At the Seward House Museum in Auburn, New York, you’ll see a bloody sheet with a very interesting link to the assassination of President Lincoln.
The mansion was the home of William H. Seward. An attorney. The Governor of New York State. A State Senator, and most notable, Secretary of State to President Abraham Lincoln, and later Andrew Jackson.
It was Seward who brokered the deal to purchase Alaska. What was once thought to be ‘Seward’s Folly’ is now considered visionary.
His Auburn, New York residence built in 1816 is now The Seward House Museum filled with the family belongings of three generations. And they never threw anything away!
Statesman Seward and his wife Frances used their basement kitchen as an important hub in moving slaves to the North for their freedom.
And Seward’s vision of equality and his quiet political savvy made him the perfect Secretary of State for Lincoln to end the Civil War and declare all men are created equal.
Two weeks before the end of the Civil War, Secretary Seward was gravely injured in a carriage accident in Washington D.C. On the night of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Seward also experienced an attempt on his life. Seward was recovering from his injuries from the carriage accident at his Washington home. A man named Luis Powell entered to the Seward home in Washington, and attacked several members of the Seward family.
Secretary Seward was cut about the face and neck. Luis Powell was able to flee and was later arrested, two days later at the home of Mary Surratt.
President Lincoln did not survive. Secretary Seward did. And the bloody sheet that was on his bed reminds Museum visitors of the price that was paid for equality to all.
For more information:
Seward House Museum
https://www.sewardhouse.org
