Ribbon Commemorating Abraham Lincoln, 19 April 1865
Fort Wayne's reaction to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln is difficult to study due to the loss of newspapers from April 1865. An important clue to the city's response was a resolution made by Mayor Franklin Randall and the City Council, which was printed in a very limited number on silk ribbons and probably worn at some public commemorative event. Only a single such ribbon is known to survive, preserved among Randall's descendants and now in the collection of the History Center [Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society, 302 East Berry Street, Fort Wayne, IN 46802, www.fwhistorycenter.com]. Though the city was led at that time by a Democratic administration, the ribbon reflects the deep sense of grief as well as the spirit of bipartisanship that unified the city at that time.
