Rare photo of The first inaugural of Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1861.
Courtesy of Sotheby'sThe first inaugural of Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1861.

The picture was taken on March 4, 1861, and was recently rediscovered. But who was behind the camera?

You probably can’t see him, but Abraham Lincoln is there, under that portico in the picture above, delivering his first inaugural address—thefamous speech in which he attempted to address the ever-more-urgent matter of slavery and exhorted the people of the United States to remember that the “mystic chords of memory” could still “swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”/.../