@thehuntington — 9x breakout

Loading video…

This is the knife

@thehuntington

191.8K followers · usually 4.7K views a post

Views

39.3K

Likes

1.7K

Comments

108

Why it worked

The video leverages a historical artifact with a dramatic backstory, connecting it to well-known historical figures and events. The narrative of the assassination attempt and the soldier's bravery creates intrigue, while the visual of the artifact itself adds a tangible element to the history.

Summary

The video showcases a 19th-century Rio Grande bowie knife, identified as the weapon used in the attempted assassination of Secretary of State William H. Seward. It details how a soldier intervened, disarmed the attacker, and later received the knife as a souvenir, which is now part of The Huntington's collection.

Structure

1Introduction of the knife
2Historical context of its use
3The intervention of George Foster Robinson
4The knife as evidence and souvenir
5Its current status in The Huntington's collection

Product placement

Rio Grande knife: This is a type of bowie knife that was used in an assassination attempt. It is shown and described. Removing it would change what happens in the video. The Huntington: This is the institution that houses the knife. It appears as a watermark/logo and is the subject of the video. Removing it would change what happens in the video.

On-screen text

This is the knife This is the knife that Secretary of State William H. Seward was wounded with on the very same day when President Lincoln was shot. This is a very impressive piece of weaponry. It's a bowie knife called a Rio Grande knife. What happened was one of the assassins, Lewis Powell, bursts into Seward's bedroom. Seward was laid up after a carriage accident with a very heavy neck brace on his neck. And he proceeded to stab Seward for some reason but this knife bounced. But at the same time, a soldier named George Foster Robinson tackled Powell, took the knife away from him, and Powell ran off and was arrested later. This knife was featured as a piece of evidence at the trial. The evidence against Powell was pretty damning but after the trial, Robinson asked the War Department to give him the knife as a souvenir. So the knife came with his papers and that's why we have it. We don't really collect three-dimensional objects but sometimes they just come to us on their own.

Original caption

While you may know our Library for housing books and paper objects, we have a few objects in our collections that might surprise you. 🫢🔪 This #NationalKnifeDay, take a look at this 19th-century knife used in the attempted murder of Secretary of State William H. Seward.