• Abraham Lincoln’s Last Reception
    Unknown
    receptions
    State Floor
    East Room
    inaugurations
    This is a color lithograph from 1865 entitled "Abraham Lincoln's Last Reception". The lithograph depicts the reception (possibly in the East Room) following his second inauguration. The print accurately depicts First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln attending the reception. Vice President Andrew Johnson, General Ulysses S. Grant, and his wife Julia Grant did not attend the event.
  • Sherman and His Generals, Blair House Collection
    Mathew Brady
    This photograph taken by Mathew Brady is of Gen. William T. Sherman and his generals in 1866. Frank Blair, who was a member of Sherman's staff, was not present for the initial photograph so a separate image of Blair was cut and pasted at the far right of the photograph. Blair was a member of the Blair family that resided at Blair House, located across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. The house has been used as the president's guest house since the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. Visiting diplomats and dignitaries stay at Blair House while on official visits with the White House and is historically where the president-elect and first family reside prior to taking the oath of office. This photograph is a part of the Blair family's collection.
  • The Republican Court in the Days of Lincoln
    Peter Frederick Rothermel
    East Room
    State Floor
    receptions
    inaugurations
    painting
    Cabinet
    This painting by Peter Frederick Rothermel depicts a fictitious formal reception in the East Room of the White House following President Abraham Lincoln's second inauguration on March 4, 1865. The painting features a number of historical figures: President Abraham Lincoln (standing to the right of the large chandelier that intersects the middle of the painting) with General Ulysses S. Grant to Lincoln's right, presenting his wife, Julia Dent Grant, to the president (in a light pink gown, shaking hands with Lincoln). First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln stands to Lincoln's left, holding a fan to the shoulder of General Winfield Scott. To the left of the chandelier, orator Edward Everett (who died in January 1865, before the scene portrayed this painting purportedly took place) is seated, and Secretary of State William H. Seward and General William Tecumseh Sherman are standing (Sherman stands between the two men, but toward the back). Rothermel was an American painter who is mostly known for his large historical paintings.
  • The Peacemakers
    G. P. A. Healy
    Virginia
    Civil War
    transportation
    military
    meetings
    This painting by George Peter Alexander Healy depicts four significant Union figures toward the end of the Civil War. In the cabin of the steamer River Queen are seated (from left to right) Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, President Abraham Lincoln, and Rear Admiral David D. Porter. The meeting took place in March 1865 on the James River in City Point, Virginia, less than a week before the fall of Petersburg, Virginia. According to Porter, the discussion flowed mostly between Lincoln and Sherman, which is reflected in all four subjects' body language. Sherman had previously sat for a portrait by Healy and commissioned the artist to paint the meeting, providing him with first-hand accounts by himself and Porter and even a diagram of the cabin. Born in Boston, Healy was a popular portrait painter who had sketched and painted Lincoln multiple times during his presidency.