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Auction Name: 2025 October 24 - 25 Americana & Political Signature® Auction
Lot Number: 43028
Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/6324*43028
Abraham Lincoln: The Gettysburg Cane Presented to Edwin M. Stanton, with an Archive of Stanton's Personal Canes Including a Fort Sumter Relic. "In strong and solid form, somewhat of a 'big stick' in appearance..." wrote W. C. Predigo in The National Magazine (1909), when describing a remarkable cane said to have been fashioned by Abraham Lincoln himself while visiting Gettysburg in November 1863 (see extended description online for text of full article). Capped with a brass head, the cane bore an inscription of singular power, linking its creation to the Union's most decisive battlefield and to the president's own hand.
The inscription, beautifully engraved on the brass top, reads: "From the/Gettysburg Battlefield/ July 1, 2, 3/1863./A. Lincoln/Pres't of U.S."
This extraordinary legend transforms the cane into a physical embodiment of Lincoln's presence at Gettysburg, where, only months after the pivotal battle, he would consecrate the ground in words that reshaped the nation's identity. According to Predigo, Lincoln presented the relic to his Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, who treasured it highly.
Stanton was not part of the entourage at Gettysburg. Lincoln's itinerary for the day of the consecration of the cemetery and the delivery of the Gettysburg Address is fairly well-documented. He was likely given the branch used to make the cane by an unknown person, possibly his host David Wills. Knowing of Stanton's fondness for canes, the President gifted him the battlefield relic, as a keepsake of the Gettysburg commemoration. The brass knob was then added by the recipient, thereby memorializing the importance of its origin.
The cane remained in the Stanton family for generations, passing to Stanton's son Lewis and later to his granddaughter, Cora Stanton Jahncke of New Orleans. It was preserved with four other family walking sticks until the 1971 estate auction at the "Historic Stanton Mansion" on Jackson Avenue, where it was acquired directly from the descendants.
The Full Collection:
(1) The Lincoln Cane described above.
(2) A Fort Sumter relic cane, fashioned from the flagstaff of the Charleston fort where the war began.
(3) Two canes carried by Stanton in official duties.
(4) A household cane used by Stanton personally.
(5) The Stanton Shipping Crate, Linking Steubenville to New Orleans:
Accompanying the collection is the original wooden shipping crate in which the canes were preserved. Stenciled markings and a partial Adams Express Company label identify its origin point as Steubenville, Ohio - the birthplace and lifelong home of Edwin M. Stanton.
This crate provides rare physical evidence of how Stanton family heirlooms made their way south. After Stanton's death in 1869, his son Lewis H. Stanton inherited the canes. When Lewis later established himself in New Orleans, the relics were shipped from Steubenville by Adams Express, one of the 19th century's primary carriers of government and personal valuables. The crate remained with the canes through their descent to Cora Stanton Jahncke and the 1971 estate sale. In effect, the crate itself serves as a documentary artifact, closing the provenance trail between Edwin Stanton's Ohio roots and the family's New Orleans legacy.
Together, these canes form one of the most remarkable groupings of Civil War relics in private hands, bridging the president who saved the Union with the secretary who enforced his will. The engraved inscription on the Lincoln Cane not only commemorates Gettysburg - it carries the name of Lincoln himself, engraved as "Pres't of U.S."
Condition: Lincoln cane measures 38" x 1 1/4". Others are roughly 36" long and just over an inch in diameter. The wood crate is 46" x 7" x 5 1/2". All items appear well-used with normal wear consistent with age and handling.
Provenance: The canes were preserved in the original wood crate, several wrapped in envelopes marked "Lewis H. Stanton & Co." with typewritten notations of their use by Stanton. Though now faded and fragmentary, the envelopes remain as important pieces of provenance.
Photocopies of related documents accompany the collection, including:
1. W. C. Predigo, "A Battlefield Cane," The National Magazine, February 1909.
2. The Times-Picayune (New Orleans), October 6, 1971, listing full contents of the Stanton Mansion estate sale mentioning the walking sticks.
3. The Times-Picayune (New Orleans), March 20, 1970, obituary of Cora Stanton Jahncke, last of the Stanton line in New Orleans.
4. Additional clippings and family records tracing the Stanton line in New Orleans.
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