Letter from Hugh McCulloch to Nathaniel K. Sargent, Collector; dated April 17, 1865; postmarked April 19, Washington.
Brick Store Museum Collection, Miscellaneous Box 19, Folder 6 .

This piece of correspondence is significant on many levels. Black-bordered stationery was customarily used to convey obituaries or condolences in the event of a death. In this instance, the death was that of the country’s “Chief Magistrate,” another name for the President of the United States, and the letter refers to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln just three days prior to the date of the letter. The correspondence instructs “all officers and others subject to the orders of the Secretary of the Treasury” to wear an armband for six months to signify their mourning.

The sender of the letter was Hugh McCulloch (1808-1895), who had become Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury that year. McCulloch was born and raised in Kennebunk, Maine, where his father built ships at The Landing. McCulloch continued as Secretary of the Treasury under Lincoln’s successor, President Andrew Johnson, until 1869 and served once more from 1884 to 1885 for President Chester Arthur.

Transcript of the letter:

Treasury Department
Washington, April 17, 1865

It is hereby ordered that, in honor to the memory of our late illustrious Chief Magistrate, all officers and others subject to the orders of the Secretary of the Treasury, wear crape upon the left arm for the period of six months.

{Signed H. McCulloch}

Secretary of the Treasury

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