Abe Lincoln's Long Last Ride

During our visit yesterday to the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, I think one of the most interesting things I learned was about his funeral.  After he died he was taken by train from Washington D.C. back to Springfield Illinois for burial.  The funeral train left Washington at 8 am on April 21, 1865 and retraced the route Mr. Lincoln had traveled as President-elect in 1861.  The train made stops in many major cites, where the President’s casket was taken off the train, paraded down the streets, opened for public view and funeral services,  and then reloaded onto the train for the next stop.

The funeral train wandered across the northeastern part of the country until May 3, 1865 when it finally reached Springfield.  After a day of public viewing the final funeral was held on Thursday, May 4, 1865.  Fifteen days…. the President’s long journey home to rest finally complete.   They say that more people saw Abraham Lincoln dead that ever saw him alive as President.

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