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Patriotic autograph quilt
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This quilt was made about 1860 by Mary Hughes Lord
of Nashville, Tennessee. The quilt is composed of
colored silk hexagons, one and three-quarter inches
wide, pieced into rosettes separated by black silk
hexagons. In the center is an American flag, the
stripes inscribed with the names of Union generals
and other luminaries in ink. The centers of some
rosettes are similarly inscribed, and there are
more names inscribed on the red, white, and blue
silk ribbon border. Among the signatures are those
of Abraham Lincoln and his son Robert, Ulysses S.
Grant, Philip Sheridan, Winfield Scott, Benjamin
Butler, James A. Garfield, and Chester A. Arthur.
The throw was carried by Mary Hughes through the
Confederate lines to Cincinnati, Ohio, where her
family lived until the fall of Fort Donelson. It
was later hung at Lincoln’s funeral. |
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Division of Social History, Textiles
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian
Institution
Behring Center
Gift of Rose H. and William Craige Lord
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