Your book is tell us what we are going to see today, what is going to happen behind you and all around you this afternoon. Thank you. Today, youre going to see a reenactment of the funeral of Abraham Lincoln in springfield 100 50 years ago. It started on the square downtown. It will take probably a half an hour for the procession to reach Oak Ridge Cemetery, which is on the north side of springfield. That procession will be a reconstruction or 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 horse, bob led by an africanamerican henry brown, coming into the cemetery. And then in back of me is the receiving vault at Oak Ridge Cemetery. It is there that lincolns body as well as his son with his son, willie, were placed at the time of the lincoln funeral. Why was president lincoln buried in springfield, illinois . This was his home for 24 years before he went to washington, d. C. Only a short time before he left springfield, Oak Ridge Cemetery was created. Mary and Abraham Lincoln were present on the day the cemetery was dedicated and all of the dedicatory speeches were made. The apocryphal story is that on the way home, Abraham Lincoln said to mary that this is where i would like to be buried. You mentioned Mary Todd Lincoln. Yet she did not attend the funeral in springfield. She did not leave washington, d. C. , and travel with the train to springfield. Why is that . Richard Mary Todd Lincolns life was one she had to face many, many tragedies and this was perhaps the greatest of all. Her husband being assassinated next to her. And she was rightfully devastated by that. And was just not emotionally capable of making that trip. Back to springfield. Her son, Robert Todd Lincoln was there with her. And he did, to springfield for the funeral. If you look on your screen there, we see some of the reenactors. You may have seen the tens of a moment ago. Who are those folks in the tents and how long have they been camped out . Richard i think some of them have been here since last wednesday and perhaps that is when they first came but thursday night when i was out here, we came out after dinner. It was just a lot of the tents were up at that time, and as i say, it was a beautiful scene. It was almost full, the moon. It was beautiful and the Oak Ridge Cemetery gate, which is the original gate to the cemetery was lit up and across the road in lincoln park where the tents, with the fires they had lit for the evening. We are talking with richard hart, a springfield resident and an expert on the subject of Abraham Lincolns funeral. Tell me, president lincoln died here in washington on april 15. His funeral, may 4 in , springfield, illinois. What happened in the intervening period of time . What was going on in a couple of weeks back in 1865 . Bridget those days between the richard those days between the time of his assassination in return and burial in springfield are kind of somewhat the subject of the book that i have here. It was filled with a lot of distress in the nation as to what was occurring. As far as lincolns body, it was taken to the white house. There was an autopsy. It was embalmed and placed in a coffin. There were viewings there and it was eventually taken to the train station and placed in a cattle car owned i one of the directors of the railroad. The funeral train left washington d. C. 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. Richard there were large tributes to lincoln in new york city. The story is that Teddy Roosevelt watch the procession in new york city 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 certain that 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. From chicago to springfield 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 flowers. Even in the middle of the night there would be hundreds of thousands of people that would come out to view the train. For our viewers later today we have a couple of more things we will show folks about the train. We will take a look at the train station there in springfield and have a bit more about president lincolns train. How many people came to spring field in 18 in 1865 for the funeral and the events surrounding it . Richard that is an amazing question. The number is not certain but springfield at that time had a population of about 15,000 people. The estimate is between 75,000 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 a passenger train. That was one of the things that came out of the lincoln funeral. Again, we are looking at live pictures from springfield, illinois. A reenactment today of the funeral of president lincoln. We are talking to richard hart who is there in springfield. We see some of the folks dressed up, the ring actors uniform and in costume. Are these local reenactors or do people come from all over the country to participate in this event today . Richard thats a wonderful question. I was out here two days ago, and a couple from orlando, florida were here. They were dressed in period costumes that were absolutely spectacular. They were taking each others picture, so i offered to take their pictures together. That is where i got to have this conversation with them. They had come for this event from orlando, florida. In fact, she gave me this funeral badge i do not know if you can see that or not that she had made to hand out to people in springfield. Since then, i have met a number of reenactors were from many of the midwestern states. I meant i met a gentleman lancaster, pennsylvania and his Reenactment Group had come out. I met a gentleman who came with his military gun on a trailer. He was from wisconsin. So i think there is really kind of 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 area, the Springfield Community about this reenactment . Are people excited to host this event . A lot of the participation from everybody in the area . Richard yes. It is actually just remarkable. If you look at the schedule of events over the last several days and perhaps you can hear in the background, theres a band playing. There have been at least 10 different band concerts in the last two days. The churches around springfield and these band concerts are reenactors. The bands come from all over the United States. They want to exhibit their abilities. They have had band concerts. There was a symphony last evening the illinois Symphony Orchestra played a special program of lincoln music. There have been a number of lectures. This morning i spoke in the st. Pauls cathedral church, and it was packed. There are at the edwards home, they are having a reenactment tea. It is just a phenomenal participation by the entire community for this event. I think that everyone recognizes the importance of lincoln in our national life, and they just want to be a part of that, to honor him and to commemorate his death 150 years ago. There at the cemetery you can see Richard Hart Springfield resident and author. We have given you the chance to ask him questions. We have divided the phones by time zones. Im going to ask you now the procession making its way to the ceremony and a reenactment of the actual speeches, are those historically accurate. Will they be accurate to what took place 150 years ago . Richard i believe so. I have seen the program and compared it to the program 150 years ago. I think very much exactly the same. I think it will be exciting to see that. Who are some of the notable figures that attended Abraham Lincolns funeral in springfield 150 years ago and will those persons be portrayed today . Who were the whos who at the lincoln funeral . Richard there were many. Many of the generals of the civil war were in attendance for the funeral. 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, a very prominent minister. He came and delivered the primary eulogy for Abraham Lincoln. In addition to that, there were photographers that came. From philadelphia to chicago from philadelphia, from chicago. There were reporters that came from the newspapers, the new york papers, the washington papers. One of the gentlemen that came who was a relatively young reporter at that time went on to found the associated press. Many of the photographs that these photographers took while here in springfield are still in existence. There is 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, he did not. Why not . Richard you have to remember that in addition to this funeral transpiring at that time, it was in a period of 90 days in American History, you had the Congress Passing the 13th amendment, freeing the slaves. It had to be approved by the states not done until december of that year, but that occurred. You have linked in delivering his second inaugural address, a masterpiece. And then you had secretary blinken delivering a speech saying he believed that certain black man should be allowed to vote. You had general robert e lee surrendering to grant in bringing about the closing of the civil war. The country was euphoric after that. And then within a matter of a week, you have lincoln assassinated, and everyone went into extreme morning mourning. Because of that, there was a lot of uncertainty about the government. And what happened. Many of the Government People just stayed in washington, i think. There was also the search for John Wilkes Booth and any of the conspirators that participated in the murders. That took the front page of many newspapers, so you had a variety of things occurring, and the people who came to springfield and they were numerous from out of springfield and were high up, but the successor to lincoln did not attend. As we approach 3 00 on the east coast, 2 00 at your time, in illinois, lets take our first caller. Angela from little rock. Hi, you are on cspan. Go ahead. Caller i just have a general question. Host hello, angela. Richard hello, angela. Host i do not think we have angela. Are you there . No angela. Let me ask im sorry . We are going to work on our phone call there, and as we tried to get that put 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 . We are seeing Union Soldiers there is a woman there in are these accurate period costumes these reenactors are wearing . Richard absolutely. They are very accurate. The ladies walking toward, what did you had walked on the screen before, and that is the original gate to Oak Ridge Cemetery. A year ago, that did not exist. Where we are sitting his this 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 of the period. Its an absolutely wonderful reconstruction. It was dedicated in december of last year. And it 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. It has become a 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 youre looking at now, is across the street to the east of that sign, where you actually see their reenactor tents and encampment there. They are in absolute accurate costumes. They are fanatics about this. About every aspect of not only their costumes, but there tents the flags, the food they eat the bedding they have. Everything is a recreation of the period they represent. That is what i was telling the other evening when i came out here. It was beautiful. The white tents. The moonlight hitting them. They had fires going. It was really something. You can see now people walking on the sidewalk from that entrance. Host we are going to try one more time with the phone calls. We are going to see if we can get bob from tulsa, oklahoma with us and our guest. Bob, go ahead, you are on cspan 3. Caller my question is regarding the link in children. Are they and tuned in the tomb. Also, i understand that Robert Lincoln was at the final internment of Abraham Lincoln. Is he buried there . Richard 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 identity and monument. So he is buried in washington, d. C. It is very interesting. Before he died, his son tom died in england and was brought back to the United States and was actually very buried with his grandfather abraham. When robert died tom was taken , out of this cemetery and taken back to washington to be buried with his father. To answer your question Robert Todd Lincoln is not buried here. All of the other Family Members are. Robert todd is buried in washington, d. C. Host lets take another call. We will go to boise, idaho. Caller good afternoon. On this very sad memorial day. Mr. Hart, i have another question about Robert Todd Lincoln. How did he get to the cemetery . I read somewhere he was staying a couple of days in washington to console his mother and then he let tad take care of her while he headed out the internment. Richard you are absolutely correct. This is one of the very interesting things that i found when i was doing the research for the book on the funeral in springfield. Robert todd lincoln apparently did not intend to come to springfield for his fathers funeral. David davis, who was a Supreme Court justice and who had been the judge of the circuit here in illinois where secretary blinken practice law, went to the white house immediately upon the death of lincoln and assembled all of his letters and documents, took them with him back to bloomington. But he stopped in chicago for a memorial to lincoln by the chicago bar association. After that meeting, he sent a telegram, which i found, to i will paraphrase it telegram to Robert Todd Lincoln. I will paraphrase it, but it basically said, robert, it is imperative you come to springfield. After talking to all of your fathers friends here in illinois, to a man they said , that if you do not that you would regret it for the rest of your life. I have prepared a train to take you and you should make preparations to come immediately. Of course, after that kind of admonition from David Davis Robert got on the train and did come to springfield. He stayed here for several days. At least. He selected the spot and sent the selection to his mother, where he eventually where eventually the monument would be constructed. It is right about the receiving vault on top of the hill behind me. Perhaps you will be able to see that later on. Host once again we are live on cspan three springfield illinois the reenactment of , president Abraham Lincolns funeral. Making some room. For your phone calls. We have separated the numbers by time zones. We go to idaho with our guest. Caller i want to thank cspan3 for offering this program today. I was born and raised 30 miles from springfield in lincoln county. A town called taylorville. My question for mr. Hart is what, if any role, did his former law partner play in the funeral . Richard that is a very interesting question. William herndon, who was lincolns law partner at the time, he left springfield. There was a lovehate relationship. Lincoln loved him and Mary Todd Lincoln hated him. Herndon played some role, but nothing significant in the funeral. I found it curious myself, when i was doing this research, that he did not play a larger part. Some of the other townsfol