Sunday, April 12, 2015

April 19, 1865---Requiem For A President: Abraham Lincoln's Funeral In Washington D.C.



APRIL 19, 1865:        

“No man since the days of Washington was ever so deeply and firmly embedded and enshrined in the very hearts of the people as Abraham Lincoln.” --- Dr. Phineas T. Gurley, Pastor, New York Avenue Presbyterian Church.



April Nineteenth dawned soft and bright; it was the most beautiful day some people would ever remember.  The public, drawn from many corners of the Union, turned out in the hundreds of thousands, and so the transfiguration of Abraham Lincoln from Man to Myth continued this day, as his funeral service was held in Washington D.C.


Death, it has been said, canonizes a great character. It has preeminently had that effect in the case of Abraham Lincoln. --- The New York Times


Victorian funerals were, as a rule, ornate and somber, dripping with pathos, studied ritual, and black veilings. Lincoln’s funeral would turn out to be the apotheosis of its kind, an event unmatched in American history, an event the likes of which would be unseen for another 98 years, until the death by assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1963. The Kennedys would take as a template for the young President’s funeral the pageant that was Lincoln’s funeral. Kennedy would lie upon Lincoln’s catafalque. Even the same flag was used in the funeral ceremonies.   


Lincoln’s death and funeral were even more poignant than Kennedy’s, if that was possible, because the United States was in the midst of a national euphoria at the moment the sixteenth President was gunned down. The ecstatic celebrations that had attended the Fall of Richmond and the Surrender At Appomattox, like grand crystalline globes catching the sunlight, were smashed into irrecoverable shards by the death of the President, and the country was driven down into a gloom which was all the deeper for the heights from which the nation had fallen.



As if to symbolize the fall, the bier that held Lincoln’s catafalque was an immense and elaborate affair.*

If . . . I must die at the hand of an assassin, I must be resigned. I must do my duty as I see it, and leave the rest with God. --- Abraham Lincoln, 1864


The silence this day was deafening, broken only by the weeping of the attendees. Mary Lincoln sobbed, “His dream was prophetic! His dream was prophetic!”  No one argued; nor could they do more than utter condolences. There was no solace for anyone this day. She quickly retired to her rooms, and was not seen again until June.



The brightness of the day was in utter contrast with the darkened Executive Mansion, draped in black mourning cloth inside and out. Black fabric lined the sashes of the White House windows inside and out, the mirrors and portraits were covered in black, and the chandelier arms were twined in black.


Temporary bleachers, draped in black, had been built in the East Room, surrounding the catafalque, amphitheatre-fashion.

An honor guard stood around the catafalque. Seated within the circuit of the honor guard were Robert Lincoln and Tad Lincoln, Lincoln’s personal staff, family friends, selected VIPs, and four clergymen, Dr. Phineas D. Gurley, Dr. Charles H. Hall,  Bishop Matthew Simpson, and Dr. Edwin H. Gray.


*It was most immense and elaborate not in Washington D.C. but in New York City. At fifteen feet in height, it was topped by a canopy of black silk hung with black plumes, swags, and American flags. The gilded figure of a stooping eagle hung from the center of the canopy, and a flagged dome topped the entire confection. 

***

The funeral service began at fifteen minutes past twelve. Several eulogies were offered. Bishop Matthew Simpson of Philadelphia, representing the Methodist Episcopal Church, delivered the opening prayer.



Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, as with smitten and suffering hearts we come into Thy presence, we pray, in the name of our blessed Redeemer, that Thou wouldst pour upon us Thy Holy Spirit, that all our thoughts and acts may be acceptable in Thy sight. We adore Thee for all Thy glorious perfections. We praise Thee for the revelation which Thou has given us in Thy works and in Thy Word. By Thee all worlds exist. All beings live through Thee. Thou raisest up Kingdoms and empires, and castest them down. By Thee kings reign and princes decree righteousness. In Thy hand are the issues of life and death. We confess before Thee the magnitude of our sins and transgressions, both as individuals and as a nation. We implore Thy mercy for the sake of our Redeemer. Forgive us all our iniquities. If it please Thee, remove Thy chastening hand from us; and, though we be unworthy, turn away from us Thine anger, and let the light of Thy countenance again shine upon us.

At this solemn hour, as we mourn for the death of our President, who was stricken down by the hand of an assassin, grant us also the grace to bow in submission to Thy holy will. May we recognize Thy hand high above all human agencies, and Thy power as controlling all events, so that the wrath of man shall praise Thee, and that the remainder of wrath Thou wilt restrain.

Humbled under the suffering we have endured, and the great afflictions through which we have passed, may we not be called upon to offer other sacrifices. May the lives of all our officers, both civil and military, be guarded by Thee; and let no violent hand fall upon any of them. Mourning as we do, for the mighty dead by whose remains we stand, we would yet lift our hearts unto Thee in grateful acknowledgment for Thy kindness in giving us so great and noble a commander.

Thou art glorified in good men, and we praise Thee that Thou didst give him unto us so pure, so honest, so sincere, and so transparent in character. We praise Thee for that kind, affectionate heart, which always swelled with feelings of enlarged benevolence. We bless Thee for what Thou didst enable him to do; that Thou didst give him wisdom to select for his advisors, and for his officers, military and naval, those men through whom our country has been carried through an unprecedented conflict.

We bless Thee for the success which has attended all their efforts, and victories which have crowned our armies; and that Thou didst spare Thy servant until he could behold the dawning of that glorious morning of peace and prosperity which is about to shine upon our land; that he was enabled to go up as Thy servant of old upon Mount Pisgah, and catch a glimpse of the promised land. Though his lips are silent and his arm is powerless, we thank Thee that Thou didst strengthen him to speak words that cheer the hearts of the suffering and the oppressed, and to write that declaration of emancipation which has given him an immortal reward; that though the hand of the assassin has struck him to the ground, it could not destroy the work which he has done, nor forge again the chains which he has broken. And while we mourn that he has passed away, we are grateful that his work was so fully accomplished, and that the acts which he has performed will forever remain.

We implore Thy blessing upon his bereaved family, Thou husband of the widow. Bless her who, broken-hearted and sorrowing, feels oppressed with unutterable anguish. Cheer the loneliness of the pathway which lies before her, and grant to her such consolations of Thy spirit, and such hopes, through the resurrection, that she shall feel that "Earth hath no sorrows which Heaven cannot heal."

Let Thy blessing rest upon his sons; pour upon them the spirit of wisdom; be Thou the guide of their youth; prepare them for usefulness in society, for happiness in all their relations. May the remembrance of their father's counsels, and their father's noble acts, ever stimulate them to glorious deeds, and at last may they be heirs of everlasting life.

Command Thy rich blessings to descend upon the successor of our lamented President. Grant unto him wisdom, energy, and firmness for the responsible duties to which he has been called; and may he, his cabinet, officers and generals who shall lead his armies, and the brave soldiers in the field, be so guided by Thy counsels that they shall speedily complete the great work which he had so successfully carried forward. Let Thy blessing rest upon our country. Grant unto us all a fixed and strong determination never to cease our efforts until our glorious Union shall be fully re-established.

Around the remains of our loved President may we covenant together by every possible means to give ourselves to our country's service until every vestige of this rebellion shall have been wiped out, and until slavery, its cause, shall be forever eradicated.

Preserve us, we pray Thee, from all complications with foreign nations. Give us hearts to act justly toward all nations, and grant unto them hearts to act justly toward us, that universal peace and happiness may fill our earth. We rejoice, then, in this inflicting dispensation Thou hast given, as additional evidence of the strength of our nation. We bless Thee that no tumult has arisen, and in peace and harmony our government moves onward; and that Thou hast shown that our republican government is the strongest upon the face of the earth.

In this solemn presence, may we feel that we too are immortal! May the sense of our responsibility to God rest upon us; may we repent of every sin; and may we consecrate anew unto Thee all the time and all the talents which Thou hast given us; and may we so fulfill our allotted duties that finally we may have a resting-place with the good, and wise, and the great, who now surround that glorious throne! Hear us while we unite in praying with Thy Church in all lands and in all ages, even as Thou hast taught us, saying:

Our Father which art in heaven; hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen!

***

The Episcopal Burial Service was given by Dr. Charles H. Hall, rector at the Church of the Epiphany:



I am the resurrection, and the life saith the Lord; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believeth thou this? (John 11:25-26)

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms shall destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eye shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me. (Job 19:25-27)

Lord, let me know my end, and the number of my days; that I may be certified how long I have to live. Behold, thou hast made my days as it were a span long, and mine age is even as nothing in respect of Thee; and verily every man living is altogether vanity. For man walketh in a vain shadow and disquieth himself in vain; he heaped up riches and cannot tell who shall gather them. And now, Lord, what is my hope? Truly my hope is even in Thee. Deliver me from all my offences; and make me not a rebuke unto the foolish. When thou with rebukes doest chasten man for sin, thou makest his beauty to consume away, like as it were a moth fretting a garment: every man is therefore but vanity. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and with thine ears consider my calling; hold not thy peace at my tears: For I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. O spare me a little, that I may recover my strength, before I go hence, and be no more seen. Lord, those hast been our refuge, from one generation to another. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made, thou art God from everlasting, and world without end. Thou turnest man to destruction; again Thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men. For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday; seeing that it is past as a watch in the night. As soon as Thou scatterest them they are even as asleep, and fade away suddenly like the grass. In the morning it is green, and groweth up; but in the evening it is cut down, dried up, and withered. For we consume away in Thy displeasure; and are afraid at Thy wrathful indignation. Thou has set our misdeeds before Thee; and our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance. For when thou art angry, all our days are gone; we bring our years to an end, as it were a tale that is told. The days of our age are threescore years and ten; and though men be so strong that they come to fourscore years, yet is their strength but labor and sorrow; so soon passeth it away and we are gone. So teach us to number our days; that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. (I Timothy 6:7 and Job 1:21

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead? And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, which advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die. Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame. But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this incorruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not vain in the Lord. (I Corinthians 15:20-58)

***

The chief officiant, Dr. Phineas T. Gurley, who had led young Willie Lincoln’s funeral and who had sat the deathwatch on April 14-15 with Mary Lincoln and the boys, delivered a lengthy sermon entitled Faith in God:



As we stand here today, mourners around this coffin and around the lifeless remains of our beloved Chief Magistrate, we recognize and we adore the sovereignty of God. His throne is in the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all. He hath done, and He hath permitted to be done, whatsoever He pleased. "Clouds and darkness are round about Him; righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne." His way is in the sea, and His path in the great waters, and His footsteps are not known. "Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? Deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. If He cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder Him? For He knoweth vain men; he seeth wickedness also; will He not then consider it?"--We bow before His infinite majesty. We bow, we weep, we worship.

"Where reason fails, with all her powers,
There faith prevails, and love adores."

It was a cruel, cruel hand, that dark hand of the assassin, which smote our honored, wise, and noble President, and filled the land with sorrow. But above and beyond that hand there is another which we must see and acknowledge. It is the chastening hand of a wise and a faithful Father. He gives us this bitter cup. And the cup that our Father hath given us, shall we not drink it?

God of the just, Thou gavest us the cup:
We yield to thy behest, and drink it up."

"Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth."

O how these blessed words have cheered and strengthened and sustained us through all these long and weary years of civil strife, while our friends and brothers on so many ensanguined fields were falling and dying for the cause of Liberty and Union! Let them cheer, and strengthen, and sustain us to-day. True, this new sorrow and chastening has come in such an hour and in such a way as we thought not, and it bears the impress of a rod that is very heavy, and of a mystery that is very deep. That such a life should be sacrificed, at such a time, by such a foul and diabolical agency; that the man at the head of the nation, whom the people had learned to trust with a confiding and a loving confidence, and upon whom more than upon any other were centered, under God, our best hopes for the true and speedy pacification of the country, the restoration of the Union, and the return of harmony and love; that he should be taken from us, and taken just as the prospect of peace was brightly opening upon our torn and bleeding country, and just as he was beginning to be animated and gladdened with the hope of ere long enjoying with the people the blessed fruit and reward of his and their toil, and care, and patience, and self-sacrificing devotion to the interests of Liberty and the Union--O it is a mysterious and a most afflicting visitation! But it is our Father in heaven, the God of our fathers, and our God, who permits us to be so suddenly and sorely smitten; and we know that His judgments are right, and that in faithfulness He has afflicted us. In the midst of our rejoicings we needed this stroke, this dealing, this discipline; and therefore He has sent it. Let us remember, our affliction has not come forth out of the dust, and our trouble has not sprung out of the ground. Through and beyond all second causes let us look, and see the sovereign permissive agency of the great First Cause. It is His prerogative to bring light out of darkness and good out of evil. Surely the wrath of man shall praise Him, and the remainder of wrath He will restrain. In the light of a clearer day we may yet see that the wrath which planned and perpetuated the death of the President, was overruled by Him whose judgements are unsearchable, and His ways are past finding out, for the highest welfare of all those interests which are so dear to the Christian patriot and philanthropist, and for which a loyal people have made such an unexampled sacrifice of treasure and of blood. Let us not be faithless, but believing.

"Blind unbelief is prone to err,
And scan His work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
And He will make it plain."

We will wait for his interpretation, and we will wait in faith, nothing doubting. He who has led us so well, and defended and prospered us so wonderfully during the last four years of toil, and struggle, and sorrow, will not forsake us now. He may chasten, but He will not destroy. He may purify us more and more in the furnace of trial, but He will not consume us. No, no! He has chosen us as He did his people of old in the furnace of affliction, and He has said of us as He said of them, "This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth My praise." Let our principal anxiety now be that this new sorrow may be a sanctified sorrow; that it may lead us to deeper repentence, to a more humbling sense of our dependence upon God, and to the more unreserved consecration of ourselves and all that we have to the cause of truth and justice, of law and order, of liberty and good government, of pure and undefiled religion. Then, though weeping may endure for a night, joy will come in the morning. Blessed be God! despite of this great and sudden and temporary darkness, the morning has begun to dawn--the morning of a bright and glorious day, such as our country has never seen. That day will come and not tarry, and the death of an hundred Presidents and their Cabinets can never, never prevent it. While we are thus hopeful, however, let us also be humble. The occasion calls us to prayerful and tearful humilation. It demands of us that we lie low, very low, before Him who has smitten us for our sins. O that all our rulers and all our people may bow in the dust to-day beneath the chastening hand of God! and may their voices go up to Him as one voice, and their hearts go up to Him as one heart, pleading with Him for mercy, for grace to sanctify our great and sore bereavement, and for wisdom to guide us in this our time of need. Such a united cry and pleading will not be in vain. It will enter into the ear and heart of Him who sits upon the throne, and He will say to us, as to His ancient Israel, "In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment: but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy upon thee, saith the Lord, thy Redeemer."

I have said that the people confided in the late lamented President with a full and a loving confidence. Probably no man since the days of Washington was ever so deeply and firmly embedded and enshrined in the very hearts of the people as Abraham Lincoln. Nor was it a mistaken confidence and love. He deserved it well--deserved it all. He merited it by his character, by his acts, and by the whole tenor, and tone, and spirit of his life. He was simple and sincere, plain and honest, truthful and just, benevolent and kind. His perceptions were quick and clear, his judgments were calm and accurate, and his purposes were good and pure beyond a question. Always and everywhere he aimed and endeavored to be right and to do right. His integrity was thorough, all-pervading, all-controlling, and incorruptible. It was the same in every place and relation, in the consideration and the control of matters great or small, the same firm and steady principle of power and beauty that shed a clear and crowning lustre upon all his other excellencies of mind and heart, and recommended him to his fellow citizens as the man, who, in a time of unexampled peril, when the very life of the nation was at stake, should be chosen to occupy, in the country and for the country, its highest post of power and responsibility. How wisely and well, how purely and faithfully, how firmly and steadily, how justly and successfully he did occupy that post and meet its grave demands in circumstances of surpassing trial and difficulty, is known to you all, known to the country and the world. He comprehended from the first the perils to which treason has exposed the freest and best Government on the earth, the vast interests of Liberty and humanity that were to be saved or lost forever in the urgent impending conflict; he rose to the dignity and momentousness of the occasion, saw his duty as the Chief Magistrate of a great and imperilled people, and he determined to do his duty, and his whole duty, seeking the guidance and leaning upon the arm of Him of whom it is written, "He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength." Yes, he leaned upon His arm. He recognized and received the truth that the "kingdom is the Lord's, and He is the governor among the nations." He remembered that "God is in history," and he felt that nowhere had His hand and His mercy been so marvelously conspicuous as in the history of this nation. He hoped and he prayed that that same hand would continue to guide us, and that same mercy continue to abound to us in the time of our greatest need. I speak what I know, and testify what I have often heard him say, when I affirm that that guidance and mercy were the props on which he humbly and habitually leaned; they were the best hope he had for himself and for his country. Hence, when he was leaving his home in Illinois, and coming to this city to take his seat in the executive chair of a disturbed and troubled nation, he said to the old and tried friends who gathered tearfully around him and bade him farewell, "I leave you with this request: pray for me." They did pray for him; and millions of other people prayed for him; nor did they pray in vain. Their prayer was heard, and the answer appears in all his subsequent history; it shines forth with a heavenly radiance in the whole course and tenor of his administration, from its commencement to its close. God raised him up for a great and glorious mission, furnished him for his work, and aided him in its accomplishment. Nor was it merely by strength of mind, and honestry of heart, and purity and pertinacity of purpose, that He furnished him; in addition to these things, He gave him a calm and abiding confidence in the overruling providence of God and in the ultimate triumph of truth and righteousness through the power and the blessing of God. This confidence strengthened him in all his hours of anxiety and toil, and inspired him with calm and cheering hope when others were inclining to despondency and gloom. Never shall I forget the emphasis and the deep emotion with which he said in this very room, to a company of clergymen and others, who called to pay him their respects in the darkest days of our civil conflict: "Gentlemen, my hope of success in this great and terrible struggle rests on that immutable foundation, the justice and goodness of God. And when events are very threatening, and prospects very dark, I still hope that in some way which man can not see all will be well in the end, because our cause is just, and God is on our side." Such was his sublime and holy faith, and it was an anchor to his soul, both sure and steadfast. It made him firm and strong. It emboldened him in the pathway of duty, however rugged and perilous it might be. It made him valiant for the right; for the cause of God and humanity, and it held him in a steady, patient, and unswerving adherence to a policy of administration which he thought, and which we all now think, both God and humanity required him to adopt. We admired and loved him on many accounts--for strong and various reasons: we admired his childlike simplicity, his freedom from guile and deceit, his staunch and sterling integrity, his kind and forgiving temper, his industry and patience, his persistent, self-sacrificing devotion to all the duties of his eminent position, from the least to the greatest; his readiness to hear and consider the cause of the poor and humble, the suffering and the oppressed; his charity toward those who questioned the correctness of his opinions and the wisdom of his policy; his wonderful skill in reconciling differences among the friends of the Union, leading them away from abstractions, and inducing them to work together and harmoniously for the common weal; his true and enlarged philanthropy, that knew no distinction of color or race, but regarded all men as brethren, and endowed alike by their Creator "with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"; his inflexible purpose that what freedom had gained in our terrible civil strife should never be lost, and that the end of the war should be the end of slavery, and, as a consequence, of rebellion; his readiness to spend and be spent for the attainment of such a triumph--a triumph, the blessed fruits of which shall be as widespreading as the earth and as enduring as the sun:--all these things commanded and fixed our admiration and the admiration of the world, and stamped upon his character and life the unmistakable impress of greatness. But more sublime than any or all of these, more holy and influential, more beautiful, and strong, and sustaining, was his abiding confidence in God and in the final triumph of truth and righteousness through Him and for His sake. This was his noblest virtue, his grandest principle, the secret alike of his strength, his patience, and his success. And this, it seems to me, after being near him steadily, and with him often, for more than four years, is the principle by which, more than by any other, "he, being dead, yet speaketh." Yes; by his steady enduring confidence in God, and in the complete ultimate success of the cause of God, which is the cause of humanity, more than by any other way, does he now speak to us and to the nation he loved and served so well. By this he speaks to his successor in office, and charges him to "have faith in God." By this he speaks to the members of his cabinet, the men with whom he counselled so often and was associated so long, and he charges them to "have faith in God." By this he speaks to the officers and men of our noble army and navy, and, as they stand at their posts of duty and peril, he charges them to "have faith in God." By this he speaks to all who occupy positions of influence and authority in these sad and troublous times, and he charges them all to "have faith in God." By this he speaks to this great people as they sit in sackcloth to-day, and weep for him with a bitter wailing, and refuse to be comforted, and he charges them to "have faith in God." And by this he will speak through the ages and to all rulers and peoples in every land, and his message to them will be, "Cling to Liberty and right; battle for them; bleed for them; die for them, if need be; and have confidence in God." O that the voice of this testimony may sink down into our hearts to-day and every day, and into the heart of the nation, and exert its appropriate influence upon our feelings, our faith, our patience, and our devotion to the cause of freedom and humanity--a cause dearer to us now than ever before, because consecrated by the blood of its most conspicuous defender, its wisest and most fondly-trusted friend.

He is dead; but the God in whom he trusted lives, and He can guide and strengthen his successor, as He guided and strengthened him. He is dead; but the memory of his virtues, of his wise and patriotic counsels and labors, of his calm and steady faith in God lives, is precious, and will be a power for good in the country quite down to the end of time. He is dead; but the cause he so ardently loved, so ably, patiently, faithfully represented and defended--not for himself only, not for us only, but for all people in all their coming generations, till time shall be no more--that cause survives his fall, and will survive it. The light of its brightening prospects flashes cheeringly to-day athwart the gloom occasioned by his death, and the language of God's united providences is telling us that, though the friends of Liberty die, Liberty itself is immortal. There is no assassin strong enough and no weapon deadly enough to quench its inextinguishable life, or arrest its onward march to the conquest and empire of the world. This is our confidence, and this is our consolation, as we weep and mourn to-day. Though our beloved President is slain, our beloved country is saved. And so we sing of mercy as well as of judgment. Tears of gratitude mingle with those of sorrow. While there is darkness, there is also the dawning of a brighter, happier day upon our stricken and weary land. God be praised that our fallen Chief lived long enough to see the day dawn and the daystar of joy and peace arise upon the nation. He saw it, and he was glad. Alas! alas! He only saw the dawn. When the sun has risen, full-orbed and glorious, and a happy reunited people are rejoicing in its light--alas! alas! it will shine upon his grave. But that grave will be a precious and a consecrated spot. The friends of Liberty and of the Union will repair to it in years and ages to come, to pronounce the memory of its occupant blessed, and, gathering from his very ashes, and from the rehearsal of his deeds and virtues, fresh incentives to patriotism, they will there renew their vows of fidelity to their country and their God.

And now I know not that I can more appropriately conclude this discourse, which is but a sincere and simple utterance of the heart, than by addressing to our departed President, with some slight modification, the language which Tacitus, in his life of Agricola, addresses to his venerable and departed father-in-law: "With you we may now congratulate; you are blessed, not only because your life was a career of glory, but because you were released, when, your country safe, it was happiness to die. We have lost a parent, and, in our distress, it is now an addition to our heartfelt sorrow that we had it not in our power to commune with you on the bed of languishing, and receive your last embrace. Your dying words would have been ever dear to us; your commands we should have treasured up, and graved them on our hearts. This sad comfort we have lost, and the wound for that reason, pierces deeper. From the world of spirits behold your desolate family and people; exalt our minds from fond regret and unavailing grief to contemplation of your virtues. Those we must not lament; it were impiety to sully them with a tear. To cherish their memory, to embalm them with our praises, and, so far as we can, to emulate your bright example, will be the truest mark of our respect, the best tribute we can offer. Your wife will thus preserve the memory of the best of husbands, and thus your children will prove their filial piety.

By dwelling constantly on your words and actions, they will have an illustrious character before their eyes, and, not content with the bare image of your mortal frame, they will have what is more valuable-- the form and features of your mind. Busts and statues, like their originals, are frail and perishable. The soul is formed of finer elements, and its inward form is not to be expressed by the hand of an artist with unconscious matter--our manners and our morals may in some degree trace the resemblance. All of you that gained our love and raised our admiration still subsists, and will ever subsist, preserved in the minds of men, the register of ages, and the records of fame. Others, who had figured on the stage of life and were the worthies of a former day, will sink, for want of a faithful historian, into the common lot of oblivion, inglorious and unremembered; but you, our lamented friend and head, delineated with truth, and fairly consigned to posterity, will survive yourself, and triumph over the injuries of time."

***

The closing prayer was offered by Dr. E.H. Gray, pastor of the E Street Baptist Church and Chaplain of the Senate:



God of the bereaved, comfort and sustain this mourning family. Bless the new Chief Magistrate. Let the mantle of his predecessor fall upon him. Bless the Secretary of State and his family. O God, if possible, according to Thy will, spare their lives that they may render still important service to the country. Bless all the members of the Cabinet. Endow them with wisdom from above. Bless the commanders in our Army and Navy and all the brave defenders of the country. Give them continued success. Bless the Embassadors from foreign courts, and give us peace with the nations of the earth. O God, let treason, that has deluged our land with blood and desolated our country, and bereaved our homes and filled them with widows and orphans, which has a length culminated in the assassination of the nation's chosen ruler, -- God of justice, and Avenger of the nation's wrong, let the work of treason cease, and let the guilty perpetrators of this horrible crime be arrested, and brought to justice! O hear the cry and the prayer and the wail rising from the nation's smitten and crushed heart, and deliver us from the power of our enemy, and send speedy peace into all our borders. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

***

The clocks were near to bonging three P.M. when the East Room services ended. Immediately following services, the President's coffin was carried to a horse-drawn hearse waiting outside. 


Following the hearse, a vast procession of mourners, the great and the unknown but all bereaved, moved solemnly down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol, drums beating a slow cadence. Five thousand U.S.C.T. made up part of the Presidential Guard. 


Immense crowds stood along the route, many attaching themselves to the procession as it went by. Eventually, the procession itself was three miles long and took two hours to pass any given spot.





Within the Capitol Rotunda a private funeral service was held for family, friends, and select associates.

Several hours afterward, the Rotunda doors were opened to all, and Abraham Lincoln lay in state again. He would leave Washington D.C. forever on April 21st.
 
"So ended the most memorable ceremonial this continent has ever seen," wrote George Templeton Strong, a witness of the event.

Templeton is wrong. No man will ever be mourned as Abraham Lincoln was mourned in April 1865.



April 18, 1865---"That's the best I can do"



APRIL 18, 1865:        

“That’s the best I can do” --- General William Tecumseh Sherman



I



The never-entirely-Confederate Richmond Whig, having renumbered itself “Volume I” dedicates its entire coverage to the President’s death. 





II



Joseph E. Johnston sent a messenger to Jefferson Davis’ latest “capital city,” Charlotte, North Carolina, advising Davis of the death of Abraham Lincoln.



No one really knows what Davis said when Johnston told him of Lincoln’s death. Some sources say that Davis “expressed sympathy.” Others say he was “unsympathetic.” Still others say he was “sad” to hear the news. Then there are those who claim he felt “satisfaction.”



Damning evidence from Jefferson Davis’ subsequent treason trial reads as follows:



Well, General, I don't know, if it were to be done at all, it were better that it were well done; and if the same had been done to Andy Johnson, the beast, and to Secretary Stanton, the job would then be complete.






However, Davis in his own defense, stated that the testifying witness was not present when he was first told of Lincoln’s death. Davis claimed he said:



I certainly have no regard for Mr. Lincoln but there are a great many men of whose end I would much rather have heard than his. I fear it will be disastrous to our people, and I regret it deeply . . . His successor is a worse man . . .




 


In his memoirs he wrote:



Next to the destruction of the Confederacy, the death of Abraham Lincoln was the darkest day the South has ever known.



Perhaps his actual comment was closer to an amalgam of the two ---



I certainly have no regard for Mr. Lincoln; but if it were to be done at all, it were better that it were well done, and done to Andy Johnson or Stanton; but this I fear will be disastrous to our people



--- for Davis had been impressed with Lincoln’s magnanimity at Appomattox, but clearly feared the bullish Stanton, now unyoked.  And if he feared Stanton, then he despised Andrew Johnson, his former Senate colleague. A Southerner who stayed with the Union, Johnson was a laborer by birth, a man who hated the Southern Planter class of which Davis was representative.






Johnson believed that the Planters were the driving force behind the war, and he meant to punish them and anyone who’d followed them out of the Union. Davis knew Johnson as a volcanic man of limited patience, given to filibusters and diatribes in the Senate.  Johnson was likely to hold grudges, just as he now now held the reins of power.



Neither Stanton nor Johnson were bound to negotiate the peace. Whatever Davis had thought of Lincoln, he knew now that he was dealing with lesser, far more vindictive men.






Davis believed that with Lincoln gone and Seward incapacitated the Union had no grand visionaries who would be able to bring an end to the war without resorting to the gallows. Davis, for one, along with his Cabinet had no intention of swinging under a tree. 



Davis’ icy mind saw a way out. For a time Johnson would be uncertain of his authority and Stanton would be distracted. The Confederate President believed he had a brief time within which he could manipulate the confused Union Government, perhaps prolong the war, and maybe even wrest something worthwhile from the wrack --- something like a form of southern autonomy. 


Jefferson Davis, who was a lifelong political gamesman, made more than his share of mistakes during the Civil War. And what he would do next would turn out to be one of them. For though the visionaries were indeed blinded, for though Johnson was unsure of himself, and Stanton was distracted, and for though the North was torn with grief, anger had loaded the dice. And Jefferson Davis was about to make his final, dubious, throw.



Davis ordered John C. Breckinridge to accompany General Joseph E. Johnston C.S.A. back to Bennett Place to continue the negotiations with William Tecumseh Sherman. He granted Breckinridge --- the former U.S. Vice-President, U.S. Presidential candidate, Confederate General, and current Confederate Secretary of War --- plenary powers to settle all matters, military and political, with Sherman.



In part, Breckinridge was sent to Bennett Place to forestall Joe Johnston from offering an outright surrender. Davis knew that the politically canny Breckinridge was "a slick operator" who would be able to wring concessions out of Sherman, willy-nilly.




The interior of the Bennett farmhouse
Davis was looking for a win-win. He presumed that anything that Sherman agreed to would be rejected by the Yankees and that this rejection would give him a free hand to continue the war. Or, alternately, they could agree to such terms as Breckinridge might manage to procure from Sherman, and then “Reconstruction” would effectively become an optional program for the Southern States.



If Davis could create such a scenario for the South, the South would continue to dominate American politics as it had always done since the days of the Founders. But for the loss of life and destruction of property, it could be as if the war never happened. And Davis himself would emerge triumphant from what seemed to have been a disaster.



He nearly got his win.     


The restored Bennett Place. The family name was spelled "Bennitt" in 1865, and some contemporary accounts reflect this



After six hours of negotiation, cajolery, and the ever-present threat of a resumption of hostilities, all of which ended with the rueful explanation, "That's the best that I can do," Sherman finalized what he entitled a “Memorandum, or Basis of Agreement”:



Memorandum, or Basis of Agreement



made this 18th day of April A.D. 1865, near Durham Station, in the State of North Carolina,



by and between General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Confederate Army, and Major General William T. Sherman, commanding the Army of the United States in North Carolina, both present:



·  1.   The contending armies now in the field to maintain the status quo until notice is given by the commanding general of anyone to its opponent, and reasonable time - say forty-eight hours - allowed.



·  2.   The Confederate armies now in existence to be disbanded and conducted to their several State capitals, there to deposit their arms and public property in the State Arsenal; and each officer and man to execute and file an agreement to cease from acts of war, and to abide by the action of the State and Federal authority. The number of arms and munitions of war to be reported to the Chief of Ordinance at Washington City, subject to the future action of the Congress of the United States, and, in the mean time, to be used solely to maintain peace and order within the borders of the States respectively.



·   3.   The recognition, by the Executive of the United States, of the several State governments, on their officers and legislatures taking the oaths prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, and, where conflicting State governments have resulted from the war, the legitimacy of all shall be submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States.



·  4.   The re-establishment of all Federal Courts in the several States, with powers as defined by the Constitution of the United States and of the States respectively.



· 5.   The people and inhabitants of all the States to be guaranteed, so far as the Executive can, their political rights and franchises, as well as their rights of person and property, as defined by the Constitution of the United States and of the States respectively.



·  6.   The Executive authority of the Government of the United States not to disturb any of the people by reason of the late war, so long as they live in peace and quiet, abstain from acts of armed hostility, and obey the laws in existence at the place of their residence.



·   7.   In general terms - the war to cease; a general amnesty, so far as the Executive of the United States can command, on condition of the disbandment of the Confederate armies, the distribution of the arms, and the resumption of peaceful pursuits by the officers and men hitherto composing said armies.



·  Not being fully empowered by our respective principals to fulfill these terms, we individually and officially pledge ourselves to promptly obtain the necessary authority, and to carry out the above programme.





W. T. Sherman, Major-General,

Commanding Army of the United States in North Carolina



J. E. Johnston, General,

Commanding Confederate States Army in North Carolina








The meeting between Sherman, Johnston and Breckinridge had none of the grandeur of Appomattox. The three men were simply scriveners. After the “Basis of Agreement” was written, Sherman and Johnston reconfirmed to each other that their cease-fire would continue until Sherman’s terms were approved --- or disapproved --- by the Federal Government.



Sherman rode off thinking he had ended the war. Johnston and Breckinridge rode off remarking on the extreme liberality of the terms.  


When Jefferson Davis read what had been penned, he was ecstatic. Even if the "Memorandum" means the war is over, the former Confederates will be given a free hand in the South. And if the war goes on (as Davis believed it would), so much the better.








 III



The Capitol being draped in black


President Lincoln remains lying in state in the East Room of the White House. Mary Lincoln is distraught beyond words, and is kept sedated much of the time. Robert and Tad Lincoln ask that President Johnson’s move into the White House be delayed until after their father’s interment in Springfield. Edwin Stanton agrees without consulting the new President.





The East Room is opened to the public between 9:00 A.M. and 7:30 P.M. Almost 30,000 people pass through on this day alone.



Journalist Noah Brooks wrote:



The great room was draped with crape and black cloth, relieved only here and there by white flowers and green leaves. The catafalque upon which the casket lay was about fifteen feet high, and consisted of an elevated platform resting on a dais and covered with a domed canopy of black cloth which was supported by four pillars, and was lined beneath with fluted white silk. In those days the custom of sending 'floral tributes' on funeral occasions was not common, but the funeral of Lincoln was remarkable for the unusual abundance and beauty of the devices in flowers that were sent by individuals and public bodies. From the time the body had been made ready for burial until the last services in the house, it was watched night and day by a guard of honor, the members of which were one major-general, one brigadier-general, two field officers, and four line officers of the army and four of the navy. Before the public were admitted to view the face of the dead, the scene in the darkened room - a sort of chapelle ardente - was most impressive. At the head and foot and on each side of the casket of their dead chief stood the motionless figures of his armed warriors.



When the funeral exercises took place, the floor of the East Room had been transformed into something like an amphitheatre by the erection of an inclined platform, broken into steps, and filling all but the entrance side of the apartment and the area about the catafalque. This platform was covered with black cloth, and upon it stood the various persons designated as participants in the ceremonies, no seats being provided . . .





IV



The “size” of the world in 1865 can be measured in simple facts:  News of Lee’s surrender at Appomattox on April 9th did not reach London until April 15th, the day Lincoln died, and news of Lincoln’s death did not reach St. Petersburg, Russia until April 26th, the day of Johnston’s final surrender. Communications in 19th Century America are equally slow, especially in the South where much of the infrastructure has been destroyed.





And so, fighting continues to erupt sporadically throughout the United States. There are no major battles, but there are nameless skirmishes and raids by anonymous Confederate irregulars and leaderless bands facing Union troops on patrol.



However, as word of Lee’s surrender and Lincoln’s assassination begins filtering through to even the most isolated areas of the country, the resulting Union reaction to even the slightest provocation by Southern soldiers or civilians is overwhelming, and many who resist are brutalized, whether before, after, or in place of death. Most Southerners, already pushed to the edge of endurance, simply give up the Confederate cause. Peace comes, but it is an uneasy quiet full of resentments and unmet desires for vengeance.



V






Colonel L.C. Baker, a wealthy member of Edwin Stanton’s staff, offers a $30,000.00 reward for the missing John Wilkes Booth.




The Booth family, America’s favorite acting clan, is rendered personae non grata literally overnight. Besides being placed under constant surveillance, the family sees its engagement calendar cancelled, its agents quit, and its friends and relations vanish. “If they condoled with us, they did so in secret. None ventured near,” remembered John Wilkes’ sister, Asia. Junius Booth is nearly lynched in Boston. Edwin Booth cancels all his appearances and vows never to set foot on a stage again. No one encourages him to do otherwise.





Of all the Booths, Edwin takes the President’s assassination the hardest. The most popular of the Booths (though he himself considered John Wilkes the better actor), unbeknownst to most, he had acted as Lincoln’s secret courier to Jefferson Davis when the two Presidents had communicated through backchannels. He admired Lincoln and considered himself a friend of the President’s. And he had only recently saved Robert Todd Lincoln’s life during a mishap on a train platform. What “J.W.” has done is beyond Edwin’s comprehension.



While Edwin Booth tries to reconcile himself to the assassination, the assassin remains hidden in the woods of southern Maryland with David Herold. Only Samuel Cox and his brother, Thomas A. Jones, a Confederate secret agent, know where Booth is. Jones brings Booth and Herold the daily newspapers and a little food. The food is appreciated. The newspapers are not. John Wilkes Booth is mystified. Expecting a Confederate rising after Lincoln’s death, he is horrified to find himself described as “a fiend” even in the Southern press. He discovers that most of his co-conspirators are under arrest. The tremendous manhunt and the proffered reward make Booth nervous. What is to stop Cox or Jones (or even Herold, who goes off to hunt each day) from turning him in?




The bed at the Mudd house in which Booth slept away the daylight hours of April 15th

The thought has already occurred to Dr. Samuel Mudd, who approaches the authorities with his tale of setting the leg of a “lame man” who passed through on the night of the 14th. Thinking he might collect the reward, Mudd (who was questioned previously about his associations with John Wilkes Booth, and denied knowing him) now claims that he did not at the time he was questioned make the connection between Booth and the man under suspicion. He also claims to have known nothing about the President’s murder on the fifteenth while Booth slept in his house.  

Mudd’s story begins to fall apart at that point. The Federal authorities already know that Mudd is a member of the Confederate Underground, they already know that he met Booth more than once before, and they know --- most damning --- that Mudd was in Bryantown, Maryland buying groceries on the 15th. They simply don’t believe that Mudd heard nothing about the assassination while in town. During a search of Mudd’s house, John Wilkes Booth’s slit boot is found hidden away. Mudd is arrested on suspicion of aiding Booth’s escape.

Mudd’s descendants have argued in his defense for the last 150 years that he was merely acting as a good Samaritan who was innocent of wrongdoing. However, all attempts at obtaining a posthumous Presidential pardon for Mudd have failed to date.


John Wilkes Booth's riding boot as cut off his broken leg by Dr. Mudd