Homeward bound

Most of us remember JFK’s assassination and coverage of his funeral. The image of his two year old son saluting as his father’s casket slowly passed is an iconic moment in American history. Millions of Americans watched via television as one of the two most popular presidents in the history of our country was laid to rest.

The other one was laid to rest one hundred and fifty years ago this month. In 1865 millions of Americans watched Abraham Lincoln take his final journey home on a train.

Construction was begun on an elaborate railroad car in 1863. It was designed and built by the U.S. Military Railroad (USMRR)shops in Alexandria, Virginia. Designed to be a command car (a 19th century Air Force One), the “United States” was luxuriously appointed with several rooms for Lincoln and his cabinet to work and relax and a telegraph system that allowed instant communication with the world.

President Lincoln never traveled in this car in life.

Lincoln’s funeral train was assembled quickly for the journey home to Springfield, Illinois. A special time schedule for the train’s travel through 7 states, with stops in as many major cities and towns as time permitted on the 1,600 mile journey, was published in every newspaper and magazine in the northern states from Illinois eastward to the Atlantic Ocean. The Lincoln Special was 9 cars long, all draped in black garlands. The converted command car, “United States”, would now carry Lincoln’s body and the disinterred body of their son Willie, who died in the White House of typhoid at age 11, to Lincoln’s boyhood home for burial.

Mary was too distraught to travel and stayed at the White House in mourning.

The Lincoln Special pulled out of Washington’s B&O depot at 8 a.m. on Friday, April 21st. Tens of thousands of people lined the route or waited patiently at stations to wave, cry, salute or bow their heads in respect as the train slowly passed by.

In Baltimore, Lincoln’s casket was transported by hearse to the Merchant’s Exchange Building, where 10,000 mourners viewed his body in 3 hours.

The next stop was Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where an estimated 40,000 people lined the streets for hours to catch a glimpse of the hearse bearing their beloved President. The train departed Harrisburg late in the morning on the second day and arrived in Philadelphia early that evening.

Lincoln’s casket was moved by hearse and displayed in the east wing of Independence Hall, the same room that the Declaration of Independence was signed. Long lines of mourners began forming sometime around 4 a.m. on Sunday morning. At one point the double line stretched over 3 miles as an estimated 300,000 people waited for up to 6 hours to view Lincoln’s body.

For the next week this scene was repeated in every city, town and village the train stopped at or passed through.

In New York City, Lincoln’s coffin was ferried across the Hudson River to be displayed under the rotunda at City Hall, where over 500,000 people waited for hours to view Mr. Lincoln and pay their respects.

Then on to Albany, from there to Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, across Ohio into Indiana and, on Monday, May 1st, the Lincoln Special hit Illinois soil. The train arrived in Chicago at 11 a.m. to a waiting throng. Lincoln’s casket was opened for public viewing at the Cook County Courthouse from 6 p.m., through the night and into the next day. An estimated 7,000 people an hour passed to view Mr. Lincoln and pay their respects.

The train arrived in Springfield on Wednesday morning, May 3rd. Lincoln would lie in state at the State House where he gave his famous “House Divided” speech years earlier.

The following day, Lincoln’s casket was carried by hearse from the State House, past his boyhood home, the Governor’s Mansion and down an old country road to Oak Ridge Cemetery. His only blood relatives present were his son, Robert Todd and his cousin, John Hanks. The casket was laid upon a marble slab inside the tomb. Little Willie’s casket was set inside the tomb with his father. At the conclusion of the benediction, the crowd watched as the iron gates were closed and the wooden doors were shut and locked.

President Lincoln was home.