Charles Gunther purchased a black velvet cloak from W.H. Lowdermilk & Company, a Washington, D.C. book and antiquities dealer, in 1890.

A notarized affidavit accompanied the bill of sale, signed by Elizabeth Keckly:

Cloak worn by Mrs. Lincoln
on the night of the assassination
wet with blood stains

Elizabeth Keckly (also spelled Keckley), Mary's modiste, was born a slave but purchased her freedom with her dressmaking skills.

Keckly established her own business in Washington in 1860 and was soon catering to powerful politicians' wives. Elizabeth became Mrs. Lincoln's closest confidante, and used her influence with the President's wife to help contraband or escaped slaves who had fled behind Union military lines. She was a friend of prominent abolitionist leaders and a member of Washington's most prominent African-American social circles.

Keckly attended Mrs. Lincoln at the White House after the assassination, and then escorted Mary to her new home in Chicago.

Keckly's 1868 memoir Behind the Scenes describes how the president's wife gave her several mementos as they packed to leave the White House:

In packing, Mrs. Lincoln gave away everything intimately connected with the President, as she said that she could not bear to be reminded of the past...The cloak, stained with the President's blood, was given to me, as also was the bonnet worn on the same memorable night. (KECKLEY 183-4)