Lincoln Funeral Train Historical Marker
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Following the assassination of US President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865 in Washington, D.C., a grand, yet somber, "Final Journey Home" was prepared for the body of Lincoln back to Springfield, Illinois. Eventually, 7 states (Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois) would have the train run through them, following the funeral and other events in D.C, with over 444 communities visited (New Jersey did not hold a viewing of the body or have a stop within). Indianapolis was the destination for viewing following a stop in Columbus, Ohio. Arriving April 30, at 7am in Indianapolis and taken to the Indiana Statehouse, the viewing lasted all day in the rain until the funeral train steamed off again at midnight for its next stop in Michigan City, Indiana. Indiana Governor Oliver Morton was one four Union governors to accompany the train throughout the journey to Illinois.
Images
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
'On the evening of April 14, 1865, an assassin shot President Abraham Lincoln. He died the next day at 7:22 a.m. While Union soldiers hunted the conspirators, the nation went into mourning. The funeral for the assassinated president took place April 19, 1865 at the White House. The New York Times reported that “thousands wended their way up the capitol steps, into the grand rotunds, by the bier and coffin of the President… their homage was silent and tearful.” On the morning of April 21, a military guard placed Lincoln’s casket in the ninth car of a funeral train which was draped in black. The casket of Lincoln’s son William who had died in 1862 was also aboard for the trip back to the Midwest.
At 3:41 a.m. the train arrived in Centreville, home town of congressmen George W. Julian, a steadfast abolitionist and supporter of women’s rights. Next it passed through Germantown and Cambridge City, home of congressman Solomon Meredith. As the train passed through Dublin at 4:27 a.m., almost the entire town was standing on the platform in the rain. Next the train stopped in Lewisville and afterwards it slowed as it passed through the small village of Charlottesville, where reportedly a large number of African Americans gathered in mourning. The train passed through Greenfield at 5:55 a.m. and then paused in Cumberland.
The train reached Indianapolis on April 30 at 7 a.m. in the pouring rain. The city was decorated with arches, evergreens, and flags. The Indianapolis City band played the Lincoln Funeral March while soldiers moved the casket to the hearse. The hearse, which was an ornately decorated carriage drawn by six plumed white horses, delivered the casket from the train to the State House through streets lined with people. The Indianapolis Daily Gazette noted “the archways and mourning festoons across the streets, the public and private buildings draped in the habiliments of grief, the funeral procession, the solemn dirges, and, above all, the patient multitude that stood for hours in the drenching rain waiting an opportunity to look upon the earthly tenement so lately vacated by the spirit…”
The train reached Lafayette at 3:35 a.m. and the Indianapolis Daily Journal reported that in Lafayette “The houses on each side of the railroad is [sic] illuminated, and; as elsewhere, badges of mourning and draped flags are displayed; bonfires are blazing and bells tolling; mournful strains of music are heard, and the people are assembled at all the stations to view the train.” After leaving Lafayette, the train traveled through Tippecanoe Battle Ground, Brookston, Chalmer, Reynolds, Bradford, Francisville, Medaryville, Kankakee, La Crosse, Wanatha, Westville, and Lacroix.
Sources
"President Abraham Lincoln's White House Funeral". Abrahamlincolnonline.org.
Lincoln memorial: The journeys of ... - Google Books. Books.google.com. 2006-08-10.