Lincoln's Funeral Train

Abraham Lincoln, the president who was assassinated in 1865, did not get to rest in peace right away. Even after he died, his body was taken on a long journey across the country for people to say their goodbyes. Edwin Stanton, the secretary of war, thought it was too soon to let go of Lincoln. Even though Lincoln's wife, Mary, wanted his body to go straight home to Illinois for burial, Stanton convinced her to agree to a different plan. They decided to take a train route that followed the same path Lincoln had taken when he became president four years earlier.

On April 21, as the sun rose over Washington, D.C., the sound of horses' hooves could be heard as they pulled the hearse carrying Lincoln's coffin from the U.S. Capitol to the nearby railroad station. The coffin was then placed onto a special presidential train car that had fancy upholstery and finishing. Unfortunately, Lincoln never got the chance to see or ride in this train car because he was too busy with the war.

During the Civil War, advancements in embalming allowed soldiers' bodies to be preserved and returned to their families for burial. This same process was used to preserve President Lincoln's body. The embalmer, Charles Brown, promised that Lincoln's appearance would not change during the long journey. He assured everyone that the president's body would never decay.

As the funeral train made its way through different cities, thousands of people gathered to pay their respects. In Baltimore, where Lincoln's assassin was from, there was no animosity. People of different races stood together in the rain and mud, without any concern for their differences. Similar scenes played out in other cities as well. Americans came together in grief to honor Lincoln.

In Manhattan, a big parade was held to honor Lincoln. Even a six-year-old boy named Theodore Roosevelt watched from his house. As the body traveled away from New York City, people started to notice that Lincoln's body was changing. His eyes looked sunken and his face looked pale and old. The newspapers said that he didn't look like himself anymore. Even though people could see that Lincoln's body was changing, they still wanted to see it. Every city tried to make a bigger and more impressive funeral display than the last one.

The most touching moments were when regular people came to see the train carrying Lincoln's body. They camped out along the train tracks for miles just to catch a glimpse of the coffin through the windows. As the train passed, men took off their hats and women prayed. It was a way for the country to let out all the sadness they had been holding in during the Civil War. As the train went further west, more and more people came to see it. People in the Midwest felt a special connection to Lincoln and their feelings were even stronger.

After a long journey of 1,645 miles, the funeral train finally arrived in Springfield, Illinois, on May 3. One million Americans saw Lincoln's body, and even more people saw the train as the North came together to say goodbye to Lincoln. After lots of people saw Lincoln's body in the state capitol of Illinois for 24 hours, his coffin was finally closed on the morning of May 4. Then, they had a ceremony to bury him at Oak Ridge Cemetery, where someone talked about him for an hour. Almost three weeks after he died, Lincoln was finally laid to rest.