This handsome ticket of the 1856 Democratic Party candidates for President and Vice President was printed by Ritchie and Dunnavant of Richmond, a firm which advertised itself as “Printers to the State of Virginia.” The ticket is signed on the back as per the directions on the front; it was spindled to be counted as evidenced by the hole in the top left side. This may be the ticket cast by John C. Gibbs, a merchant in the small town of Port Royal, an important shipping point fifty miles northwest of Richmond, on the Rappahannock River.  The election was held on a Tuesday, November 4, 1856; eight years and five months later, on April 26, 1865, John Wilkes Booth would be killed by Federal troops at the Richard H Garret farm on the outskirts of Port Royal.