Lincoln for 2020 Make America Grave Again

abril 22, 2022 Postar um comentário

Lincoln'due south Springfield Funeral and Burial

"In the mellow air and brilliant sunlight of this May morning, sweetened by the rain of last night, when those prairies are clothed in flowers, and the thickets of wild fruit copse, and blossoming orchards are jubilant with birds, he comes dorsum."

The arrival of President Abraham Lincoln'south body on May three, 1865, in his hometown of Springfield, Illinois, evoked this poetic response from a reporter covering the consequence. Although Lincoln was born in Kentucky, grew up in Indiana, and served the nation in Washington, he was buried in Illinois where he had developed strong community ties. Two years earlier his assassination he wrote, "Springfield is my dwelling, and there, more elsewhere, are my life-long friends."

In 1861 Lincoln said bye to his Springfield friends and neighbors with a curt simply affectionate speech before leaving on his inaugural journey to Washington. Continuing outside a railroad train motorcar by the Bully Western depot he wondered "when, or whether ever, I may render..." Some of the men who left town with Lincoln that day now returned with his remains, including Major General David Hunter, Supreme Court Justice David Davis, and Ward Hill Lamon.

After a circuitous, 12-day journey which retraced much of Lincoln's countdown road and included funerals in major Eastern and Midwestern cities, the train pulled into the Chicago & Alton station near Springfield's business district. The 9-automobile railroad train included a presidential car for Lincoln and his son Willie, who died in the White House iii years earlier, a baggage car, and seven Pullman sleeping cars for the funeral entourage. Years later Lincoln's eldest son Robert would become president of the Pullman company, based in Chicago.

The reporter watched as the railroad train "moved slowly into the town, moved slowly through masses of 'manifestly people' who had come from all the country round about." Springfield, with its 15,000 residents, now welcomed more 100,000 visitors on this celebrated occasion. Every bit the train stopped and pallbearers approached it, "The stillness among all the people is painful; but when the coffin is taken from the car, that stillness is broken, cleaved by sobs, and these are more painful than the stillness."

Soldiers from the Veteran Reserve Corps loaded the president's bury into an elaborate borrowed hearse, "splendidly adorned" with "A.50." engraved on a silvery plate surrounded past a silver wreath, two inverted torches, and 36 stars symbolizing us in the Wedlock. While a band played funeral music, half-dozen black horses slowly pulled the hearse in a formal procession toward the city square.

On the w side of the square stood a building which housed the Lincoln-Herndon Law Part. At present it wore a banner: "He Lives in the Hearts of His People." Just earlier Lincoln left for Washington he told his police force partner William Herndon, "If I live I'k coming back some time, and then nosotros'll go right on practising law as if naught had ever happened." Years later Herndon wrote, "He always contended that he was doomed to a sad fate, and he repeatedly said to me when we were lone in our role: 'I am sure I shall meet with some terrible end.'"

In April 1865 when General Lee surrendered his ground forces to General Grant, effectively ending the Civil War, the city square had been alive with noisy, jubilant, grateful citizens. One of those residents recalled, "Within a few days came the discussion, 'Lincoln was assassinated last dark.' Over again businesses and homes were abased and the people gathered again in the square huddling together like cattle in a blizzard trying to shield themselves from the rain storm of grief."

Last Viewing at the State Firm

The hearse stopped on the north side of the blackness-draped state Capitol where the soldiers carried the bury upstairs to Representatives' Hall. Starting at 10 a.thousand. and standing for 24 hours, approximately 75,000 mourners passed through this "solemnly impressive" room. The coffin rested on an elegant catafalque covered with black velvet, trimmed with silver and satin, and bordered with evergreens and white flowers. The ceiling, lined with white lace, glittered with gold stars which twinkled in the gas lights. High to a higher place the crowds were ii inscriptions: "Sooner than surrender this principle, I would be assassinated on this spot" -- remarks by Lincoln at Independence Hall -- and "Washington the Begetter, Lincoln the Saviour."

Reporters noted that Lincoln's features "have very much changed since they left Washington." The open-coffin policy had taken such a price during the funeral journey that a writer watched mourners searching Lincoln's face anxiously. "Many will non know the poor, chilled, shrunken features for his, for the beautiful soul that transfigured them into all loveliness no longer illumines this bit of clay." Indeed, deterioration of the remains acquired the funeral journey to be shortened by two days.

No location in town could be more than appropriate than this legislative chamber, which has go a restored visitor site. Lincoln served four terms in the Illinois House of Representatives and gave speeches in this room, including the famous "House Divided" speech which launched his 1858 senatorial campaign confronting Stephen Douglas. To his contemporaries, memories of Lincoln permeated the entire building, from the Supreme Court bedroom where he argued cases to the Governor's Reception Room, where he greeted visitors every bit president-elect.

Procession to the Cemetery

The public viewing concluded the next morning time, which dawned bright and unusually warm. Relatives and close friends gathered for one terminal expect at Lincoln'due south face. Then the coffin was closed, the atomic number 82 lining was soldered shut, and it was returned to the bloom-covered hearse waiting outside. Just behind the hearse stood Lincoln's hometown equus caballus, riderless and covered with silver-trimmed black cloth.

While last arrangements proceeded inside the Capitol, a 250-vocalisation choir on the exterior steps sang the hymn, "Peace, Troubled Soul." As the coffin approached the hearse, they sang "Children of the Heavenly Rex." The procession to Oak Ridge Cemetery began around noon with a 21-gun salute, followed past single guns every ten minutes. The band struck up "Lincoln's Funeral March" and played the "Dead March" from Saul along the way.

Marshal-in-Chief Major Full general Joseph Hooker led the procession, which numbered virtually 10,000 authorities officials and private citizens who marched or rode in carriages. Visitors on the route could run across state governors, congressional representatives, country and local municipal officials, judges, armed services officers and units, officiating clergymen, civic and fraternal groups, relatives and friends. Of President Lincoln's immediate family just his 22-year-one-time son Robert joined the procession, who reluctantly arrived at the insistence of David Davis, Lincoln's longtime friend and executor of his estate. A very distraught Mary Lincoln and her youngest son Tad remained in Washington.

Major General Grenville Dodge later chosen the procession "the saddest sight of my life." He explained, "Those streets were lined with thousands and thousands of people, evidently in slap-up distress and sorrow, and at every step we could hear the sobs of the sorrowing crowd and every fiddling while a negro would come out and drop down on his knees and offer a prayer. There was hardly a person who was not in tears, and when I looked around at my troops I saw many of them in tears."

Had the procession traveled straight to the cemetery, it would take covered under ii miles. Instead, the route led eastward on Washington Street to Eighth Street, the better to pass the Lincoln home, heavily draped in mourning cloth. From at that place information technology went south to Melt Street and past the Governor'southward Mansion earlier heading due north to the cemetery.

The Unused Tomb

If Springfield's city fathers had their way, the funeral procession would have ended much sooner at a downtown site near the present statehouse. Their intentions and Mrs. Lincoln'south clashed, resulting in a ability struggle which would take many weeks to resolve. 2 days later Lincoln's death, Mrs. Lincoln gave permission to coffin her husband in Springfield, just information technology was not until the funeral journey was well underway that she insisted on Oak Ridge Cemetery as the site.

By so the Springfield committee handling the arrangements had spent $55,000 on an eight-acre plot called the Mather Block where construction of a temporary vault proceeded feverishly, in hopes that someday a large permanent monument would ascent on the site. Located well-nigh a train line, information technology seemed like an ideal tourist allure. But Mrs. Lincoln rejected turning the tomb into what a New York newspaper wryly called "the main advertizing of a smart and growing city."

Queried again through her son Robert, Mrs. Lincoln turned downward the request to allow even temporary burial in the downtown tomb, knowing that her married man wanted to residue "in some placidity place," which Oak Ridge offered on the urban center's outskirts. Her telegram arrived just before the funeral procession set out for the cemetery.

But several weeks after Lincoln's burial, members of the National Lincoln Monument Association, comprised of prominent Springfield citizens, continued to press for a downtown location. Mrs. Lincoln refused them once again, causing an emergency vote of 8-seven in favor of Mrs. Lincoln's wishes. She warned them that the alternative would mean placing the president'south trunk in the U.Southward. Capitol crypt. On June 22 the association announced that the permanent monument would be built at Oak Ridge. The downtown tomb remained mostly intact simply after became covered by the new statehouse landscaping and is no longer visible.

Inflow at Oak Ridge Cemetery

When the hearse rolled into the cemetery, thousands of mourners already stood almost the public receiving vault, a temporary property place for Lincoln'due south body. It would be nigh 10 years earlier a permanent tomb would appear on the loma above. Oak Ridge, located near the town's northern limits, had been dedicated 5 years earlier. The rural setting seemed to satisfy Lincoln'south wish to be buried in a placidity location, although his fame eventually would attract millions of visitors, making the cemetery the second-virtually visited American burial footing.

A reporter described the surroundings on Lincoln'south burial day: "The vault is at the human foot of a knoll in a cute part of the ground, which contains wood trees and all other varieties. Information technology has a Doric gable resting on pilasters, the main wall existence rustic. The vault is fifteen anxiety high, and most the same in width, with semicircular wings projecting from its hillsides. The material is limestone, procured at Joliet, Illinois."

The vault was flanked by a hastily-congenital platform for the choir and instrumental musicians on one side and a speakers' stand on the other. To the accessory of "Unveil Thy Bust" from the Dead March from Saul, Lincoln's flower-strewn coffin arrived inside the velvet-lined vault next to his son's. "The scene was one of intense solemnity," as Robert Lincoln approached the entrance, along with Lizzie Grimsley, his mother's cousin, Ward Hill Lamon, his father'due south friend, and others shut to the family.

The Service Begins

At least 6 Protestant clergymen participated in the service: four from Springfield and ii from the Due east Coast. Over the years the Lincoln family attended ii Erstwhile School Presbyterian churches: the First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, and the New York Artery Presbyterian Church in Washington.

Dr. Phineas D. Gurley, the family's Washington pastor, led a White Firm funeral service for 11-year-old Willie in 1862. Afterwards the president was shot he provided care at the deathbed, preached the sermon at the president's White Firm funeral, and led the private service at the U.Due south. Capitol before boarding the funeral train for Springfield. At present at the tomb, he would contribute the benediction and a hymn of his own composition.

The Rev. Albert Hale, the 65-year-onetime pastor of Springfield's Second Presbyterian Church, offered the introductory prayer. A graduate of Yale Divinity School, he knew Lincoln before the presidency. During his prayer he recalled Lincoln as someone to emulate: "Merciful God, bless u.s.a., and we pray Thee help us to cherish the retention of his life, and the worth of the loftier example he has shown us. Sanctify the effect to all in public function; may they learn wisdom from that case, and study to follow in the steps of him whom Grand hast taken abroad."

He was followed by a choral rendition of "Adieu Father, Friend and Guardian," composed for the occasion past George Root and L. M. Dawn. Rev. Noyes W. Miner, pastor of the local First Baptist Church and old neighbour of the Lincolns, read Scripture passages from the gospel of John and a Pauline letter. The choir and so sang "To Thee O Lord" past George F. Handel.

Rev. Andrew C. Hubbard, the 26-twelvemonth-quondam pastor of Springfield's 2nd Baptist Church building, read Lincoln'due south eloquent Second Inaugural Accost, which the president delivered two months before. The sound startled Lawrence Gobright of the Associated Printing, who was nearby. As he explained, "The door of the vault stood open, and, while the reading was progressing, information technology seemed that the voice came from that tomb! This was one of the well-nigh impressive features of the day."

The Oration by Simpson

Just before the lengthy oration, the choir sang another dirge: "When at Thy Cantankerous Was Haemorrhage," with lyrics by George F. Wright, a local artist. The vast audience, sweltering in the afternoon sunshine, heard from Bishop Matthew Simpson of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Simpson, who now lived in Philadelphia, met Lincoln before the president-elect left Springfield and witnessed his Cheerio Accost.

Lincoln apparently developed an affectionate regard for the affable Simpson, who fabricated occasional White House visits, more often than not to promote Methodist interests. Simpson, known as an eloquent speaker, sometimes saw the president in his Washington audiences. Two weeks earlier Simpson gave the opening prayer at Lincoln'south White Firm funeral; 3 years later he would officiate at the marriage of Robert Lincoln and Mary Eunice Harlan, girl of a prominent Methodist politico.

Bishop Simpson began his message with a recollection of Lincoln's adieu to Springfield and the shocking dissimilarity of his return in decease. He noted, "never was there in the history of man such mourning every bit that which has accompanied this funeral procession," attributing the reaction partly to the war and the euphoria when it concluded, followed by the stunning news of the president's assassination.

Simpson explained that "the great cause of this mourning is found in the man himself. Mr. Lincoln was no ordinary man; and I believe the conviction has been growing on the nation's mind, as it certainly has been on mine, peculiarly in the terminal years of his administration, that past the manus of God he was particularly singled out to guide our government in these troubled times. And it seems to me that the hand of God may be traced in many of the events connected with his history." Simpson's remarks paralleled sentiments expressed earlier by Dr. Gurley during the White House funeral: "God raised him upwards for a great and glorious mission, furnished him for his work, and aided him in its accomplishment."

Recognizing that his oration would exist read widely, Simpson covered many topics he considered of import to his audience: how Lincoln's funeral procession compared to others in history, the historical context of the war and its effects, Lincoln's various legacies, vengeance and forgiveness, ultimate justice and national destiny.

Although Simpson celebrated Lincoln'due south intellectual forcefulness in some detail, he concluded that Lincoln's graphic symbol proved more impressive: "It was not, still, chiefly by his mental faculties that he gained such command over mankind. His moral power gave him pre-eminence. The convictions of men that Abraham Lincoln was an honest human, led them to yield to his guidance."

Simpson also touched on Lincoln's spiritual side, although he admitted, "Every bit to his religious experience, I cannot speak definitely, because I was not privileged to know much of his individual sentiments." No doubt realizing that his audience wondered where Lincoln was spending eternity, he continued: "This I know, notwithstanding, he read the Bible oftentimes; and he tried to be guided by its precepts. He believed in Christ the Saviour of sinners; and I recall he was sincere in trying to bring his life into harmony with the principles of revealed faith."

Simpson's sermon was followed past some other dirge by Wright called "Over the Valley the Angels Smile," using the music of Eberhard Storch. Rev. Dr. Simeon West. Harkey, a theology professor at a local school where Lincoln had been a trustee and his son Robert once attended, offered the closing prayer. The choir followed this with the requiem "Peace, Troubled Soul." Dr. Gurley gave the benediction, and the funeral hymn he composed for the Springfield service, "Rest, Noble Martyr," was sung adjacent.

After the choir and audience sang a Doxology, a local writer said, "the vast multitude melted away and sought the railroad depots, from which the trains bore them to their homes in all parts of the nation -- due east, west, n and south. Thus ended the most yard and sublime funeral pageant the globe ever saw."

John Carroll Ability, beginning custodian of the futurity Lincoln tomb, noted, "I experience justified in saying that more than 1 million men and women must have looked upon the dead face of Abraham Lincoln; an event which has no parallel in the history of the world."

One of the Springfield papers offered its own benediction: "To-day we lay him reverently to rest, among the scenes he loved then well. Millions volition drib a tear to his memory, and time to come generations will make pilgrimages to his tomb. Peace to his ashes."

Public Viewing in Springfield Statehouse
Harper'due south Weekly

Musical Tributes

In contrast to President Lincoln's Washington funeral, the Springfield service included many musical selections. The choral pieces are listed hither in the lodge in which they were performed. Some were written expressly for the occasion, while others had been in the standard repertoire for many years. 1 of them, "Residuum, Noble Martyr," was equanimous by President Lincoln's Washington pastor on the funeral train to Springfield.

"Peace, Troubled Soul" past Samuel Ecking and Lowell Mason

Peace, troubled soul, grand need'st non fear;
Thy bully Provider nonetheless is virtually;
Who fed thee last, will feed thee yet:
Be at-home, and sink into His volition.

The Lord, who built the earth and heaven,
In mercy stoops to hear thy weep;
His promise all may freely claim;
Inquire and receive in Jesus' name.

Without reserve give Christ your center,
Allow Him His righteousness impart;
So all things else He'll freely give;
With Him you all things shall receive.

Thus shall the soul exist truly blest,
That seeks in God His simply rest;
May I that happy person exist,
In time and in eternity.

"Children of the Heavenly King" -- by John Cennick and Ignaz Pleyel

Children of the heavenly King,
As we journey, permit us sing;
Sing our Saviour's worthy praise,
Glorious in His works and ways.

We are traveling home to God,
In the way the fathers trod;
They are happy now, and we
Soon their happiness shall see.

Lord, obediently we become,
Gladly leaving all below;
Simply Thou our Leader exist;
And we will even so follow Thee.

"Unveil Thy Bosom, Faithful Tomb" -- Music past George F. Handel and Text past Isaac Watts, from the Dead March of Saul

Unveil thy bosom, faithful tomb,
Take this new treasure to thy trust,
And give these sacred relics room
To seek a slumber in the dust;
And give these sacred relics room
To seek a slumber in the dust.

Nor pain, nor grief, nor anxious fearfulness
Invades thy bounds, no mortal woes,
Can reach the lovely sleeper here,
And angels lookout her soft serenity;
Can reach the lovely sleeper here,
And angels watch her soft repose.

So Jesus slept; God's dying Son
Passed through the grave, and blessed the bed:
Rest here, fair saint, till from His throne
The morning break and pierce the shade;
Rest here, fair saint, till from His throne
The morning break and pierce the shade.

Suspension from His throne, illustrious forenoon!
Attend, O earth! His sovereign Discussion:
Restore thy trust: a glorious grade
She must ascend to meet her Lord;
Restore thy trust: a glorious form
She must ascend to encounter her Lord!

"Farewell Father, Friend and Guardian" -- by George F. Root and L.1000. Dawn

All our land is draped in mourning,
Hearts are bowed and strong men weep;
For our loved, our noble leader,
Sleeps his last, his dreamless slumber.
Gone forever, gone forever,
Fallen past a traitor's mitt:
Though preserv'd his dearest treasure,
Our redeem'd beloved land.
Rest in peace.

Through our night of bloody struggle,
Always dauntless, business firm and true,
Bravely, gently forth he led us,
Till the morn flare-up on our view --
Till he saw the day of triumph,
Saw the field our heroes won:
Then his honor'd life was concluded,
Then his glorious piece of work was done.
Rest in peace.

When from mountain, hill and valley,
To their homes our brave boys come up,
When with welcome notes we greet them,
Vocal and cheer and pealing pulsate;
When nosotros miss our lov'd ones fallen,
When to weep we plough aside;
Then for him our tears shall mingle,
He has endure'd -- he has died.
Rest in peace.

Award'd leader long and fondly
Shall thy mem'ry cherished be;
Hearts shall bless thee for their freedom,
Hearts unborn shall sigh for thee;
He who gave thee might and wisdom,
Gave thy spirit sweetness release;
Farewell, father, friend and guardian,
Remainder forever, rest in peace.
Rest in peace.

"To Thee O Lord" -- past George F. Handel

To Thee, O Lord, I yield my spirit,
Who break'st in love this mortal chain;
My life I but from thee inherit,
And death becomes my chiefest proceeds;
In Thee I live, in Thee I die,
Content, for M art ever most.

"Every bit When Thy Cross was Bleeding" -- by Otto and George F. Wright

As when Thy cross was bleeding,
The earth is draped in gloom!
Our brows are jump in ashes,
Our hearts are in the tomb!

O, God, our sovereign Savior!
Thy saving grace reveal;
O, stay Thy people'due south anguish,
And allow Thy mercy heal!

"Over the Valley the Angels Smile" -- past Eberhard Storch and George F. Wright

Over the valley the angels smile,
Glory awaits him, they welcome so kindly;
Finished his labor, tho' ne'er then blindly,
Perfidy vaunts the act of his guile.

Over the valley the angels grin,
Tho' we must grieve thee,
Our God volition receive thee,
Approval thy labor,
Our friend and our neighbor;
Crowning thee bright as the babe of the Nile.

"Rest, Noble Martyr" -- by Phineas D. Gurley

Rest, noble martyr! Residue in peace;
Residuum with the true and brave,
Who, like thee, fell in Freedom'southward crusade,
The Nation's life to relieve.

Thy name shall live while fourth dimension endures,
And men shall say of thee,
"He saved his land from its foes,
And bade the slave be complimentary."

These deeds shall be thy monument,
Better than brass or stone;
They leave thy fame in glory's light,
Unrival'd and alone.

This consecrated spot shall exist
To Freedom ever dearest.
And Liberty's sons of every race
Shall weep and worship here.

O God! before whom we, in tears,
Our fallen Master deplore;
Grant that the cause, for which he died,
May live forevermore.

Doxology

To the Male parent, Son, and Holy Ghost,
The God whom we adore,
Be glory every bit it was, is now,
And shall be evermore.

Soldiers at the Lincoln Tomb
Photo courtesy private collector