Photos Found Of Abraham Lincoln's Second Inauguration

The Library of Congress on Wednesday unveiled three photo negatives -- long mislabeled -- of the crowd that gathered at the Capitol for Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address on March 4, 1865.

"It's exciting to find additional images related to the Lincoln presidency," said Carol Johnson, curator of photography at the Library of Congress. She specializes in 19th century photography and played sleuth to match the negatives to the correct event.

"It was a wet, rainy day, most people have on long overcoats and hats. . . . You can see some people's expressions -- some who seem to be cheering, one guy raising his hand."

A reader browsing through the Library of Congress' online Civil War photographic collection noticed three glass negatives identified as taken during the administration of Ulysses S. Grant, either at his inauguration or at the Grand Review of the Armies.

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Comments

[Marichu]

I wonder how many other artifacts have been incorrectly archived and are just sitting there waiting to be rediscovered! Great power of observation by that person browsing through the photographic collection.

[dtd]

Wow!

[Delle]

This picture is indeed a treasure.

I love history and findings such as this do excite me.

[Ramirez]

How cool is this?

I'm reminded of that scene at the close of "raiders of the Lost Ark" of the government warehouse filled with boxes of who knows what.

[kishaaann]

Wow..What a treasure..­.