Abraham Lincoln, Pres't U.S. / Alex. Gardner, photographer to the Army of the Potomac.

Photograph from the last formal portrait sitting, Feb. 5, 1865, in Washington, D.C. "One of five poses taken by Gardner ten weeks before the President was assassinated." (Source: Ostendorf, p. 219)
On mount: Entered according to Act of Congress, by Alex. Gardner, in the year 1865, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Columbia.

Ostendorf, no. 116
Meserve, no. 97
Published in: Lincoln's photographs: a complete album / by Lloyd Ostendorf. Dayton, OH: Rockywood Press, 1998, p. 224-5.
Exhibited: "With Malice Toward None : The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition" at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., 2009.
Accessions box no. DLC/PP - 1972:018

Alexander Gardner (October 17, 1821 - December 10, 1882) was a Scottish photographer who is best known for his photographs of the American Civil War. He emigrated to the United States in 1856 and worked as a photographer in Mathew Brady's studio. Gardner was sent to document the American Civil War and produced some of the most iconic images of the conflict, including photographs of the battlefields at Antietam and Gettysburg. After the war, Gardner photographed President Lincoln and the American West, including images of Native Americans, settlers, and the construction of the transcontinental railroad.