A New Lincoln Photo Discovered?

Could the man in this image be holding a previously unknown photo of Abraham Lincoln? According to the Associated Press (article from The Hartford Courant), this newly discovered photo just might be a rare "new" photo of Lincoln. Most intriguingly of all, it also could be the very last photo of Abraham Lincoln ever taken.

In this AP exclusive article, the story of the photo discovery is told. The photo comes from an album previously owned by none other than President Ulysses S. Grant, who was of course the commanding general of the Union Army in 1865. The album is owned today by a great-great grandson of Grant, Ulysses S. Grant VI, who contacted a leading collector of Lincoln photography, Keya Morgan. Upon inspecting the photo, which shows a tall figure in the background, Morgan convinced Grant to remove the photo from the album. Much to everyone's surprise, written with pencil on the back are the words "Lincoln in front of the White House."

If the photo can be authenticated, it would become the only known image of Lincoln in front of the White House. Also included on the back of the photo is the date (1865) , a government tax stamp from the time 1864-1866, and the seal of Henry F. Warren, known to have photographed the "current" last photo of Lincoln.

The collector, Morgan, is the person holding up the photo in the image I've included here. The article states that a computer scan and enlargement of the 2.5" by 3.5" photo shows a very tall figure with a beard in the picture. If it can be authenticated, it will be the first such photo of Lincoln to be so proven in decades. (Historians are still debating whether the "new" photo of "Lincoln" at Gettysburg is authenticate or not).

Keya Morgan is a believer. He paid Grant's great-great grandson $50,000 for this small photo, which is now part of Morgan's $25 million collection of Lincoln memorabilia and photos. The former curator of the National Portrait Gallery's photo department, Will Stapp, is "quite satisfied" that the figure in this photo is Lincoln.

See for yourself in the photo enlargement below. If true, what a find.