Funeral and Burial of Abraham Lincoln

Funeral And Burial Of Abraham Lincoln

Following his death by assassination, the body of Abraham Lincoln was brought from Washington, D.C. to its final resting place in Lincoln's hometown of Springfield, Illinois, by funeral train, accompanied by dignitaries. Lincoln's eldest son Robert Todd rode the train to Baltimore and then disembarked and returned to the White House. On the afternoon of May 1, 1865, Robert took a train to Springfield and his father's funeral.

The remains of his son, William Wallace Lincoln, were also placed on the train (see Movements of other Lincoln caskets below), which left Washington, D.C., on April 21, 1865 at 12:30 pm and traveled 1,654 miles (2,662 km) to Springfield, arriving on May 3, 1865. Several stops were made along the way, in which Lincoln's body lay in state. The train retraced the route Lincoln had traveled to Washington as the president-elect on his way to his first inauguration, and millions of Americans viewed the train along the route. Lincoln's wife Mary Todd Lincoln remained at the White House because she was too distraught to make the trip; she returned to Illinois about one month later.

Lincoln was interred at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield. The site of the Lincoln Tomb, now owned and managed as a state historic site, is marked by a 117-foot (36 m)-tall granite obelisk surmounted with several bronze statues of Lincoln, constructed by 1874. Mary Todd Lincoln and three of his four sons are also buried there. (Robert Todd Lincoln is buried in Arlington National Cemetery at Arlington, Virginia).