Abraham Lincoln: Indianapolis Funeral Train Timetable. Untrimmed bifolium timetable, titled "Indianapolis to Chicago. Special Funeral Train For the Escort of the Remains of our late President, Abraham Lincoln." A rare piece of Lincolniana, the timetable for the cross country tour of Abraham Lincoln's trip back to his final resting place in Illinois. The schedule covers the penultimate leg of the journey from Washington, D.C. to Springfield, from Indianapolis to Chicago. Flattened, wide-margined and untrimmed sheet, with all pages viewable recto, moderate toning with some small losses and tears around the edges, overall in very good condition. 11 x 14 inches (28 x 35.5 cm).
On April 21, 1865, the train carrying the coffin of President Abraham Lincoln departed Washington, D.C. on its way to Springfield, Illinois, where he would be buried on May 4. The route retraced Abraham Lincoln’s journey in 1861 to Washington, D.C. to take office as President. The train was dubbed “The Lincoln Special” and his portrait was fastened to the front of the locomotive.
Approximately 300 people accompanied Lincoln’s body on the 1,654-mile journey, including his eldest son Robert. Also on the train was a coffin containing the body of Lincoln’s son Willie, who had died in 1862 at the age of 11 of typhoid fever during Lincoln’s second year in office. Willie’s body had been disinterred from a plot in Washington, D.C. after Lincoln’s death so he could be buried alongside his father at the family plot in Springfield.
The train traveled through more than 400 cities and towns in 7 states and scheduled stops were published in newspapers. The were 13 major stops, and at each stop, Lincoln’s coffin was taken off the train, placed on an elaborately decorated horse-drawn hearse, and led by solemn processions to a public building for viewing. In cities as large as Columbus, Ohio and as small as Herkimer, New York, thousands of mourners flocked to pay tribute to the slain president. In Philadelphia, Lincoln’s body lay in state on in the east wing of Independence Hall, the same site where the Declaration of Independence was signed. It was reported that in some cities, people had to wait more than five hours to pass by the coffin. Perhaps more moving than the grand spectacles of collective mourning, though, were the private moments of sorrow exhibited by those who traveled from miles around to camp along the railroad tracks, seeking a momentary glimpse of the presidential coffin through the railcar’s windows.
For mile upon mile, men took off their hats and bowed their heads as the train passed. Women whispered prayers. Choirs sang hymns. Through the dead of night, bonfires alongside the tracks illuminated the way westward. After a 24-hour public viewing in the Illinois state capitol, Lincoln’s coffin was finally closed on the morning of May 4. Following the burial at Oak Ridge Cemetery, which included an hour-long eulogy, the coffins of father and son were placed inside a limestone vault and the doors and iron grating shuttered. Nearly three weeks after he breathed his last breath, President Abraham Lincoln was finally laid to rest.
Abraham Lincoln: Indianapolis Funeral Train Timetable. Untrimmed bifolium timetable, titled "Indianapolis to Chicago. Special Funeral Train For the Escort of the Remains of our late President, Abraham Lincoln." A rare piece of Lincolniana, the timetable for the cross country tour of Abraham Lincoln's trip back to his final resting place in Illinois. The schedule covers the penultimate leg of the journey from Washington, D.C. to Springfield, from Indianapolis to Chicago. Flattened, wide-margined and untrimmed sheet, with all pages viewable recto, moderate toning with some small losses and tears around the edges, overall in very good condition. 11 x 14 inches (28 x 35.5 cm).
On April 21, 1865, the train carrying the coffin of President Abraham Lincoln departed Washington, D.C. on its way to Springfield, Illinois, where he would be buried on May 4. The route retraced Abraham Lincoln’s journey in 1861 to Washington, D.C. to take office as President. The train was dubbed “The Lincoln Special” and his portrait was fastened to the front of the locomotive.
Approximately 300 people accompanied Lincoln’s body on the 1,654-mile journey, including his eldest son Robert. Also on the train was a coffin containing the body of Lincoln’s son Willie, who had died in 1862 at the age of 11 of typhoid fever during Lincoln’s second year in office. Willie’s body had been disinterred from a plot in Washington, D.C. after Lincoln’s death so he could be buried alongside his father at the family plot in Springfield.
The train traveled through more than 400 cities and towns in 7 states and scheduled stops were published in newspapers. The were 13 major stops, and at each stop, Lincoln’s coffin was taken off the train, placed on an elaborately decorated horse-drawn hearse, and led by solemn processions to a public building for viewing. In cities as large as Columbus, Ohio and as small as Herkimer, New York, thousands of mourners flocked to pay tribute to the slain president. In Philadelphia, Lincoln’s body lay in state on in the east wing of Independence Hall, the same site where the Declaration of Independence was signed. It was reported that in some cities, people had to wait more than five hours to pass by the coffin. Perhaps more moving than the grand spectacles of collective mourning, though, were the private moments of sorrow exhibited by those who traveled from miles around to camp along the railroad tracks, seeking a momentary glimpse of the presidential coffin through the railcar’s windows.
For mile upon mile, men took off their hats and bowed their heads as the train passed. Women whispered prayers. Choirs sang hymns. Through the dead of night, bonfires alongside the tracks illuminated the way westward. After a 24-hour public viewing in the Illinois state capitol, Lincoln’s coffin was finally closed on the morning of May 4. Following the burial at Oak Ridge Cemetery, which included an hour-long eulogy, the coffins of father and son were placed inside a limestone vault and the doors and iron grating shuttered. Nearly three weeks after he breathed his last breath, President Abraham Lincoln was finally laid to rest.