watts

5. Lieutenant Colonel William Henry Harrison McCall (born 1838)

6. General John F. Hartranft

7. Colonel L.A. Dodd

8. Captain Christian Rath (1831-1920), the executioner. Rath's duties including making the nooses, giving the signal to drop the scaffold trapdoors, and taking down and arranging the bodies in the coffins.

*Note that there are some discrepancies among sources regarding spelling, and even rank, of prison staff.

Frederick H. Meserve was a preeminent collector of Lincoln and Civil War era photography, ephemera, maps, and books. He began collecting Lincolniana in 1897, with the intention of illustrating his father's Civil War diary. In the early 1900s, Meserve acquired 10,000 original Brady negatives including seven Lincoln portraits. Meserve continued collecting Lincoln likenesses, as well as photos of Lincoln's contemporaries, over the next sixty years. He eventually amassed a collection of 200,000 pieces including some previously "lost" or unknown images of Lincoln. Meserve's collection was so esteemed for its completeness that he essentially became the custodian of "Lincoln's image." Meserve was approached by medal and currency engravers, as well as by the sculptors of Lincoln's Memorial Monument, for direct access to his presidential photographs. In 2015, the Meserve-Kunhardt Collection was acquired by the Yale Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (New Haven, Connecticut.)

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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