The Fathers and Saviors of Our Country: A Presidential Sale

One page, oblong 12mo (114 x 89 mm), on black-bordered card, accomplished in manuscript, toning, pinholes at corners.

AN INVITATION TO ACCOMPANY THE REMAINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Thomas Francis Pendel was recruited from the Metropolitan Police Department and appointed as the White House doorman by President Lincoln in 1864; these positions were largely ceremonial, as Lincoln recruited many members of the White House staff from the MPD to serve as bodyguards without intimidating White House guests. Pendel was given clearance to accompany Lincoln's remains from Washington to Springfield, and he later wrote that "the throngs of people were immense, and the police had all they could do to keep the great mass back, so that the procession could pass up to the City Hall, where the remains were laid in state. The decorations in New York City were something wonderful, particularly on Broadway and Fifth Avenue, where they were of the finest materials.” He would serve in the White House for forty-five years, ending his tenure as doorman to President William Howard Taft, who sent a floral wreath to Pendel's family upon his death in 1909.