Through My Eyes: Ford’s Theatre

My favorite part of D.C., and possibly the entire trip, was Ford’s Theatre. Since we weren’t able to go to The Archives, we went there instead. So I guess that private event was a blessing in disguise. :)

Ford’s Theatre is the theatre in which Abraham Lincoln was shot.

Before the presentation began, we were given 45 minutes in a museum of Lincoln and the events leading up to his death.

This is Thomas “Tad” Lincoln, one of President Lincoln’s children. (picture taken in 1861—Tad, age 8) Read at this hilarious blurb about him from the museum:

Thomas “Tad” Lincoln

His nickname derived from his large head, said to resemble a tadpole. Tad was a lively mischievous child who shared his mother’s temper. He suffered from a speech impediment—the result of a cleft palate—and possible learning disabilities. “Let him run,” said the president, “he has time enough left to learn his letters and get pokey.”

One day Tad hitched a pair of goats to a chair and drove himself through a crowded East Room reception. On another occasion he stood behind his father at a review of Union troops and waved a Confederate flag. When not devouring strawberries intended for a state dinner or training a toy cannon on his father’s Cabinet, Tad often stood at the foot of the staircase leading to the presidential offices and charged a five cent “entrance fee.”

In 1863 Tad made a new friend—a turkey sent to the White House for Christmas dinner. He named the bird Jack and interrupted a Cabinet meeting to demand a presidential pardon—a tradition that is still carried on nearly 150 years later.

I love that kid! So funny :)

They had all sorts of cool stuff in the museum—like this pillow, which, apparently, is one of several pillows used under Lincoln’s head at the Peterson House, where he was taken after he was shot. Look—it even has bloodstains! It’s gross and cool at the same time.

I think that’s his coat that he wore that night—but it was kind of confusing.

Here’s another interesting blurb:

He had that dream just four days before he died! Weird.

That is the actual gun that John Wilkes Booth shot him with. It’s so small!

There’s the stage!

And there’s his booth! It was so cool to see all of this. Did you know that Ford’s Theatre is still used as a theatre today?

Our tickets were good for the Peterson House too, which was just across the street, so we went there afterwards. The Peterson House is where Lincoln was taken after he was shot, and where he died.