Lincoln's bloodstained gloves resurface... in California, at the Reagan Presidential Library

The gloves pictured here were in Lincoln's pockets on the night he was assassinated. During his presidency, Lincoln often rode around Washington on horseback; in the summer months, he would essentially commute between a cottage on the grounds of the Soldiers' Home and the White House. He was shot at once while making this trip. I imagine gloves of this sort came in handy when handling the reins of a horse.

But politicians in Lincoln's day often wore gloves like this whether they were riding horses or not; they were expected to shake hands with everyone, and wearing gloves helped to protect their hands as they did so. The day that Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, he'd hosted a New Year's reception in the White House, greeting a throng of people who wanted shake his hand and extend a holiday greeting. His hands were raw, swollen, and red following all this flesh-pressing and, when the Emancipation Proclamation was subsequently presented for his signature, he told the cabinet members present that he was worried that his signature might appear weak or wobbly, causing people to think he had been afraid to take this momentous step.

Anyway, Lincoln typically carried gloves of the sort pictured here.

I saw these gloves when they were displayed at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in 2009. I wrote about the experience in this 2025 Page One post. You can't really tell from this picture, but one of the gloves is more badly stained than the other: Lincoln had one glove in each pocket when he was shot, and, from the more extensive stain on one of the gloves, it was obvious which way he slumped over after receiving the fatal wound.

Last year, when I wrote about the gloves, it was because they were about to be auctioned off. Who knew where they might wind up?

Well, now we know. Sort of. The gloves were purchased for $1.5 million by an anonymous buyer, but that buyer has now allowed the gloves to be featured in a semiquincentennial exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Liabrary. I heard about the exhibit early this morning on WBBM Radio, but here is a link to yesterday's Sun-Times Instagram post about the California exhibit. No, I don't know whether the gloves will still be displayed in California after the exhibit closes next week.

But I'll be on the lookout.