The personal china was an indiscreet purchase, at best, and Mrs. Lincoln was soon accused of buying the china out of public funds. In the midst of the campaign in which Lincoln ran for re-election in 1864 an opposition newspaper, The New York World, published a bitter attack on the President and his wife charging that the bill submitted by Haughwout for the State service had been padded to include the cost of the personal china.[8] According to the paper’s editorial, the deceit was discovered when the amount of the bill was questioned by a clerk in the Treasury Department and “Honest Abe,” when cornered, made payment out of his own pocket. This story seems to be refuted by the evidence on the Haughwout bill, which was signed by the Comptroller for payment on September 16, 1861, within two weeks after the china was received, and only three after President Lincoln had approved the bill.
The extent to which this controversy spoiled Mrs. Lincoln’s pleasure in the handsome purple service perhaps can be measured by the fact that after President Lincoln was re-elected, she purchased another large china service for the White House. A bill, recently discovered at the National Archives, documents the new set as being ordered by Mrs. Lincoln from J. K. Kerr of 529 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, whose establishment, known as China Hall, specialized in French and English china and glassware. Dated January 30, 1865, the bill was for:[9]
1 Extra Large French China, Dining, Dessert and Coffee Service, decorated on a White ground, delicate Buff Border with burnished Gold lines consisting of the following pieces.
| 12 | Dozen Dining plates | ||
| 6 | Dozen Soup plates | ||
| 6 | Dozen Dessert plates | ||
| 6 | Dozen Ice Cream, or peaches & cream plates deep | ||
| 1 | Large dish for head of table | ||
| 1 | Foot dish | ||
| 2 | Second course head & foot dishes | ||
| 2 | more dishes | ||
| 2 | more dishes | ||
| 2 | more dishes | ||
| 4 | vegetable dishes with covers | ||
| 4 | more vegetable dishes with covers | ||
| 4 | Sauce tureens | ||
| 4 | Sauce Boats | ||
| 4 | Stands for Sauce Boats | ||
| 4 | Pickle Shells | ||
| 2 | Salad Bowls | ||
| 2 | Custard Stands | ||
| 48 | Custard Cups with covers | ||
| 2 | Large rich oval fruit Baskets | ||
| 4 | Smaller round do | ||
| 4 | Fruit Comports Shell form for fruit | ||
| 4 | do do high round | ||
| 2 | Dessert Sugar bowls with covers | ||
| 48 | After Dinner Coffee Cups & Saucers | ||
| 1 | Large Dish for Fish | $1700 |
Records show that the china was brought to Washington by Harnden Express, as there is a voucher “For freight on 5 casks from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C., mkd Mrs. A. Lincoln $28.50. China from J. Kerr Phila. Pa. for dinner.” It is signed “J. K. Kerr” “Mrs. Lincoln” and is dated February 13, 1865.[10]
Two weeks later, on February 28, Kerr sent a bill for some additions to the service as follows:[11]
| 2 | Dozen Coffee Cups & Saucers | |||
| Delicate Buff Border & Gilt | 20.00 | 40.00 | ||
| 4 | Water pitchers do do | 10.00 | 40.00 | |
| 4 | do smaller do do | 8.00 | 32.00 | |
| 4 | do do do do | 6.00 | 24.00 | |
| 4 | do do do do | 5.00 | 20.00 | |
| 6 | bowls do do | 2.50 | 15.00 | |
| Package | 2.50 | |||
| 173.50 |
Two months later President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The china so recently ordered could hardly have been used by Mrs. Lincoln, and evidently payment had not been made, for it is recorded that at one of the first conferences which B. B. French, Commissioner of Public Buildings and Grounds, had with President Johnson in April 1865, he sought the President’s approval of payment for a purchase of china by Mrs. Lincoln.[12]
Figure 7:—Coffee cup From the Purple-Bordered State China used by President Abraham Lincoln at dinner at the White House on the night of his assassination. (USNM acc. 219098; Smithsonian photo 45088-D.)