“The items in Abraham Lincoln’s pockets the night of the assassination were as follows: a pocketknife, a linen handkerchief, a sleeve button, a fancy watch fob, two pairs of spectacles, a lens polisher, a tiny pencil, tiny fragments of hard red and green candy, a fine brownish powder which appeared to be snuff, and a brown leather wallet (one section was engraved “U.S. Currency” and another section was engraved “Notes”). The wallet contained a Confederate five dollar bill, and nine old newspaper clippings. Included among these clippings were two articles of praise and five others dealing with the issues that were on Lincoln’s mind during his final months.”

http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln92.html

https://historytech.wordpress.com/2015/02/12/10-things-you-probably-dont-know-about-abraham-lincoln/

And lots of others.

What’s interesting to me, is how many of the news stories and on-line classroom lessons about the contents of Lincoln’s pockets the night he died, left the snuff off the list. I guess talking about him having snuff in his pocket would be inappropriate for children. I mean, you’re talking about an important historical figure being murdered by being shot in the head from behind, but snuff might just push the whole thing over the edge for kids. Of course, all the lesson plans I looked at left the candy off the list as well.

Mark