Springfield. Tell us what we are going to see today and whats going to happen behind you this afternoon. This afternoon, you will see a reenactment of the funeral of Abraham Lincoln in springfield 150 years ago. It started on the square downtown and it will take probably half an hour for the procession to reach Oak Ridge Cemetery, which is on the north side of springfield. That procession will be a reenactment of lincolns actual funeral. There will be a number of divisions with reenactors in those divisions. You will see a replication of the funeral hearse that was put together by a local funeral home. I believe you are going to see a horse which would have in Abraham Lincolns force, bob, led by an africanamerican henry brown coming into the cemetery. And then there is the receiving vault at Oak Ridge Cemetery. It is there lincolns body as well as his son willie, were placed at the time of the lincoln funeral. Why was president lincoln buried in springfield . This was his home for 24 years before he went to washington d. C. Only a short time before he left greenfield, Oak Ridge Cemetery was created. Mary and Abraham Lincoln were president on the day the cemetery was dedicated and all of the speeches were made. The apocryphal story is that on the way home, Abraham Lincoln said this is where i would like to be buried. You mentioned Mary Todd Lincoln. Yet she did not leave washington dc and travel to springfield. Why is that . Mary todd lincolns life was one she had to face any many tragedies and this was perhaps the greatest of all her husband the assassinated, and she was rightfully devastated by that. She was just not emotionally capable of making that trip. Her son, Robert Todd Lincoln was there with her. If you look on your screen, there are some of the reenactors. Who are those folks in the tents and how long have they been camped out . Some of them have been here since last wednesday and thursday night, when i was out here, we came out for dinner. A lot of the tents were out at that time and it was a beautiful scene. It was beautiful and the Oak Ridge Cemetery gate the gate was lit up and across the road and across the road worthy tents with the fires were the tents with the fires and lit for the evening. We are to an expert on the subject of Abraham Lincolns numeral. Abraham lincoln died here in washington on april 15. His funeral on may 4 in springfield, illinois. What happened in the intervening time . What was going on in a couple of weeks back in 1865 . Those days during the time of his assassination in return and burial in springfield are kind of somewhat the subject of the book i have here, it was still with a lot of distress to the nation as to what was occurring. As far as lincolns body, it was taken to the white house, it was autopsied and involved. And him bald there were viewings there and it was taken to the train station and laced in a cattle car owned one of the railroads, a car for the director of that railroad. The funeral train left washington dc and had a number of people on the train. Some of them had actually taken the train with lincoln from springfield to washington, d. C. In 1861. The train made a very long long journey from washington, d. C. To springfield and went through some of the major cities in the east. There were large tributes to lincoln in new york city. The story is Teddy Roosevelt watched the procession from one of the windows. The train supposedly would not exceed 30 miles an hour. All of the tracks were cleared for this train and there was a lead train that went before it to make sure the tracks were clear. It eventually ended up in chicago and there was an enormous funeral in chicago lasting a couple of days with the viewing of the body at the courthouse. Then the train made an overnight journey from chicago to springfield, arriving on the morning of may 4. At every crossing in the middle of the night, there would be people gathered, often with bonfires and in many instances there were large arches that had been built over the train tracks. They were decorated with evergreens and flowers, even in the middle of the night, the review hundreds of people that would come out to view the train. For our viewers today we have a couple of more things we will show folks. We going to look at the train station in springfield and have more about president lincolns train. How may people came to springfield in 1865 for the funeral and the events surrounding it . That is an amazing question. The number is not certain that springfield at that time had a population of about 15,000 people. The estimate is between 75000 and 100,000 people came to springfield for the funeral. There were special trains from many of the midwestern cities that came into springfield and the people would stay on those trains for sleeping purposes and remarkably, it was the first time a pullman train had been used and it was a sleeping car. Because of that use during the lincoln funeral, it gained acceptance by the railroads as another aspect of the passenger train. That was one of the things that came out of the lincoln funeral. Were looking at live pictures rum springfield illinois. A reenactment today of the funeral of Abraham Lincoln. We see some of the folks dressed up, the reenactors in costume. Are these local reenactors or do people come from all over the country to participate in this event marks in this event . Thats a wonderful question. I was out here two days ago and a couple from orlando, florida were here. They were dressed in. Costumes that were absolutely spectacular. They were dressed in. Costumes i offered to take their pictures together. Thats how i got to have this conversation with them and they had come for this event from orlando florida. She gave me this funeral badge i dont know if you can see that are not. She made it to hand out to people in springfield. Ive met a number of actors from midwestern states, i met a german from lancaster pennsylvania and his Reenactment Group had come out. I met a gentleman who came with his military got on it his military gone on a trailer. There is a subculture of reenactors in the United States. They have been here and many of the people you see in costumes i think are from out of town. Many are from springfield, but it is hard to tell how to divide where they are from. It is a pretty broad spectrum. My understanding is you have lived in springfield for 47 years, most of your life. What is the mood of the Springfield Community about this reenactment . Are people excited to host this event . It is remarkable. If you look at the schedule of events over the last several days perhaps you can hear in the background, theres a band playing. There have been at least 10 different band concert in the last two days. The churches around springfield and these band concerts are reenactors. They come from all over the United States. There was a symphony last evening the illinois Symphony Orchestra played a special program of lincoln music. There have been a number of lectures. I spoke in the st. Pauls Cathedral Church and it was packed. At the edwards home, they are having a reenactment tea. Its a remarkable participation by the entire community for this event. I think everybody recognizes the importance of lincoln in our National Life and they just want to be a part of that, too honor him and commemorate his death 150 years ago. We are going to show a clip now and come back. We are waiting on this procession which i am told is historically accurate, the procession from the train station to the cemetery. They are following basically the same route that was followed in 1865. There might be a slight variation because of some of the roads there but it is very, very near the original route that was taken. It is about a mile and half from downtown to the cemetery here. I dont know how fast they are marching or walking but they will be here shortly. We are talking to richard hart, a springfield resident as were live covering this reenactment of president Abraham Lincolns general here on cspan three3 cspan3. We are waiting for this procession to make its available closer to your location. Whats take you to springfield is old lets take you over to historian p. J. Staab. P. J. Staab after an estimated 75,000 mourners viewed the president s body in this room, pallbearers carried him from this location to the hearse which made a slow procession to Oak Ridge Cemetery where thousands more lined the streets to watch the hearse carrying president lincoln on his final journey. Special events and reenactments would not be complete without the Abraham Lincoln hearse at the center of it all. Getting involved, one might ask how did our family get involved . After a meeting with the chair of the 2015 lincoln funeral coalition, i was asked, can i find a suitable hearse . I responded with, sure, we will. Not really knowing at that time what it would entail. Katies countless hours of hard work and her dedication fueled our familys passion to get involved and performed the best of our ability. Katie is just one of the great people many of the great people i have met along the way. Another person i would like to mention this evenings artist ray simon. Ray recently completed a commissioned, original life portrait yet to be seen, the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. After i began researching, i found out the hearse was destroyed by a fire in st. Louis, missouri, at the Livery Stable in 1887. All that was left was a photo that you see here and two silverplate medallions recently found for all to see. After the initial research, we could not find a suitable hearse that adequately represented the hearse used for Abraham Lincoln. Much like the historical account of 150 years ago. In an effort to get back and contribute to this historic anniversary, our family decided to assemble a team of historians artisans, and oldschool craftsme to reverse engineer and recreaten the elaborate and ornate hearse. This is a mission that is not only vital to the vienna to the reenactment but a true honor and privilege for our family to play such an Important Role in this historic moment. It even fits our own familys mission, to remember, to educate, and to heal. We quickly prioritized this historic project into three phases. Phase one began no member of 2013 no member of 2013 with the design, guidance, and research phase. The object was to find the best photographs, plural, available. We could only find one. Engage historians to find out more information, engage architects and fabricating consultants to determine the scale, dimensions, and provide a blueprint for the build. Professional guidance of this sort was sought by none other than one of our local architects, john shafer Andrew Martin of springfield illinois. Attorneys for our guidance was the sole and firm sorling firm jim fehey. The search for the builders began. The pressure builds to understand how to use oldschool craftsmen to reverse engineer and recreate an 18thcentury vehicle in the 21st century. We had to determine the scale the dimension. We had to review the scale revise, and start the process all over until we got it just right. We knew the rear wheel had 16 spokes. When you get the 16 together you have to have a certain size d hub. That brings the diameter out to about 56 inches for the rear wheel, which is about here. From the woodcut carving shown previously, i measured from the receiving vault roofline at the gable end to the ground. Almost got kicked out of the cemetery that evening. [laughter] p. J. Staab until they saw the plate on the car and said, oh that is just one of the stabb abs. At the bottom of the gable when you measure down to the ground it is about 13 feet. To the top of the plume of the hearse to the ground matches that exact height, 13 feet. The hearse build can now commence. Again, we are back live in springfield, illinois, on American History tv on cspan3. A reenactment of president Abraham Lincolns funeral 150 years ago this weekend. With us at the cemetery, you can see richard hart, the springfield resident and author. We are going to let you have a chance to ask questions or weigh in with your thoughts on this event. Our phone lines for you on the east or central time zone. One for those of you in the mountain or pacific time zones. You get a chance to ask a question if you like. Im going to ask one now. The procession we are waiting to make its way up to the cemetery, and the reenactment of the actual speeches and funeral ceremony itself, are those historically accurate . Will they be accurate representations of what took place 150 years ago . I believe so. I have seen the program and compared it richard hart i believe so, very much exactly the same. That will be very exciting to see that. Who were some of the notable figures that attended Abraham Lincolns general 150 years ago and will those persons be portrayed today . Who were the whos who at Abraham Lincolns funeral . Richard there were many. Many of the generals of the civil war were in attendance. In addition, there were people who had come here to participate in the funeral. Reverend simpson had come. He was the prominent minister in the United States at that time. He came and he delivered the primary eulogy for Abraham Lincoln. In addition to that, there were photographers that came from philadelphia chicago there were reporters, believe it or not, that came from the newspapers, the new york papers, the washington a purse and the washington papers, one person who came that was a young reported a young reporter at the time formed the associated press. Many of the photographs these photographers took here in springfield are still in existence and there is actually an exhibit in springfield that has all of those photographs. After Abraham Lincolns assassination, Andrew Johnson became president , is that right . Richard yes. Did he attend the funeral . Richard no. Why not . Richard i think you have to remember that in addition to this numeral transpiring in a time of 90 days in American History, you had Congress Passing the 13th amendment freeing the slaves, it had to be approved by the states and i was not done until december of that year. You had lincoln delivering his second inaugural address, which is a masterpiece and then you have lincoln delivering a speech saying he believed certain black men should be allowed to vote. You had general robert e lee surrendering to grant and bringing about the closing of the civil war and the country was euphoric after that. Been within a matter of a week, you have lincoln assassinated and everybody went into extreme morning. Extreme mourning. Because of that, there was a lot of uncertainty about the government and what was going to happen. A lot of people just stayed in washington. There was also the search for John Wilkes Booth and any conspirators. That took the front page of many newspapers, so there were a variety of things occurring and the people who came to springfield, and they were numerous from out of springfield the successor to lincoln did not attend. As we approach 3 00 on the east coast, 2 00 at your time, lets take our first caller. Caller i just have a general question. Host no angela. Im sorry. We are going to work on our own call and as we try to get that could together, let me ask another question. Youve got that procession making its way up. What would be the accuracy of some of the costumes we are seeing . Are these accurate costumes these reenactors are wearing . Richard absolutely. They are very accurate. The lady walking toward us what i think you have the screen before, that is the original gate to Oak Ridge Cemetery. One year ago that did not exist. Where we are sitting his afternoon and where that lady is walking was pretty much a field of weeds and bramble. If you look in the background there, you see the Oak Ridge Cemetery gate. That was recreated this year based upon photographs from the time. Its an absolutely wonderful reconstruction. It was dedicated in december of last year and is through those gates the procession will come. It was done, quite frankly because of this event today, but it will remain and be a part of the cemetery. It connects to lincoln park, which is immediately to the east and so it will become part of this total neighborhood and the people of the neighborhood will be able to use it as a way to get into the cemetery. What you are looking at now is across the street to the east of that sign, where you actually see the reenactor 10 reenactor tents and reenactors there. Ar absolutely accurate and they are fanatic about every aspect of their costumes, the tenants their flags, the food they eat the betting they have, everything is a recreation of the time they represent. That is what i was saying the other evening when we came out here it was absolutely beautiful, the white tents, they had fires going, it was really something. You can see now people walking on the sidewalk from that entrance. Were going to try one more time with the phone calls. Were going to see if we can get bob from bob, go ahead, you are on cspan three. Caller i understand that Robert Lincoln was at the final internment of Abraham Lincoln read is he buried there you go buried there . Host yes, the children are buried there except for robert. Robert todd lincoln, by all accounts wished to be buried there. He was survived by his wife and she thought he deserved his own separate