On this day 155 years ago, Abraham Lincoln took his last breath in this bed. After he was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre the night before, Lincoln was carried across the street to a boarding house operated by William and Anna Petersen. His deathbed is on display at CHM in our permanent Abraham Lincoln exhibition. Explore the legacy of the sixteenth president in our online exhibition Lincoln at 200, which was produced in collaboration with the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and the Newberry Library. Explore the exhibit.

Explore our online exhibition A House Divided: America in the Age of Lincoln, which delves into the institution of slavery, the economic development of the antebellum North and West, and traces the antislavery movement and the sectional political controversies that led to war. Learn more here.