Killer Good Looks - Lewis Powell, 1865

Source: thenewinquiry

The distracted expression. The avant-garde neckline. The swept hair. Perhaps the only thing missing is a Calvin Klein logo in the corner.

150+ years ago, photographer Alexander Gardner used a large format camera to capture these images of 21-year-old Lewis Powell aboard the USS Saugus, in wrist irons and federal custody as a co-conspirator in the assassination of President Lincoln.

Source: wikimedia

For Powell's role in the plot (a failed assassination attempt on Secretary of State William Seward), the Confederate veteran and Alabama native would find himself at the end of a rope in a matter of weeks. Who knew 1865 could be so chic?