Original Civil War Abraham Lincoln Political Memorabilia Collectibles Photos For Sale
Abraham LIncoln CDV
President Lincoln with freed black slaves, April 1865
Have you ever heard a Real Life story that was so Amazing you can’t believe you had never heard it before ?
Its no wonder humans are so enraptured by an exciting story.
Recently we discovered an extraordinary Abraham Lincoln CDV art photo depicting a rather unbelievable image of President Lincoln with freed black slaves. At first you assume it is a fictional representation , only to find out it is astonishingly TRUE! It Really happened in April of 1965, apparently just days before Lincoln was assassinated.
So without further adieu we bring you a most amazing historical treasure from 1865
CDV with a photo of a lithograph based on one published by Currier and Ives shortly after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (titled "Freedom to the Slaves"), depicting Lincoln and a Black family now freed from Slavery, with broken shackles and chains at Lincoln's feet, a kneeling slave kissing Lincoln's hand while his wife and children stand nearby. Lincoln has his right arm raised and pointing heavenward. (This image was based on an actual event which occurred when Lincoln entered Richmond shortly after the fall of that City in April, 1865 - at the end of this description is Admiral Porter's recollection of the event which he witnessed while escorting Lincoln into the City).
Photographer's back stamp reads: "SKY-LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHS, TAKEN IN Rooms on Ground Floor, by P. F. COOPER, Miniature and Portrait Painter, No. 1338 Chestnut Street, PHILADELPHIA, PA." - This was Peregrine F. Cooper, a portrait painter artist specializing in miniatures, and also a photographer.
NOTE: There are significant differences in the facial features of Lincoln and the Black man, woman and all three children from those in the Currier & Ives lithograph - probably done by Cooper himself.
Scarce.
Measures approx. 2-1/2" x 4".
Condition: Small stains, and wear at the corners of the mount (see photos for condition). Fine.
Admiral David Dixon Porter recount of walk with Abraham Lincoln in April 1965:
By April 1865, the Civil War drawing to a close, U.S. victory in the war was all but guaranteed. After the Confederate capital of Richmond was captured by U.S. forces, Porter toured the city on foot, accompanying U.S. President Abraham Lincoln with several armed bodyguards. He fondly recalled the events in his 1885 book, Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War, where he described witnessing scores of many freed slaves rushing to get a glimpse of Lincoln, whom they admired as a hero and credited for their emancipation, kissing his clothing and singing odes to him:
<start>"There was a small house on this landing, and behind it were some twelve negroes digging with spades. The leader of them was an old man sixty years of age. He raised himself to an upright position as we landed, and put his hands up to his eyes. Then he dropped his spade and sprang forward. ‘Bress de Lord,’ he said. ‘Dere is de great Messiah! I knowed him as soon as I seed him. He’s bin in my hear fo’ long yeahs, an’ he’s cum at las’ to free his chillun from deir bondage! Glory, Hallelujah!’ And he fell upon his knees before the President and kissed his feet. The others followed his example, and in a minute Mr. Lincoln was surrounded by these people, who had treasured up the recollection of him caught from a photograph, and had looked up to him for four years as the one who was to lead them out of captivity.
It was a touching sight – that aged negro kneeling at the feet of the tall, gaunt-looking man who seemed in himself to be bearing all the grief of the nation, and whose sad face seemed to say, “I suffer for you all, but will do all I can to help you.’
Mr. Lincoln looked down on the poor creatures at his feet; he was much embarrassed at his position. ‘Don’t kneel to me,’ he said. ‘That is not right. You must kneel to God only, and thank him for the liberty you will hereafter enjoy. I am but God’s humble instrument; but you may rest assured that as long as I live no one shall put a shackle on your limbs, and you shall have all the rights which God has given to every other free citizen of this Republic.’
His face was lit up with a divine look as he uttered these words. Though not a handsome man, and ungainly in his person, yet in his enthusiasm he seemed the personification of manly beauty, and that sad face of his looked down in kindness upon these ignorant blacks with a grace that could not be excelled. He really seemed of another world.
All this scene of brief duration, but, though a simple and humble affair, it impressed me more than anything of the kind I ever witnessed. What a fine picture that would have made – Mr. Lincoln landing from a ship-of-war’s boat, an aged negro on his knees at his feet, and a dozen more trying to reach him to kiss the hem of his garments! In the foreground should be the shackles he had broken when he issued his proclamation giving liberty to the slave.
Twenty years have passed since that event; it is almost too new in history to make a great impression, but the time will come when it will loom up as one of the greatest of man’s achievements, and the name of Abraham Lincoln – who of his own will struck the shackles from the limbs of four millions of people – will be honored thousands of years from now as man’s name was never honored before.
It was a minute or two before I could get the negroes to rise and leave the President. The scene was so touching I hated to disturb it, yet we could not stay there all day; we had to move one; so I requested the patriarch to withdraw from about the President with his companions and let us pass on.
‘Yes, Massa,’ said the old man, ‘but after bein’ so many years in de desert widout water, it’s mighty pleasant to be lookin’ at las’ on our spring of life. ‘Scuse us, sir; we means no disrespec’ to Mass’ Lincoln; we means all love and gratitude.’ And then, joining hands together in a ring, the negroes sang the following hymn with melodious and touching voices only possessed by the negroes of the South:
‘Oh, all ye people clap your hands,
And with triumphant voices sing;
No force the mighty power withstands
Of God, the universal King.’
The President and all of us listened respectfully while the hymn was being sung. Four minutes at most had passed away since we first landed at a point where, as far as the eye could reach, the streets were entirely deserted, but now what a different scene appeared as that hymn went forth from the negroes’ lips! The streets seemed to be suddenly alive with the colored race. They seemed to spring from the earth. They came, tumbling and shouting, from over the hills and from the water-side, where no one was seen as we had passed. " <end>
Photographer BIO:
Peregrine Cooper worked in Philadelphia and published a book on painting miniatures in 1863. That year, he described himself as having ?“the experience of twenty-three years in study and practice on miniature painting, twelve years of that time principally devoted to Talbotype, or Photograph and Ivorytype Coloring.” Talbotype, invented by William Henry Fox Talbot, was a method of taking photographic images on paper coated with iodide of silver, and an ivorytype was a picture made by placing a very light, translucent image over a stronger print. Peregrine Cooperwas active in Philadelphia from 1840-1890
Note: Cvtreasures stamp Not on original
