The Beardstown Ambrotype by Abraham Byers, May 7, 1858

Taken in Beardstown, Illinois, on the day Lincoln won the "Almanac Trial," his defense of Duff Armstrong on a murder charge, in which he used an almanac to show the moon was too low for a witness to have seen what he claimed. The young local photographer Abraham Byers persuaded him to sit, and Lincoln wore a light linen suit he reportedly protested was too dirty for a picture. It is the only known portrait of him in a white suit, and the close view of his lined face makes it one of the most striking early likenesses. The ambrotype is held by the University of Nebraska.