1865 U.S. Navy Order Memorializing Lincoln

Lincoln RelatedU.S. Navy Memorializing Lincoln's Assassination

April 15-25, 1865, Official U.S. Navy Broadside Memorializing Lincoln's Assassination, Very Choice Extremely Fine.
Intriguing small broadside printed with black mourning border, titled "GENERAL ORDER, No. 51" and signed in print by Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, and John A. Dahlgren, Rear Admiral, announcing with "profound sorrow to the officers and men of the Navy and Marine Corps the death of ABRAHAM LINCOLN.... Stricken down by the hand of an assassin on the evening of the 14th instant, when surrounded by his family and friends, he lingered a few hours after receiving the fatal wound, and died at seven o'clock twenty-two minutes this morning..." The Navy was directed to wear "the usual badge of mourning for six months" and the day after receiving this order, every vessel was directed to hoist flags at half-mast and fire a gun every half hour, "beginning at sunrise and ending at sunset". The broadside is printed on fine-laid, watermarked paper measuring 7.8" x 4.8", with two folds, slight toning, and a small hole along the lower fold.