ILLINOIS (AP) – During his momentous United States (US) Senate campaign against Stephen A Douglas, Abraham Lincoln sat for a photograph after politicking in western Illinois and presented one of the copies to a man severely injured while testing a cannon for Lincoln’s campaign rally.
As a small measure of compassion, Lincoln presented one version of the image to the injured man, Charles Lame, who overcame a deadly infection in an arm torn up by the blast with the help of flesh-eating maggots.
The tale provides an unlikely, ghastly background to the original 1858 ambrotype created during the future nation-saving Civil War president’s ascendancy, an image which the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum has added to its collection, officials said on Tuesday.
“Original images of Abraham Lincoln are extraordinarily rare, and images with a fascinating back story like this are even more rare,” said Executive Director of the library and museum Christina Shutt.
“Lincoln fans everywhere should thank Charles Lame’s descendants for this generous donation.”
The ambrotype given to Lame remained in the family and was inherited by Mary Davidson of Hendersonville, Tennessee.
When she died in August 2022, her children decided the image should go to Springfield.
“Lincoln’s gift was a small gesture, but it reaffirms his reputation as a man of compassion.
“The photo… is a physical reminder of his kind spirit and concern for others,” said head of acquisitions for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Ian Hunt.
The ambrotype, a popular and cheaper alternative to the daguerreotype in the 1850s, was made by creating a photographic negative on glass.
It was then placed on a dark background which showed through the clear parts of the negative, giving it the appearance of a black-and-white photograph.
