State funeral of Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln's tomb, Oak Ridge Cemetery

Following his death by assassination, the body of Abraham Lincoln was borne from Washington, D.C. to its final resting place in Lincoln's hometown of Springfield, Illinois, by funeral train, accompanied by dignitaries and Lincoln's eldest son Robert Todd.

The remains of his son, William Wallace Lincoln, were also placed on the train, which left Washington, D.C., on April 21, 1865 and traveled 1,654 miles to Springfield, arriving on May 3, 1865. Several stops were made along the way, in which Lincoln's body lay in state. The train retraced the route Lincoln had traveled to Washington as the president-elect on his way to his first inauguration, and millions of Americans viewed the train along the route. Lincoln's wife Mary Todd Lincoln remained at the White House because she was too distraught to make the trip; she returned to Illinois about one month later.

Lincoln was interred at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield. The site of the Lincoln Tomb, now owned and managed as a state historic site, is marked by a 117-foot-tall granite obelisk surmounted with several bronze statues of Lincoln, constructed by 1874. Mary Todd Lincoln and three of his four sons are also buried there. (Robert Todd Lincoln is buried in Arlington National Cemetery at Arlington, Virginia).

Funeral train

At 7 a.m. on Friday, April 21, the coffin was taken to the depot to the funeral car. Edwin M. Stanton, Gideon Welles, Hugh McCulloch, John Palmer Usher, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, and Montgomery C. Meigs left the escort at the depot., and at 8 a.m. the train departed. At least 10,000 people witnessed the train's departure from Washington.

The funeral train consisted of nine cars, including a baggage and hearse car. Eight of the cars were provided by the chief railways over which the remains were transported; the ninth was the President's car, which had been built for use by the president and other officials, contained a parlor, sitting room, and sleeping apartment, and had been draped in mourning and contained the coffins of Lincoln and his son.

The Department of War designated the route and declared railroads over which the remains passed as military roads under the control of brevet Brigadier General Daniel McCallum, the director and superintendent of United States Military Railroads. No person was allowed to be transported on the cars except those authorized by the War Department, and the train never moved at speeds of more than 20 miles an hour to avoid any accidents.

Five relatives and family friends were officially appointed to accompany the funeral train: David Davis, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; Lincoln's brother-in-law, Ninian Wirt Edwards and C.M Smith; Brigadier General John Blair Smith Todd, a cousin of Mary Todd Lincoln; and Charles Alexander Smith, the brother of C. M. Smith. An honor guard accompanied the train; this consisted of Union Army Major General David Hunter; brevet Major General John G. Barnard; Brigadier Generals Edward D. Townsend, Charles Thomas Campbell, Amos Beebe Eaton, John C. Caldwell, Alfred Terry, George D. Ramsey, and Daniel McCallum; Union Navy Rear Admiral Charles Henry Davis and Captain William Rogers Taylor; and Marine Corps Major Thomas H. Field.

Four accompanied the train in an official capacity: Captain Charles Penrose, as quartermaster and commissary of subsistence; Ward Hill Lamon, Lincoln's longtime bodyguard and friend and U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia; and Dr. Charles B. Brown and Frank T. Sands, embalmer and undertaker, respectively. [1]

Governor Oliver P. Morton of Indiana; Governor John Brough of Ohio; and Governor William M. Stone of Iowa accompanied the train with their aides. [2]

Lincoln's funeral train.

"The Greatest Funeral in the History of the United States" Lincoln's funeral train was the first national commemoration of a president's death by rail. Lincoln was observed, mourned, and honored by the citizens of Washington, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois in the following cities:

city	arrive	lying in state in	depart
Washington, D.C.		United States Capitol rotunda	April 21, 1865: 8 a.m.
Baltimore, Maryland	April 21, 1865: 10 a.m.	Merchant's Exchange Building	April 21, 1865: 3 p.m.
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania	April 21, 1865: 8:30 p.m.	Pennsylvania State Capitol	April 22, 1865: 11:15 a.m.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	April 22, 1865: 4:50 p.m.	Independence Hall	April 24, 1865: 4 a.m.
New York City	April 24, 1865: 10:50 a.m.	City Hall	April 25, 1865: 4:15 p.m.
Albany, New York	April 26, 1865: 12:30 a.m.	Old Capitol	April 26, 1865: 4 p.m.
Buffalo, New York	April 27, 1865: 7 a.m.	St. James Hall	April 27, 1865: 10 p.m.
Cleveland, Ohio	April 28, 1865: 7 a.m.	Monument Square	April 29, 1865: Midnight
Columbus, Ohio	April 29, 1865: 7 a.m.	Ohio Statehouse	April 29, 1865: 8 p.m.
Indianapolis, Indiana	April 30, 1865: 07:00 am	Indiana Statehouse	May 1, 1865: Midnight
* Michigan City, Indiana	May 1, 1865: 8 a.m.		May 1, 1865: 8:35 a.m.
Chicago, Illinois	May 1, 1865: 11 a.m.	Old Chicago Court House	May 2, 1865: 9:30 a.m.
Springfield, Illinois	May 3, 1865: 9 a.m.	Old State House

The train passed 444 communities in 7 states (Lincoln was not viewed in state in the state of New Jersey).

“ April 19 - April 21, 1865

• Michigan City, Ind. was a 35 min. stop; Lincoln's funeral train was forced to wait here for a committee of more than one hundred important men from Chicago, who were coming out to escort the train into their city; citizens of Michigan City held an impromptu funeral (patriotic organizations conducted memorial services and townspeople were permitted to view the remains; flowers were placed on the coffin).

Burial site selection

Shortly after Lincoln's death, a delegation of Illinois citizens (later forming the National Lincoln Monument Society) asked Mrs. Lincoln to return her husband's remains to Springfield for burial. She agreed, and the group then researched various sites in and around Springfield, selecting a centrally located, hilltop site known as Mather Block, and a temporary receiving vault was built there. However, Mrs. Lincoln selected Oak Ridge Cemetery for her husband's burial. Despite repeated attempts by the Society to change the location of the burial to Mather Block, she remained firm in her decision.

Mather vault vs Oak Ridge vault
A large number of Illinois politicians were in Washington when Lincoln was assassinated. A few hours after Lincoln's death they met in Sen. Richard Yates' room at the National Hotel, to arrange a burial in Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln's close friend Gov. Richard J. Oglesby was selected to confer with the Lincoln family on a burial place. Informal conferences were held on April 16. Mary Lincoln was not receiving visitors, but she preferred Chicago or the empty crypt in the U.S. Capitol that had been prepared for George Washington. She finally relented when her son Robert Todd Lincoln was able to persuade her to allow a Springfield burial, by promising to take Willie Lincoln's body along. Springfield wanted a prominent burial location, a location that would draw visitors into downtown Springfield. A 6 acre block, owned by the family of Col. Thomas Mather, was selected, a plot that could be seen from the major railroad line (Chicago and Alton Railroad), a plot in the center of Springfield on a hill. $50,000 was donated for the purchase and the work of constructing a temporary vault started immediately. The vault was designed to be a resting place for the remains until a grand monument could be erected. By men working night and day, through sunshine and rain, it was ready for use on May 4 (the day of the burial), although the work was not quite completed on the outside. Mary Lincoln however recalled that Lincoln once had said that he wanted a quiet place for his burial at Oak Ridge (said to her on May 24, 1860, when Mary and president Lincoln attended the dedication of Oak Ridge, a rural quiet cemetery, two miles from the heart of Springfield). On April 28 Mary sent a message to Secretary Stanton, in which she stated that her decision was final and that Lincoln's remains must be placed in the Oak Ridge Cemetery. On April 29 another message followed: "arrangements for using the Mather vault must be changed". And on May 1 the message was: "the remains of the president should be placed in the vault of Oak Ridge and nowhere else". The Oak Ridge vault was readied, but work on the Mather vault continued as a "contingency".. Even after the burial, the debate was not over. The National Lincoln Monument Society began again to stoke the fires of creating the grand tomb for Lincoln at the Mather Block. Mary Lincoln threatened to have her husband's remains taken to Chicago or Washington for permanent burial (deadline June 15). "My determination is unalterable," she wrote on June 10 and demanded a formal promise that "the immortal Savior and Martyr for Freedom" would be at Oak Ridge. Faced with Mary's June 15 deadline, the association voted, on the evening before the deadline, by the narrowest of margins, 8-7, to accept her demands. Oak Ridge Cemetery became the site of the Lincoln Tomb.

Original burial and tomb

Lincoln's coffin, replica, Museum of Funeral Customs

A funeral was held in Springfield on May 4, 1865. Subsequent to the funeral, Lincoln's remains, along with those of his son William, were interred in a public receiving vault at Oak Ridge Cemetery. Mary Todd Lincoln remained in Washington, DC, too distraught to accompany her husband's remains on the funeral train or attend the funeral in Springfield.

Construction of the tomb began in 1868. In 1871, prior to completion of construction, the remains of Lincoln were removed from the temporary vault and placed in crypts within the unfinished tomb, along with the remains of his three deceased sons, Edward, Willie, and Tad. When the tomb was completed in 1874, Lincoln's remains were removed from the crypt and placed in a white marble sarcophagus in the tomb.

Attempted theft

In 1876, two counterfeiters, Jack Hughes and James "Big Jim" Kennally, attempted to steal Lincoln's body and hold it for ransom. They conceived the plot at a Chicago tavern called The Hub. Their plan was to ransom the body in return for the release from prison of their supplier of counterfeit bills by hiding the body 200 miles away in the Indiana Dunes until the ransom was paid. The local sheriff was tipped off about the plan, and a Secret Service informant then infiltrated the group. As the group rode to Springfield by train, there was also a group of lawmen on the train and also in the antechamber of the tomb as the group made their attempt to steal the body. The plan was allowed to proceed until the tomb was entered and Lincoln's coffin was removed from its sarcophagus. After a signal from the informant, the waiting lawmen approached the burial chamber. However, their noise alerted the criminals and they escaped. They were later arrested at The Hub.

Tomb reconstruction and exhumation

The original tomb was in constant need of repair and deteriorated significantly due to construction on unsuitable soil. In 1900, a complete reconstruction of Lincoln's tomb was undertaken. In August 1901, upon completion of the reconstruction, Robert Todd Lincoln visited the tomb. He was unhappy with the disposition of his father's remains and decided that, in order to prevent theft and other disturbances, it was necessary to build a permanent crypt for his father. Lincoln's coffin would be placed in a steel cage 10 feet deep and encased in concrete in the floor of the tomb. On September 26, 1901, Lincoln's body was exhumed so that it could be re-interred in the newly built crypt. However, those present (a total of 23 people) feared that his body might have been stolen in the intervening years, so they decided to open the coffin and check.

Last viewing

It was said that a harsh choking smell arose when the casket was opened. Lincoln was perfectly recognizable, even more than thirty years after his death. His face was a bronze color, from the gunshot wound that shattered the bones in his face and damaged the tissue. The color was unhealed bruises. His hair, beard and mole were all perfectly preserved although his eyebrows were gone. His suit was covered with a yellow mold and his gloves had rotted on his hands. On his chest, they could see some bits of red fabric — remnants of the American flag with which he was buried, which had by then disintegrated. It was theorized that Lincoln had been embalmed so many times on board his funeral train that he had been practically mummified.

• One of the last living persons to see the body, a youth of 13 at the time, was Fleetwood Lindley (1887-1963), who died on February 1, 1963. Three days before he died, Lindley was interviewed and confirmed his observations.

• Another man, George Cashman, claimed to be the last living person to have viewed the remains of Abraham Lincoln. In the last years of his life, George Cashman was the curator of the National Landmark in Springfield called "Lincoln's Tomb." He particularly enjoyed relating his story to the more than one million visitors to the site each year. Cashman died in 1979. His claim concerning the viewing of Abraham Lincoln's remains was later refuted when his wife, Dorothy M. Cashman, wrote a pamphlet entitled "The Lincoln Tomb." On page 14, Mrs. Cashman wrote, "At the time of his death in 1963 Fleetwood Lindley was the last living person to have looked upon Mr. Lincoln's face."

Second tomb reconstruction

A second, major reconstruction of the tomb was undertaken in 1930. Much deterioration had occurred due to poor construction during the 1900–1901 reconstruction. During the second reconstruction, the entrance to the tomb was reconfigured to better accommodate visitors and the original, white marble sarcophagus was replaced with the red granite marker in front of the place where Lincoln is interred and was approved by President Herbert Hoover.

Lincoln's body 17 times moved at Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois

Lincoln's rest had been disturbed repeatedly in the decades after his death. In all, his coffin has been moved 17 times, mainly due to the reconstructions to the tomb and security, and has been opened six times.

coffin placed	remarks	coffin moved	#
May 4, 1865	coffin placed in Receiving Vault	Dec 21, 1865	01
Dec 21, 1865	coffin placed in nearby special built Temporary Vault coffin opened, body viewed (#1)	Sept 19, 1871	02
Sept 19, 1871	coffin placed in Lincoln Tomb (still under construction), in temporary crypt in south wall coffin opened, body viewed (#2)	Oct 9, 1874	03
Oct 9, 1874	coffin placed in (original white marble) sarcophagus in Lincoln Tomb, Memorial Hall coffin opened, body viewed (#3) Lincoln Tomb was dedicated Oct 15, 1874	Nov 7, 1876	04
Nov 7, 1876	coffin partly lifted from sarcophagus (attempted theft) thieves only moved the coffin a few inches when they were interrupted by police	Nov 8, 1876	05
Nov 8, 1876	coffin replaced in sarcophagus; sarcophagus closed and sealed	Nov 13, 1876	06
Nov 13, 1876	coffin removed to place near northeast wall, to be transported later that day	Nov 13, 1876	07
Nov 13, 1876	coffin removed to secret location (eastside Lincoln Tomb)	Nov 14, 1876	08
Nov 14, 1876	coffin placed into wooden case at the secret location (eastside Lincoln Tomb)	Nov 18, 1878	09
Nov 18, 1878	coffin replaced to another secret location (northside Lincoln Tomb)	Nov 20, 1878	10
Nov 20, 1878	body exhumed, viewed (#4) and reburied at same secret location (northside Lincoln Tomb)	April 14, 1887	11
April 14, 1887	coffin removed to Memorial Hall coffin opened, body viewed (#5)	April 14, 1887	12
April 14, 1887	coffin placed in newly built crypt beneath floor of Memorial Hall (Lincoln Tomb)	March 10, 1900	13
March 10, 1900	coffin removed to secret place a few yards northeast of Lincoln Tomb this was during Lincoln Tomb reconstruction, which started in 1899 and lasted 15 months).	April 24, 1901	14
April 24, 1901	coffin removed to reconstructed Lincoln Tomb body was placed in a newly constructed red granite sarcophagus	July 10, 1901	15
July 10, 1901	coffin temporary removed to empty crypt in wall in order to build a permanent crypt under the floor of Memorial Hall	Sept 26, 1901	16
Sept 26, 1901	coffin opened (in Memorial Hall, Lincoln Tomb) and body viewed (#6)	Sept 26, 1901	17
Sept 26, 1901	coffin permanently placed in a steel cage, and embedded in concrete, 10 feet deep under the floor of Memorial Hall. The red granite sarcophagus in front of the place where Lincoln is finally interred is empty

During the 17 removals Lincoln's coffin was 6 times opened and his body viewed: Dec 21, 1865; Sept 19, 1871; Oct 9, 1874; Nov 20, 1878; April 14, 1887 and Sept 26, 1901. The coffin was never completely opened, only a piece was cut out of the top of Lincoln's lead-lined coffin, so that his head and shoulders were visible.

See also

• National Museum of Health and Medicine - On display are Lincoln's death mask, the bullet fired from the derringer pistol used by John Wilkes Booth to assassinate the president, the probe used by the Army Surgeon General Joseph Barnes to locate the bullet, pieces of Lincoln's hair and skull, and the surgeon's shirt cuff, stained with Lincoln's blood.
• The Henry Ford - On display is the chair in which Lincoln was shot.