Abraham Lincoln’s Last Axe

In the Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library in Springfield, Illinois they had an exhibit of Lincoln’s original axe he is documented to have used in 1865. On April 9, 1865 General Lee surrendered the confederacy in defeat at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Abraham Lincoln was tired but very strong after 4 years of Civil War.

On April 8th, Lincoln chopped wood for Grant’s soldiers, on request, using this axe at their camp.  He then held the axe straight out with one hand perpendicular to his body — an old country-fair strongman’s feat. He held it between his thumb and index finger. 5 days later he would be in Ford Theater after the end of the war and was shot.