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Museum IDs last ax wielded by Lincoln

Historians at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library say they have identified an ax long housed at the Springfield facility as the last one ever used by "The Railsplitter."

Illinois State Historian Thomas Schwartz says the ax that's been part of the library's collection since 1955 was wielded by Lincoln on April 8, 1865, while he was visiting wounded Union troops at City Point, Va.

That was just one week before he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre.

Schwartz says Lincoln spent most of April 8 shaking hands with more than 5,000 wounded soldiers at a field hospital, and then, to show that he wasn't tired, he picked up the ax and chopped a pile of wood.

Read entire article at Beacon News (Illinois)