The Lincoln Funeral Train
Following Abraham Lincoln's death on April 15, 1865, by assassination, funeral services were held in Washington D.C. After Lincoln was pronounced dead, his body was carried by an honor guard to the White House on Saturday April 15, 1865. He lay in state in the East Room of the White House. His body was presented for viewing by the public on Tuesday, April 18 and the following day, on the 19th, a funeral service was held. Lincoln's coffin was transported in a procession down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol Rotunda, where a ceremonial burial service was held. The body again laid in state on the 20th and on the early morning of the 21st a prayer service was held for the Lincoln cabinet.
At 7 a.m. on Friday, April 21, Lincoln's coffin was taken by an honor guard to the train depot in Washington, where it was placed in 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 was made up of nine cars, including a baggage and hearse car. Eight of the cars were provided by the railways over which train traveled. The ninth was the President's car, which had been built for use by the president and other officials. It contained a parlor, a sitting room, and a sleeping area. It had been draped in mourning and contained the coffins of Lincoln and his son Willie. Different locomotives were used on different stretches of the trip. The train was preceded by a pilot locomotive and one car to see that the track ahead was unobstructed.
The Department of War designated the route and selected the railroads over which the train passed as it traveled to Springfield, Illinois, where Lincoln would be laid to rest. Only persons authorized by the War Department were allowed to travel on the train. It train never moved at speeds of more than 20 miles an hour for safety reasons.
Five relatives and family friends were selected to accompany the body on the funeral train. They were David Davis, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; Lincoln's brothers-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 others 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 (an embalmer) and Frank T. Sands (an undertaker). Three state Governors accompanied the train along with their aides: Oliver P. Morton of Indiana, John Brough of Ohio and William M. Stone of Iowa.
Lincoln's funeral train was observed, mourned, and honored by the citizens of Washington D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Besides the nation's capital, the train stopped in the following cities: Baltimore, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, New York, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Michigan City, and Chicago before arriving in Springfield. The train left Washington, D.C., on April 21, 1865 at 12:30 pm and traveled 1,654 miles to Springfield, where it arrived on May 3, 1865.
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 was not aboard the train. She 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 is now marked by a 117 foot tall granite obelisk surmounted with several bronze statues of Lincoln. Its constructed was completed in 1874. Mary Todd Lincoln and three of their four sons are also buried there. (Robert Todd Lincoln is buried in Arlington National Cemetery at Arlington, Virginia).
At 7 a.m. on Friday, April 21, Lincoln's coffin was taken by an honor guard to the train depot in Washington, where it was placed in 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 was made up of nine cars, including a baggage and hearse car. Eight of the cars were provided by the railways over which train traveled. The ninth was the President's car, which had been built for use by the president and other officials. It contained a parlor, a sitting room, and a sleeping area. It had been draped in mourning and contained the coffins of Lincoln and his son Willie. Different locomotives were used on different stretches of the trip. The train was preceded by a pilot locomotive and one car to see that the track ahead was unobstructed.
The Department of War designated the route and selected the railroads over which the train passed as it traveled to Springfield, Illinois, where Lincoln would be laid to rest. Only persons authorized by the War Department were allowed to travel on the train. It train never moved at speeds of more than 20 miles an hour for safety reasons.
Five relatives and family friends were selected to accompany the body on the funeral train. They were David Davis, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; Lincoln's brothers-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 others 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 (an embalmer) and Frank T. Sands (an undertaker). Three state Governors accompanied the train along with their aides: Oliver P. Morton of Indiana, John Brough of Ohio and William M. Stone of Iowa.
Lincoln's funeral train was observed, mourned, and honored by the citizens of Washington D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Besides the nation's capital, the train stopped in the following cities: Baltimore, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, New York, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Michigan City, and Chicago before arriving in Springfield. The train left Washington, D.C., on April 21, 1865 at 12:30 pm and traveled 1,654 miles to Springfield, where it arrived on May 3, 1865.
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 was not aboard the train. She 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 is now marked by a 117 foot tall granite obelisk surmounted with several bronze statues of Lincoln. Its constructed was completed in 1874. Mary Todd Lincoln and three of their four sons are also buried there. (Robert Todd Lincoln is buried in Arlington National Cemetery at Arlington, Virginia).