Sandwich Wide Awakes Lantern

In 1860, as the nation stood on the brink of crisis, political engagement didn’t just happen at the ballot box—it lit up the streets.

This lantern, made at the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company, was carried by Sandwich glass worker Charles Pope during the presidential campaign of Abraham Lincoln. Its inscriptions—“Lincoln & Hamlin” and “Sandwich Wide Awakes”—link it to one of the earliest mass, youth-driven political movements in American history.

Known as the Wide Awakes, these groups organized torchlit parades through towns across the North. Marching in formation, they turned politics into public spectacle, signaling vigilance at a moment when the future of the nation was uncertain. Here in Sandwich, Pope would have carried this very lantern through local streets as part of that display.

Within months of the election, the country descended into the American Civil War.

Donated in 1916 by Pope’s daughter, this lantern connects local industry, civic participation, and national history—reminding us that democracy has always depended on people willing to step forward and be seen.