Lincoln's Indianapolis Farewell

(Author's Note: This post continues the series I've been writing since April 14, 2010, marking the 145th anniversary of the Lincoln assassination and Funeral Train journey from Washington to Springfield. In all, thirteen cities held funerals for President Lincoln, including the capital of Indiana, Indianapolis. Indianapolis got its chance to pay former Indiana farm-boy Lincoln a final farewell 145 years ago today, April 30, 1865.)

The journey from Columbus, Ohio to Indianapolis, Indiana took the Lincoln Funeral Train almost eleven hours to complete, from 8:00 p.m. April 29, 1865 until 7:00 a.m. the following day. As Abraham Lincoln's remains drew closer to home, the train slowed to just 5 m.p.h. as it passed stations, thus giving mourners a better opportunity to see the train for a longer period of time. Even in the middle of the night, thousands of people crowded into the small towns in western Ohio. Three thousand waited in Urbana, Ohio. Five thousand welcomed Lincoln back to Indiana in Richmond, at 2:00 a.m. on April 30. Temporary arches were built over the tracks on the way to Indianapolis, bearing portraits of Lincoln, Grant, and other great Union generals.

It had been raining all night and it was no different when the Funeral Train arrived in Indianapolis. Indeed, it was raining so heavily that the majestic funeral procession which had been planned by the city had to be canceled. Instead the coffin was placed on a magnificent hearse, trimmed in the now-typical silver and black ornate decorations, and pulled by eight white horses directly to the State Capitol. Six of these same horses, and the hearse driver, had transported Lincoln four years earlier to the capitol building on his inaugural trip to Washington.

The photo at the beginning of this post shows the capitol in the background, wrapped in black mourning cloth and ribbons. A strange structure at the entrance to the ground is visible in the photo, and no one really knows why it was constructed. It was neither arch, nor tunnel. Inside it had numerous displays of Lincoln's life, yet it struck mourners as unnecessary and even distracting from the majesty of the capitol.

The president's casket was placed on yet another catafalque and the lid opened once again to display the remains. By now, people in the Southern states criticized the northern cities heavily for the "morbid and morose" display of a dead body. which they interpreted as punishment for the Civil War. Northerners, on the other hand, simply couldn't get enough as had been seen in the previous eight cities to hold funerals for Lincoln.

Indianapolis was no different. The first group of mourners to file past Lincoln that day were 5,000 children, all members of various Sunday schools. Bringing up the rear were hundreds of African-Americans, clutching copies of the Emancipation Proclamation. By the time those final mourners had paid their respects, an estimated 100,000 people had visited Lincoln's repose in the state capitol. As in Columbus, Ohio most of the mourning displays were left inside for an additional few days or weeks so people who had missed the laying-in-state could still view the general appearance of what it had been like.

It was in Indiana, of course, where Abraham Lincoln spent his formative years. He and his family moved to Spencer County in 1816, when he was only seven years old. He grew into a man while living there until 1830, when his family moved further west to Illinois. Lincoln himself fondly remembered his years in Indiana, stating in his autobiographical sketch that "there I grew up."

The first photo below shows a close-up of the hearse used to transport Lincoln's remains in Indianapolis. The second photo might be a "re-creation" of the funeral procession which never happened. Photographers who had been disappointed on April 30, 1865 arranged for the same hearse and horses for this photo, but the coffin on the hearse is a replica. The photo was apparently taken on May 1, 1865 in downtown Indianapolis.




Now close to midnight of April 30, 1865, the Indiana capital bid former Hoosier Abraham Lincoln a final farewell, as the Funeral Train sounded its whistle, slowly pulling away from the station. It's next scheduled destination was Chicago, as Illinois prepared to welcome its most famous citizen back home. But first, an unexpected delay occurred in a small Indiana city, which then held an unscheduled funeral. That will be the subject of my next post.

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Columbus Ohio Remembers Abraham Lincoln

(Author's Note: For the past 15 days, I have been relating the story of the tragedy of Abraham Lincoln's assassination and his Funeral Train. On April 29, 1865 the city of Columbus, Ohio held the 8th funeral for President Lincoln as his remains lay in state in the rotunda of the Ohio Statehouse. Today is the 145th anniversary of the funeral, the story of which may be found in my previous post.)

Columbus, Ohio was honored to be one of the thirteen cities to host the remains of Abraham Lincoln when he lay in state in the rotunda of the Ohio Statehouse building on April 29, 1865. Roughly 50,000 mourners paid their respects in seven hours that day 145 years ago today.

Beginning in 2001, an annual re-enactment of Lincoln's repose in the Ohio Capitol has been held on April 29th, the anniversary of the funeral. The re-enactment is held to commemorate the historic event as well as to honor the memory of the nation's 16th president.

I travelled today to Columbus, about two hours from my home, so I could attend the re-enactment for the first time. The photos accompanying this post are ones I took myself at the ceremony.

During the actual funeral held in 1865, Union soldiers stood guard at the casket, one at each end of the catafalque. Every 30 minutes that day, a changing of the guard took place. Today's ceremony featured re-enactors from the 1st Ohio Light Artillery, Battery A, who recreated the scene. Like the real soldiers from long ago, the re-enactors stood at attention for 30 minutes, at which time a changing of the guard ceremony occurred for the next shift.

Today's event at the Statehouse also featured a female re-enactor who represented the thousands of mourners. Dressed completely in black, with a veil obscuring her face, the woman carried a sprig of lilacs, the flowers so closely and memorably associated with Lincoln's death. The photo below shows the woman mourner along with the soldiers at attention:


Mr. Gary Kearsey presented an informative lecture today about the Lincoln funeral obsequies in Columbus and about the Lincoln Funeral Train in general. It was heartening to see that close to 100 people attended the lecture, including many children. There were many questions from the young people especially, which shows to me that interest in Abraham Lincoln is not waning.

Lincoln visited the Statehouse a total of three times, including his funeral. In September 1859, a then mostly unknown Lincoln spoke to just fifty people at the Statehouse about the issue of slavery. A beautiful plaque marks the location in the building where Lincoln stood that day. The picture below shows the plaque.


Lincoln's next visit to Columbus and the Statehouse took place during his inaugural trip from Springfield to Washington as President-Elect. He addressed a joint session of the Ohio General Assembly (as the Ohio legislature is called) on February 13, 1861, discussing in generalities the policies he would pursue as president. After speaking to the Assembly, Lincoln later addressed members of the general public. It was there on the steps of the Ohio Statehouse that he found out that he had been officially elected President by the electoral college.

Abraham Lincoln's presence is felt throughout the Ohio Statehouse. Elsewhere in the rotunda is a magnificent sculpture which commemorates Lincoln and the Union victory at Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 4, 1863. When he heard the news that Vicksburg had finally fallen, thus opening the Mississippi River to Union control, Lincoln wrote one of his most beautiful sentences in his announcement to the nation: "The Father Of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea."

Today that sculpture was draped in mourning as can be seen in the photo below:

I found today's commemoration of Abraham Lincoln to be very interesting and quite moving. His funeral on April 29, 1865 is an important part of local, state, and national history. As a native Ohioan, I am proud that my state capital chooses to honor Mr. Lincoln in such a memorable way. I thank everyone involved for a wonderful experience.

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Columbus Ohio Bids Lincoln Farewell

(Author's Note: This post is the latest in a series I began on April 14, 2010 documenting the assassination and death of Abraham Lincoln. Thirteen cities held massive funerals for the fallen president, 145 years ago this year. Today's post describes the events in the state capital of Ohio, the city of Columbus, on April 29, 1865.)

It was still raining in Ohio as The Lincoln Funeral Train made its way from the shores of Lake Erie in Cleveland to the center of the state in Columbus. Determined mourners still lined the tracks along the way, bearing torches in spite of the sometimes heavy showers. Some had travelled many miles simply to catch a quick glimpse of the train carrying the dead president.

The train arrived in Columbus at 7:30 a.m. on April 29, 1865, 145 years ago today. Pulling into the depot which was on that city's High Street, people swarmed around the Funeral Car and other cars so much that authorities finally had to clear the people away for their own protection in case the train would lurch.

Lincoln's coffin was removed and yet another funeral procession began. By then the rain had stopped and the sun shone beautifully for the ceremonies. It wound from High Street to Broad and through the business district as it made its way to the Ohio State House, where Lincoln would lay in state. The image above is a print of how the procession appeared that morning.

Columbus, like Cleveland, had chosen a pagoda-like structure for Lincoln's remains. The seventeen-foot long structure carrying the president's coffin was draped in black, and had a somewhat redundant "LINCOLN" along the sides in silver, as if the people wouldn't know who was being honored. The hearse was pulled by white horses and followed by soldiers, bands, and the ordinary people as in the other cities. Below is a real photo image of the the hearse being pulled by the matched horses.



People who attended the services and viewing of Lincoln that day remembered it as a funeral of flowers. They were everywhere. People threw roses in the street. Injured soldiers threw hundreds of lilac blooms on the streets so the hearse's wheels would crush them, causing the strong smell to waft along the route. The official mourners who had accompanied the train since it departed Washington were sickeningly reminded of the scent of lilacs in Washington. Through the remainder of their lives, they would relive the horrors of the assassination and funerals whenever they smelled that sweet fragrance. The memories of lilacs and Lincoln's various funerals were so powerful that the poet Walt Whitman wrote "When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom'd" to commemorate the assassination.

Unlike the other cities, Columbus chose a simple catafalque for placing the coffin upon. It had no columns and didn't tower over the setting at the rotunda. It was covered with still more flowers and moss in order to cushion the remains. The photo below is of the catafalque as it appeared that day.



People filed past, as many as possible, until the official funeral was held late in the afternoon. By the start of the official services, approximately 50,000 people had walked past the casket.

The funeral ended late in the afternoon that day and Lincoln's casket was returned to the Funeral Train by 6:00 p.m. The next stop was Indianapolis as Indiana prepared to sadly say goodbye to the man who spent his formative years living in the southern part of that state.

The flowers which adorned the platform on which Lincoln's casket rested were auctioned to the public at the request of the organization which had donated them, the Cincinnati Horticultural Society, The proceeds were given to the Ladies Aid Society of Columbus, who used the money for relief for families of soldiers and sailors. Some good had come out of the tragedy at last.

That's not the end of the story in Columbus. So many thousands of visitors had not had a chance to pay their respects that the catafalque was replenished with flowers, so people could still see how things appeared in those brief hours the president lay in state. The Ohio capitol rotunda remained thus for visitors until May 4, 1865, when Springfield, Illinois held the final funeral for Abraham Lincoln.

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Cleveland's Unique Funeral For Lincoln

(Author's Note: This year marks the 145th anniversary of the death of Abraham Lincoln at the hands of John Wilkes Booth, on April 15, 1865. Thirteen American cities staged funerals for Mr. Lincoln on his way from Washington to his final destination of Springfield. Cleveland, Ohio got its chance to honor the remains of the martyred president 145 years ago today, April 28, 1865. Here is the story of that day)

The Lincoln Funeral Train and its precious cargo left Buffalo at approximately 10:00 p.m. on April 27, 1865 and arrived in Cleveland, Ohio at 7:00 a.m. on Friday April 28., where the next funeral for the late president was to be held. A thirty-six gun salute (one for every state in the Union at that time, including the "Confederate" states) fired as the train arrived. It had been just one week since the train had departed Washington, D.C. Funerals had since then been held in Baltimore, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, New York, Albany, and Buffalo.

Along the way that night, the train passed through towns bordering Lake Erie. The town of Erie, Pennsylvania had been reached at 3:00 a.m. April 28, where city leaders had been mislead by the train officials into believing that no stops would be made between Buffalo and Cleveland. Erie officials hurriedly arranged a few dignitaries and a small torchlight gathering was held in honor of Lincoln, but it was far less special than they would have preferred.

Lincoln's Funeral Train arrived at the Euclid Avenue Station at 79th Street, the same station Lincoln as president-elect had come to on his triumphal inaugural trip barely four years earlier. In that visit to Cleveland, Lincoln had spoken to people huddled in a steady rain on that February 1860 day, telling them that the disaffected people of the South were creating an "artificial" crisis, that slavery was still protected. In essence, Lincoln said that day, the government had done nothing to interfere with their rights to hold slaves there those rights already existed.

Now Abraham Lincoln had returned in death. His coffin was slowly removed from the Funeral Car as a crowd gathered in silence to witness history being made, albeit tragic history. A woman dressed in horizontal stripes of red, white, and blue held an American flag trimmed in black. Bells rang as in the other cities, bands played mournful hymns, and tears flowed freely.

After a short time at the station, the funeral procession got under way. It was raining that late April day in Cleveland, which is no surprise to those of us who live in northern Ohio. The rain matched the mood of the mourners, for it seemed that Heaven itself was crying. A positive about the rain was that it held down the dust in the streets during the procession, and the crowds could see the hearse, soldiers, and other marchers quite clearly. In the previous cities, the processions had been greatly obscured by huge clouds of dust.

The remains of Abraham Lincoln were taken to Cleveland's Public Square (still in existence) where placed under a structure which strangely resembled a Chinese pagoda. It was an odd choice for a man who had never left the United States, but somehow, it worked. The image I've provided at the beginning of the post shows the pagoda and the team of horses still hitched to the hearse, containing the coffin. Below is another image of the pagoda-like funeral structure.



Cleveland had thought of something no other city along the funeral route had considered. By holding Lincoln's viewing outdoors, there was essentially no limit to the number of people who could file past the coffin. All the other cities had selected the largest possible building to hold Lincoln, which restricted the mourners in those locations, leaving thousands disappointed. Cleveland , on the other hand, saw 180 people a minute file past in double lines on each side of the coffin, or 10,000 per hour. In the fifteen hours Cleveland was allotted, an incredible 150,000 people were able to pay their last respects. By contrast, New York City could achieve only 80 persons a minute.

The steady rain turned into torrential downpours as the massive crowds waited in line. As in Buffalo, and unlike Philadelphia, the crowds were orderly and mannerly, and no major incidents were reported. Viewing continued until 11:00 p.m. that night, when the remains of Abraham Lincoln were once again place on the waiting Funeral Train.

There was still another night run ahead, with the next destination Columbus, the state capital of Ohio. The funeral in that city will be the subject of my next post.

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Robert Redford's Film "The Conspirator"

I'm briefly interrupting the series about the Lincoln assassination and ensuing Funeral Train journey to inform my readers about a story in the April 28, 2010 edition of USA Today. The "Life" section of the paper features a "first look" at Robert Redford's upcoming film about Mary Surratt, convicted of conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Surratt was the first woman ever executed by the U.S. Government, hanged for her crime nearly 145 years ago on July 7, 1865.

Surratt ran a boarding house in Washington, D.C. in which her son John lived along with her daughter Anna, as well as various boarders. The home was the scene of numerous meetings of Lincoln conspirators, including Booth, David Herold, Lewis Payne, and her son. It was to her house where Payne returned and was captured after he nearly killed Secretary of State William H. Seward on the same night that Lincoln was shot. Mrs. Surratt was arrested primarily due to her home being the site of the conspirator meetings, but also because she had guns waiting for Booth at a tavern she owned in Surrattsville, Maryland.

The film, The Conspirator, tells the story of Mrs. Surratt's arrest, trial by a military tribunal (all the conspirators were tried by it and not by a civilian court), and eventual execution. The assassination itself serves only as a "setup" to the main subject of the film. Redford directs, but does not star in the movie. Robin Wright stars as Surratt, while her lawyer is portrayed by James McAvoy.

Redford is briefly interviewed in the article (which features an additional five photos at the link which I provided) and quite accurately states that there are still questions surrounding Surratt's involvement in the conspiracy. To this day, some claim she was not as entwined in the conspiracy as the government claimed, while others claim she was far more involved than investigators realized at the time. Many people in 1865 felt that she should not have been executed, no matter her guilt.

The Conspirator is at this point an independent film which has not yet found backing from a studio. There is no release date. Let's hope that changes, because the story of Mary Surratt is compelling even today.

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Lincoln's Funeral In Buffalo, New York

(Author's Note: This posting continues my series about the assassination, death, and ensuing funerals for Abraham Lincoln in thirteen American cities. This year marks the 145th anniversary of one of the most tragic episodes in our nation's history.)

The Lincoln Funeral Train slowly pulled out of the station at Albany, New York late in the afternoon of April 26, 1865. It would take the train fifteen hours to reach the next funeral city, Buffalo, New York. Along the train route, as along all the others, mourners lined the tracks, holding banners and signs, singing hymns, knelt in prayer. Twenty-five thousand people waited in Utica in pouring rain. In Syracuse, not reached until around midnight, at least thirty-five thousand stood to pay their respects as the train passed through. Former President Millard Fillmore (the 13th president) boarded the train in Batavia at 5:00 a.m. on April 27 and rode the rest of the way on the train to Buffalo.

The funeral which was held for Abraham Lincoln on April 27, 1865 was actually the second one the city staged. On the very day of the state funeral in Washington, D.C. (April 19), Buffalo held a mock funeral, it's citizens feeling that attending church services was simply not enough to express their grief. They built a catafalque, held a large procession, gave prayers. All that was missing that day in Buffalo were the remains of Lincoln. The citizenry were stunned, then, to find out that their city on Lake Erie had been selected to hold an actual funeral!

Somehow, though, there seemed to be a bit of a letdown when the real ceremonies began once the Funeral Train arrived at 7:00 a.m. that day of the 27th. The same catafalque and hearse were used, the same order of the procession was staged, even the same hymns and music played. Massive crowds still swarmed the streets. (In the image above, you can see the crowd surrounding the hearse which is visible toward the left side, it's canopy high above the people.)

At the same time, however, the crowds were so well-behaved and so silent, that many observers who had attended the previous funerals felt that the grief was not as palpable as in Philadelphia, where a near riot broke out. Looking back, though, perhaps it simply means that Buffalo citizens were better behaved than those in Philadelphia.

Lincoln's casket was placed in St. Jame's Hall, tilted at an angle so people could better view his face. Nearly 100,000 mourners filed past the coffin until 8:00 p.m. until the doors were closed. Through it all, not one disturbance was recorded by the police.

Among the mourners paying their respects 145 years ago today in Buffalo was a young man of 28 who would go on to achieve some measure of fame later in his life. His name was Stephen Grover Cleveland, better known by his middle name. He would go on to become county sheriff, Mayor of Buffalo, Governor of New York, and most importantly, the 22nd and 24th President Of The United States. He is still the only president who served two non-consecutive terms.

The Lincoln Funeral Train departed Buffalo at approximately 10:00 p.m. for another night run to the next city to be selected to hold an official funeral for Lincoln. That city was Cleveland, Ohio, the subject of my next post.

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Lincoln's Funeral At Albany

(Author's Note: By April 26, 1865 five cities had already held funerals for the assassinated Abraham Lincoln. Washington, Baltimore, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and New York had honored the late president with prayers, hymns, and processions. Between the cities, tens of thousands of mourners lined the tracks, simply to doff their hats or kneel in prayer as the Funeral Train passed by. Albany, New York was the next city to hold services for the martyred president, 145 years ago today.)

The Funeral Train of Abraham Lincoln arrived in Albany, New York (that state's capital) at around 11:00 p.m. on the night of April 25, 1865. It had traveled that day from New York City, where a stunning procession which took almost four hours to complete had taken place just nine hours earlier. Upon arrival in Albany (actually East Albany), the coffin was transported across the Hudson to Albany proper where it was taken to the capitol.

Like New York City, Albany had hosted Abraham Lincoln four years before on his inaugural trip to Washington. He had spoken on February 18, 1861 to a joint session of the New York legislature in the capitol building, thanking the politicians for their support, expressing hope that the sectional crisis would be solved by "cooler heads." Now but a few feet where he had spoken that day full of hope, the remains of Abraham Lincoln lay in state.

The Funeral Train had taken longer than expected to bring the fallen president from New York to Albany. In small towns and big, mourners lined the tracks by the thousands in order to see the train and to pay their respects. Towns such as Peekskill fired cannons while the train halted there. Men lined up and simultaneously raised their hats in respect in other towns as the train passed. Near West Point, uniformed Army cadets, many with tears in their eyes, boarded the Funeral Car and filed silently past to honor their late commander-in-chief. As daylight gave way to darkness, bonfires, torches, and other illuminations lit the way for the train. The engineers were so moved that the train slowed or stopped far more often than planned, so that the people could say goodbye to Mr. Lincoln.

Once the coffin was placed in the state capitol rotunda, the doors were opened to the public at the early hour of 1:15 a.m. on April 26. Mourners filed past at a rate of about 60 per minute. They continued through the entire night, past dawn, and until the capitol doors were closed at 1:30 p.m. Even then, the line of mourners hoping to see Lincoln's remains was at least one mile long, disappointing many thousands.

The procession was not as majestic as that in New York or Washington, of course, because Albany was a far smaller city than those. But it was still special. In this procession, the specially built hearse was pulled by six white horses. Every other participant, the requisite officials, governor, bands, and so on walked behind the hearse. There were no carriages, banners, or portraits of Lincoln present. The 250-300 mourners who had been riding The Funeral Train chose not to participate in this procession as by then they were exhausted emotionally and physically, and had stayed in a hotel for the night, paid for by the city. They re-boarded the Funeral Train at the depot for the 4:00 p.m. departure to the next funeral city, Buffalo, New York.

The image above shows one of two American flags which flew from the engine which pulled The Funeral Train from Albany to Utica, New York the day of the Albany services. It is housed in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington. I couldn't find any photos of the procession in Albany.

April 26, 1865 also brought some joyful news when for twelve long dark days only grief and horror had filled the papers. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton announced that day that Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, had been cornered and shot to death in Virginia early that morning. The hunt for the most notorious murderer in U.S. history was, at long last, over.

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