Image: Lincoln O-118 by Garnder, 1865

Description: On Sunday, February 5, 1865, at Gardner's Gallery in Washington DC, Alexander Gardner took several multiple-lens pictures of the President. Before this session ended, Gardner asked the president for one last pose. He moved his camera closer and took a photograph of Lincoln’s head, shoulders, and chest. Mysteriously the glass plate negative cracked. Gardner carefully took it to his dark room and was able to make one print, with an ominous crack across Lincoln’s face, before it broke completely and was discarded. This print, known as O-118, still exists to this day. Over the years many people have associated this crack with a symbolic foretelling of the assassin’s bullet that awaited Lincoln 10 weeks later.
Title: The last formal pose of Abraham Lincoln
Credit: civilwarinvirginia
Author: Alexander Gardner, Washington DC
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No