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Militaria and Political Auction
Lot 1252:
John Brown’s Coffin. CAG Encapsulated Wood Swatches.Wood Swatch, Charles Town, Virginia, December 2, 1859, with the largest splinter measuring .75" long. The relic was recovered by Captain Richard Adams after the abolitionist’s hanging. Encapsulated by CAG, measuring 2.375” x 3.375”.The provenance, translated from original German, reads: "John Brown, pieces of his coat captured in the rope hung with and the coffin first put in when executed at Charlestown Dec 2, 1859 Pres by Capt Rich. Adams 1860".John Brown was charged with inciting a slave insurrection, murder, and treason following his abortive raid of the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. He was sentenced to an execution witnessed by thousands of military cadets and faculty from the nearby Virginia Military Institute. Coincidentally, both Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson and John Wilkes Booth observed the execution.Brown was hanged at 11:15 am. Eyewitnesses John T.L. Preston and "Stonewall" Jackson reported that, after the rope securing the trapdoor was severed, Brown’s body dropped between 25-36" inches. Brown did not die immediately, instead "growing feebler and feebler at each abortive attempt to breathe. His knees were scarcely bent, his arms were drawn up at a right angle at the elbow, with the hands clenched; but there was no writhing of the body, no violent heaving of the chest", as Preston recalled in a December 15, 1859 letter to his wife.Accompanied by an additional packet of provenance.This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.
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