George Atzerodt's Bowie Knife and Case

Knife owned by George Atzerodt, who was tasked with the murder of Vice President Andrew Johnson on the same night that John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. Instead, Atzerodt sat at the bar at the Kirkwood Hotel, trying to work up his courage. When that failed, he wandered the streets of Washington, eventually throwing the knife into the gutter; the knife was later retrieved and used as evidence in his trial. Although he did not carry out his part in the plot, Atzerodt was executed with three other conspirators.