"LINCOLN FUNERAL TRAIN TRAVELS 1700 MILES"

PRESIDENT LAID TO REST IN OAK RIDGE CEMETERY

Springfield, Illinois (JFK+50) On May 4, 1865, the sixteenth POTUS was laid to rest here in his hometown.  Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln chose Oak Ridge Cemetery as her husband's final resting place.

President Abraham Lincoln, shot by the actor and Southern sympathizer John Wilkes Booth on Good Friday, April 14, died the next morning at the Petersen House across from Ford's Theater where the assassination took place.

The President's body was taken by funeral train* from Washington, D.C. to Springfield, retracing the route in reverse that President-elect Lincoln had taken to his first inaugural in 1861.

*Lincoln's funeral train, which included 9 cars & carried the caskets of AL & his son Willie, traveled 1700 miles passing though 180 cities and 7 states.   There were 300 guests on board.  The train arrived in Springfield on May 3 with burial the following day.

SOURCE

"A Funeral Procession 1,700 Miles Long," National Museum of American History, Smithsonian, www.americanhistory.si.edu/ 

 

 

Engine "Nashville"

Lincoln's Funeral Train

www.picryl.com/

  

LINCOLN'S FUNERAL TRAIN DEPARTS

LINCOLN'S FUNERAL TRAIN BEGINS LONG JOURNEY TO SPRINGFIELD

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) 150 years ago today, April 21, 1865, the train bearing the body of President Abraham Lincoln departed from here in the Nation's Capital.

The President's remains, along with those of his son Willie, were destined to travel through 160 communities in 7 states with stops including Baltimore, Buffalo, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Chicago. Formal funerals were held in 12 cities.

Mr. Lincoln's last train trip lasted 12 days and spanned 1700 miles from Washington to Springfield.  The Lincoln Funeral Train would be viewed by an estimated 30 million mourners.

The ultimate destination was Lincoln's adopted hometown in Illinois where he would be laid to rest. Arrangements for the train were directed by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton with General Edward D. Townsend in charge of logistics.

The train included a specially built private car, The United States, that ironically was scheduled to transport Mr. Lincoln for the first time on the morning of April 15, 1865.  The President died at 7:22 a.m on that very day.

The private car, which had been built in Alexandria, Virginia, was delivered by the United States Military Railroad (USMRR).  

In every city the Lincoln Funeral Train entered, there were mourning signs and banners.  In Chicago, one read...

"Noblest martyr to Freedom
Sacred thy dust
Hallowed thy resting place.
'With tears we resign these
  to God and History.'"

SOURCES

"Lincoln's Funeral Train Departed 150 Years Ago Today," Here & Now with Robin Young and Jeremy Hobson, www.hereandnow.wbur.org/

"Lincoln's Funeral Train," www.the2015lincolnfuneraltrain.com

"The Funeral Train of Abraham Lincoln," Abraham Lincoln's Classroom, www.abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org/

Lincoln's Funeral Train

Library of Congress Photo (1865)

www.hereandnow.wbur.org/