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Will, N8HDM
The Lincoln Funeral Train
Abraham Lincoln departed Springfield, Illinois on
Feb. 11th , 1861 enroute to Washington D.C. having
won the popular vote in the 1860 presidential
election. His train passed from Springfield, IL to
Indianapolis, then to Cincinnati and on to the capital
of Ohio, Columbus where it arrived on the morning
of February 13th. As with most cities there were
processions and/or speeches delivered at all large
cities along the route. After speeches were delivered
in the Ohio Statehouse, Lincoln was conversing with
state officials when a page delivered a message
announcing congressional confirmation of the
Electoral College vote, declaring Lincoln the official
president-elect.
After departing Columbus, he visited Pittsburgh,
Cleveland, Buffalo, Albany, New York City, Trenton,
Philadelphia, Harrisburg and finally Washington D.C.
He led the nation through some of it's most
troubling times and the Civil War was nearing it's
end. On the evening of April 14, 1865, Confederate
sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth shot President
Abraham Lincoln in Ford's Theater as the President
and Mrs. Lincoln .attended the play, “Our American
Cousin”. Lincoln was carried across the street to the
Petersen House, where he passed away the
following morning.
While Booth carried out his attack on the president,
George Atzerodt was assigned to kill the Vice
President at Andrew Johnson's residence in the
Kirkwood Hotel, but lost his nerve.
Lewis Powell carried through with his assignment,
gaining entry into the home of Secretary of State
William Seward, who was convalescing in bed from a
buggy accident a week earlier. Seward was cut and
slashed, then left for dead. In his escape, Powell was
confronted by family members, a nurse and body
guard, who he fended off with his knife. Seward
survived the attack.
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was also a target but had
unexpectedly left town.
It has been argued that attempts were made for the
Lincoln Funeral Train to follow the 1861 route in the
opposite direction. Many of these same cities were
stops or were passed through on the way from
Washington D.C to Springfield with the slain
president aboard. However, if that attempt was
made, it was altered because the train was not
permitted to travel to Cincinnati. In the 4 years that
had lapsed between the journeys, there was fear of
sabotage by southern sympathizers known as
“copperheads” who were known to be in the area..
The War Department took control of the Funeral
train. The tracks were declared military railroads and
the funeral train was given right of way over all
other rail traffic. All rail switches were thrown and
locked in advance with military guards posted at
every curve and intersection along the route.
For security purposes, the funeral train was
preceded by a pilot train, 15 minutes in advance.
A special rail car had been built for President Lincoln
but had never been used by him. (It would have
been the equivalent of Air Force One, today). It was
built in the rail shops of the United States Military
Railroad in Alexandria, Va. between November 1863
and February 1865. The car was 48 feet in length
with a raised center roof and 12 windows on each
side. Painted a rich brown or maroon color, with
gold striping. On each side was the U.S .Seal
featuring an eagle with the words “United States”
above. Two trucks were installed beneath each end,
giving the car 8 axles which provided a smoother
and safer ride. Each axle contained 2 sets of wheels
allowing it to be used on 2 different gauges of track.
( With a few exceptions, all tracks in the United
States were finally standardized at 4”9” (1,448 cm) in
June 1886).
The handrails on the outside, as well as interior
portions of the car were altered to accept the coffins
of the President and his son “Willie” who was
disinterred to be re-interred in Springfield, at the
request of Mrs. Lincoln. The funeral train was
comprised of 9 cars, A few of Lincoln's family as well
as several family friends and dignitaries
accompanied the bodies to Springfield. Guard duty
of the train was conducted by 29 members of the
Veteran Reserve Corps. For their service,all 29
received the recently created Medal Of Honor. ( In
1917, the Medal of Honor Board rescinded 911
awards. All 29 of these were among those).
At 7 AM, Friday April 21, honor guards took Lincoln's
coffin to the depot and loaded it on the train. The
1,654 mile journey to Springfield began at 8 AM
when the train left the depot with some 10,000
witnesses.
Major stops were made as follows:
Baltimore Maryland, April 21 10:00 AM
Harrisburg Pennsylvania April 21 8:30 PM
Philadelphia Pennsylvania April 22 4:50 PM
New York City. New York April 24 10;50 AM
Albany New York April 25 10:55 PM
Buffalo New York April 27 7:00 AM
Cleveland Ohio April 28 6:50 AM
Columbus Ohio April 29 7:00 AM
Indianapolis Indiana April 30 7:00 AM
Michigan City Indiana May 1 8:00 AM
Chicago Illinois May 1 11:00 AM
Springfield Illinois May 3 9:00 AM
In all, the funeral train passed through nearly 450
communities. It is estimated that 1-1/2 million
people viewed Lincoln's body during these public
viewings. It's also estimated that 7 million people
viewed the train as it passed through and between
those communities.
The train entered Ohio near Conneaut and
memorial services took place on Friday April 28th in
Cleveland. Up to 9,000 people an hour viewed
Lincoln’s coffin there. The train departed Cleveland
at 12:00 Midnight. On Saturday morning it passed
through Shelby, Crestline, then Galion at 4:22. It
continued through Gilead, Cardington, Ashley, Lewis
Center, Orange, Worthington and arrived in
Columbus at 7:30 AM. Men and women alike stood
along the route, in the elements with bare heads to
show their sorrow and offer a sign of respect to the
fallen President.
Lincolns coffin was taken to the rotunda of the
statehouse where tens of thousands of Ohioans
filed past and a grand memorial service was given.
When the service concluded, a procession took the
coffin back to the station where it was again loaded
onto the presidential car.
The train left Columbus at 8:00 PM bound for
Indianapolis. Some portions of this route between
Columbus and Indianapolis had only been open for
a few months. It was this portion of the route that
kept the funeral train from passing South to
Cincinnati. After leaving Columbus, the train passed
through Hilliards and on to Pleasant Valley ( Plain
City) , where bonfires lit up the countryside for miles
and a large concourse of citizens gathered at the
depot where two Americas flags were draped in
mourning. At Unionville (Center), about two
hundred citizens assembled, most sitting in wagons
that had traveled from the countryside. ( It's
possible future Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks
was present since he was born in Unionville in 1852
and lived there during his school years). At Milford
(Center), , 400 – 500 citizens assembled around
bonfires slowly waving flags and handkerchiefs. At
Woodstock, around 300 people were assembled,
where the train made it's first stop since leaving
Columbus. Ladies presented bouquets of flowers,
One by Miss Villard, Miss Lucy Kimble and Miss Mary
Cranston on the part of the ladies of Woodstock;
one by Miss Ann M. Currier and another by sisters
Mrs. G. Martin and Miss Delilah Beltz. These ladies
were permitted to board the funeral car and strew
the flowers upon the coffin. The Woodstock Cornet
Band, led by U. Cushman, played a dirge, “Dreaming,
I sleep, Love” and Playl's Hymn. Village bells slowly
tolled as men stood silent with uncovered heads.
The train next passed through Cable where a very
large crowd assembled around bonfires and a
soldier stood in the center holding a flag.
At 10:40 PM, the train reached Urbana, At least
3,000 people had gathered near the depot. A large
cross entwined with wreaths of evergreens stood on
the platform, which was worked under the direction
of Mrs. Milo G. Williams, President Ladies' Soldiers'
Aid Society. Opposite the tracks were men and
women representing the Methodist, Baptist,
Episcopalian and Presbyterian churches who sang
the hymn, “Go to Thy Rest”. Large bonfires lit the
night sky as if it were day. Ten young ladies entered
the car and strew flowers on the martyr's bier. One
of the ladies was affected so that she cried and wept
with great anguish. At St Paris a large assembly was
gathered with drooped flags illuminated by bonfires
as the train passed. People gathered with displays at
Westville Station and Conover. Piqua was reached at
12:20AM on Sunday April 30th where not less than
ten thousand people assembled. The Troy Band and
the Piqua Band played appropriate music, after
which a hymn was sung by a delegation from the
Methodist Church, led by Rev. Col. Granville Moody.
As the train continued, drooped flags and other
expressions of mourning could be seen by bonfires
that lit the night as the train passed Gettysburg,
Richmond Junction and Covington. At Greenville, 36
young ladies dressed in white, waving the star
spangled banner, greeted the cortege. Lafayette's
Requiem was sung with thrilling effect by a number
of men and women. About 500 people gathered at
the depot with Company C, 28 Ohio Infantry drawn
up in two lines, with firearms reversed. The train
passed several other communities until it reached
Richmond, where Indiana Governor Morton and
suite accepted the train into that state.
These scenes of mourning were displayed at every
community until the train reached it's final
destination of Springfield Illinois at 9:00 AM on
Wednesday May 3rd. where Lincoln was laid to rest.
The car, “ United States” was sold to the Union
Pacific Railroad, who used it for dignitaries, Railroad
officials and later for foremen living quarters at
work sites. In 1870 it was sold to the Colorado
Central Railroad Company who painted it a bright
yellow. Union Pacific absorbed the CCRC in 1878 and
acquired the car. It was then used as a bunk car or
dining car for work crews. In 1898, it was restored
and displayed at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition in
Omaha. In 1903 it was sold to Franklyn B. Snow who
exhibited it at the St. Louis World's Fair. After Snow's
death in 1905, it was purchased by Thomas Lowry of
Minneapolis as a gift to the city. When the city
couldn't raise funds for a museum, Lowry moved it
to land he was developing. On March 18,1911, a
large grass fire enveloped the car and it was burned
beyond repair.
Ref:
Lincoln Memorial: The Journeys of Abraham Lincoln:
From Springfield to Washington 1861as president
elect;
and from Washington to Springfield 1865 as
president martyred;
By William T. Coggeshall ( University of Michigan
online library)
Alexandria Times
Wikipedia
Holiday Party 2019
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