At this time im honored to introduce the speaker for today. Todd is both an offer and funeral f director. In fact, his family has been involved in that profession in delaware for four generations. The most recent book is last rites the evolution of the american funeral and todd will be speaking to us today about how Abraham Lincoln was at the center of the transformation of american funeral practices both during his time in the white house and also through his tragic death. Now, we will have a question and answer session at the end of the talk. There will be a couple of walking microphones. I would ask please take advantage of those because we want our cspan audience to be able to hear both of the questions and the answers. At this time i will turn it over to todd. [applause] thank you. Its my pleasure to present to you this evening. Now we all know what happens good friday, 1865. But what imta going to talk abt this evening is about how the grand event of that was Abraham Lincolns transformed and set the stage for the traditional american funeral, the funeral that americans would use for the next century and a half. But in order to understand that, weve got to backtrack about four t years from the time that lincoln was assassinated so we are going to go back to the day that Virginia Held a referendum to ratify other articles of succession. And on that evening about 10 00, captain john sneed led three handpicked companies from the washington rivals across the long bridge that separated washington, d. C. From virginia and essentially establish stable work for the Union Invasion of the south. They drove the pickets back into the countrysidemy at about midnight. The union army started invading the south. Now down to the south near the Washington Navy ground the lunatic asylum, the 11th new york regiment was there and three of the companies from that regiment were boarding and there were slide well paddle boats that were outfitted as gunboats and they were boarding the baltimore and the mount vernon and they floated down the potomac and at about daybreak they arrived at alexandria. Colonel ellsworth hopped off the baltimore and headed up king street and secured the telegraph. Coming off of the telegraph office across the street was a n in called the Marshall House. And above the Marshall House was a 40foot flagpole upon which the secessionist flag that was so large it could said to be seen from the white house on a clear day with binoculars and the white house is about 5 miles away is so that is a darn big flag. And he explained to his entourage he said its got to come down and they raced across and into the Marshall House where t he said to the clerk how do i get to the roof and the clerk just stared at him and said never mind. He raced up the stairs to the roof. They went into the back room and woke james jackson. James jackson was a secessionist and had a penchant for violence. He wants nearly beat a priest to death after consulting him and when the priest told the authorities, the sheriff landed out a posse and went to jacksons home and where he barricaded himself with his brother they began to fire upon the sheriff and essentially threw up his hands and said an assault charge isnt worth my life so he was a man that had a reputation for violence and when the clerk woke him and said they are on your roof taking down your flag, jackson grabbed a shotgun and ran for the stairs. Coming downio the stairs in the secessionist flag, ellsworth is wearing it like a cape and his plan was when he got onto king street he was going to tear it up and give it to his men and souvenirs. When hee saw that he didnt hesitate he leveled the shotgun and blew a hole through his chest. Now francis brownell, he was a private. He didnt hesitate. He raised his rifle and as the enquirer would report, splattered his brains all about. We have the 21st happening here. The first one being ellsworth was the first Union Officer casualty of the civil war and was later awarded the congressional medal of honor so he became the first recipient of the congressional medal of honor for actions rendered during the civil war all habit in about five seconds. Now, word of ellsworths death reached washington very quickly viagr the secure telegraph offi. Ithere was a man who was an enterprising physician his name wase Thomas Holmes and he had a very unique skill set he knew how to and balm people and he hadki come down to washington thinking that this rebellion he wouldsh need to ship them home because the only way to was the adams express. The adams express would only ship human remains if they were either sealed in an airtight coffin or they were in bold. They are ramping up wartime production. The metal is being used to make ammunition and weaponry so the two manufacturers of these metallic coffins were having trouble getting the material so if you could find one of these, they were going to be very expensive. So the only option at this point if you wanted to be shipped home and you were a soldier was to be involved. Informed. The skill set that Thomas Holmes had. So, he knew William Seward and he got an audience at the white house. They rushed over to the white house and found president lincoln and his office the second story that smell the lincoln bedroom today and president lincoln was in tears. Ellsworth was a dear friend of his. He had been his clerk in springfield and he also served as his bodyguard during the inaugural train ride to washington. And doctor holmes said to him he said mr. Lincoln, ive come to secure your permission to and balm ellsworth so his parents might see him. President lincoln replied to him i do not know what an warming is. I do not grant this permission and through the urging he was able to secure the permission for ellsworth. At this time he was being transported back to the Washington Navy yard via james gray. He left the white house and went back to the house in georgetown where he would stay and he grabbed his grip and headed for the Washington Navy yard. When he got there he found ellsworth laid out in the engine house. They were called the fire and that is because ellsworth raised a regiment all of firemen, okay, new york fireman. He thought these are men that rush towards fire. They are used to dealing with dangerous situations and they will make excellent soldiers. This was a type of infantry units used in the crimean war. There were no further aggressive tactics so they used different tactics than the Standard Union infantry soldier. So, thats why ellsworth was being autopsied in the engine house. It might be called the fire house today. Its where they kept the fire apparatus. So, after the autopsy was complete, holmes got to work using his proprietary fluid called and while he was in bombing ellsworth, the president ial carriage showed up at the navy yard and in it was mrs. Lincoln and she wanted to see ellsworth. Now this was victorian times. Ellsworth was undergoing a surgical procedure. It wouldnt be right so she was turned away. About an hour later the president ial carriage returns to the Washington Navy yard and this time the president is accompanying mrs. Lincoln. He says to the honor guard i big permission for you to bring colonel ellsworth to the white house where we can have a ckfuneral ceremony before he gos back to his parents. So they bring ellsworth to the white house where he is laid out in the east room and about 300 politicians and highranking officials gather for a funeral ceremony. Mary todd lincoln comments he looks natural. He looks like hes only sleeping. Now think about this. Until this moment in time, a shotgun wound like this would have madee ellsworth, he would have been rendered on helical probably within a day. And here he is in the white house looking natural like hes only sleeping. It was asea if he had stood up n his head almost. By the end he had and owned 4,028 soldiers. But it was the death of ellsworth that essentially gave this cadre the green light to enroll during the civil war. After, many men mostly physicians flock to washington toal then apply the trade of embalming and make their fortune. Holmes was the first. So in order to understand the lincoln funeral a little bit we need to step back another decade and a half to 1845. This on the left he wrote essentially the first embalming textbook in the mid1830s. Here on the right in 1845 they set ive got a better way to do things. So they took part in this competition for the supremacy if you will. Each and bombed a body. He used aluminum salt and sulfate and zinc chloride and gases. Youre saying what does this have to do with lincoln. Lets be clear here in a minute. So they did this for 14 months and after they dug them up to see what they looked like. He was the only one that didnt show any sign of decomposition. So, now at this time he sent an agent to america to conduct the demonstrations essentially to license his methodology and also his formula of zinc chloride in america and it was licensed by a dentist in new york city by the name of doctor charles brown. So, lets fastforward back into the civil war. In bombing has become commonplace. Commonplace for those that could afford it its estimated that only 6 of soldiers were emboldened and sent home. This is doctor richard burr at camp lederman, gettysburg. Here we have Thomas Holmes brotherinlaw taken in fredericksburg and then over here this is doctors chamberlain and again camp lederman at these two gentlemen in the coffin they are alive. They had the exciting prospect of having their pitcher made. So those are models. So, lets now move to february of 1862 when a calamity robs the white house, Willie Lincoln dies of typhoid fever and this is on mrs. Lincolns mind. He looks natural like hes only sleeping so they send for anna and ballmer. They dont send for Thomas Holmes, which i have never read anything definitive on why what ies suspect they would follow te armies. She calls on the firm of brown and alexander. The same that brought the ambling formula and he was temporarily at the Oak Hill Cemetery in the family vault of william carol. President lincoln would visit the tomb very often and is said to have offered on at least two occasions. Now he was in a very metallic coffin similar to this one. This is an 1850s version, so by the mid1860s there were two companies that were making these. One was out of cincinnati. The other was the w Raymond Company out of queens new york. Nowsp i strongly suspect that he was placed in the version because senator daniel was wasan owner of that company. Daniel was good friends with president lincoln, so it fits to reason that if youre good but he owns a coffin company, then you are probably going to be using that coffin. Now, lets move forward. Three years after the death of willie, and we all know what happened good friday, 65. So, the following day when lincoln died, he was transferred from the Peterson House to the white house under the direction of this man. He was transferred from the Peterson House to the white house in a very plain wooden coffin. This is just because of proximity they backed up the same alleys so that is why they were used to supply the coffin and hes transferred to the prince of wales room and the white house. Now there were nine doctors in attendance for his cranial autopsy, so it was just a cranial autopsy. They didnt do the incision that would be a full autopsy, one of thoseil being the lincoln family physician, the otherhe being the Surgeon General joseph k barnes. This was so herniated they didnt even have a proper perception kit. One of the surgeons offered up his own personal amputation kit forr the autopsy. Now, after the autopsy, they sent for the and ballmer and used brown and alexandernd once again and it is documented that when the messenger arrived, doctor brown, who is a very, very prolific and wellknown and ballmer, he was at the office when the call came in for some reason henry now age 26 with no medical experience was sent to the white house alone to and bombed the president of the united states. He used the formula and injected five courts a bit through president lincolns memorial artery. After which he was dressed and shaved and left to lie in repose until his coffin could be made. It was made by an undertaker in baltimore. This coffin was lined with lid and white satin covered in black cloth fitted up meaning it was decorated with kind of the silver nail heads that you see, the handles, the fringe the undertaker id previously mentioned. It was built in essentially two different places. Now, here is a replica of the History Museum in history texas. You can see this entire panel most probably have seen it is on a hinge on caskets of today. By design they could double the number of people walking by the coffin so having people walking by on one end, they are going by on both sides so they could double the people that were going to be viewing president lincoln. Now, as i said this was custombuilt to a length of 6foot, 6 inches to accommodate the president s 6foot 4inch frame. It is interesting though that that is the standard length of caskets these days because that is the length that can accommodate 99. 8 of all americans without having to get a larger casket. This coffin costs the government 1,500, so about 24,500 in todays money. Now, on tuesday the 18th, folks were admitted to the white house to view the president and then on the following day wednesday the 19th, there was a private ceremony held at the white house, where 600 Ticket Holders were admitted. After that ceremony, the president s coffin was taken to the capital where it was to lie in state in the rotunda. President lincoln was the second person to lie in state in the rotunda in the capital and the first president. Now thereve been 35 people to date that have laden state in the capitol rotunda. On the morning of the 21st, lincolns coffin was taken from the Capital Building and taken to the train station. The idea was to have essentially funeral where people could partake so the secretary of war Edward Stanton but we will do a trained journey back to springfield. Its going to go 1,662 miles, go through 400 for cities, towns, cross roads stopping 11 times to offload on this journey ending may 4th back in springfield for the president s burial. Now, his son was going to accompany him but he was never part of the funeral ceremonies in any cities. The coffin stayed on the president ial car the t entire time. Just note lincolns portrait, different locomotives used throughoutut the journey but the same president ial car was used the entire time. This car was initially designed so the president could tour the country during reconstruction. It was hastily outfitted when the president was assassinated, so it was draped in the appropriate buntings and create of the time, but it was said to be very nice, sort of the polling card of its day. It had a sitting room, a parlor, a bedroom and wheels that could accommodate different tracks. Interestingly enough, the president was rumored to have, supposed to be inspecting the car on the saturday he died. So stop one was baltimore and this was his son robert and he rode from washington to baltimore about a twohour ride, and this is the only lincoln Family Member to ride but was called to the Lincoln Special. Thats what they called lincolns funeral train. So, he wrote a grand total of two hours and that is the only time the lincoln Family Member rode the train. Robert did later meet the entourage, the funeral entourage in springfield. And in baltimore, lincolns coffin was taken to the exchange vibuilding where he was viewed r an hour and a half. So this is the shortest viewing time out of any of the stops and its estimated that about 10,000 people viewed him during this time. So, from there he was taken to harrisburg where the party was metlu with a deluge. He was taken to the capital. 20,000 people viewed him. And then from there the following day they stopped at lancaster. His coffin wasnt offloaded, but the predecessor James Buchanan the 15th president was in attendance for the reception of lancaster. Stop three in philadelphia it was reported that the train as it was coming into philadelphia almostny stalled because there were so many flowers heaped onto the tracks. Now i find that very unusual and interesting because think about how much a train ways and how many flowers it would take to stall a train. But this is one of the pieces of the funeral that kind of changed american burial practices were funeral practices prior to the lincoln funeral. Flower offerings were made. Flower offerings have been made since the antiquity, but mostly it was kind of a simple bouquet picked from somebodys garden and brought to the ceremony. The thought was of surrounding the ugliness of death, something as vibrant and nicelooking as an offering but also the practical purpose of covering up for masking the odors of decomposition, whichg ones and bombing came in was not really needed anymore. But after the lincoln funeral, we start to see these grand floral offerings. People were essentially mimicking what they saw during lincolns o services in all the cities hee went to. This top one here is in columbus youu can see how it has loads of flowers and then this one here is from a stop in Michigan City indiana. These pillars here were decorated with flowers picked from hundreds of local gardens. So we see the flowers as part of this national morning. Fraternities and social organizations. If the Lincoln Special stopped in your village and the coffin wasntak offloaded it was common for them to take the tributes onto the train. We see the emergence now the flowers are arranged to look at Something Else and crosses into common things that were taken as tribute to the slain president. After the funeral we see things get more inmate, the broken harp string, these all become very popular floral offerings