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The tale provides an unlikely, ghastly background to the original 1858 ambrotype created during the future nation-saving Civil War president’s ascendancy, an image which the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum has added to its collection, officials said Tuesday.

The ambrotype given to Lame remained in the family and was inherited by Mary Davidson of Hendersonville, Tennessee.

Lincoln’s old friend Gilmer, who was killed leading an Illinois infantry regiment during the Civil War’s 1863 Battle of Chickamauga, received one copy of the ambrotype.

The ambrotype, a popular and cheaper alternative to the daguerreotype in the 1850s, was made by creating a photographic negative on glass.

The American Civil War Museum, which includes the ambrotype of Jim Limber in its collection, avoids mentioning the orphan on quick tours, lest it encourage simplistic and self-serving interpretations, said Kelly Hancock, the Richmond museum’s public programs manager.