Object Details
- associated person
- Lincoln, Abraham
- Description
- These wrist irons confined the Lincoln conspirators. Emotions were so strong that the defendants were bound—with the exception of Mary Surratt, the only woman—even during the trial.
- John Wilkes Booth’s attack on Lincoln was part of a larger plot to assassinate national leaders and throw the North into turmoil. The conspirators also planned to murder Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward. Besides Booth, eight individuals were charged. Because the plot was considered an act of war, a military commission tried the accused. The court sentenced four suspects to be hanged, and the others to prison.
- Transfer from the War Department, 1904
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- U.S. War Department. Bureau of Ordnance
- ID Number
- PL.010239a
- catalog number
- 10239a
- accession number
- 42272
- Object Name
- wrist irons
- Object Type
- handcuffs
- Physical Description
- iron (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 13 3/4 in x 3 in x 1 1/2 in; 34.925 cm x 7.62 cm x 3.81 cm
- Related Publication
- Rubenstein, Harry R.. Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life
- See more items in
- Political History: Political History, General History Collection
- Government, Politics, and Reform
- Selections from the Abraham Lincoln Collection
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Assassination
- Record ID
- nmah_524530
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a3-5de8-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
