P.M. the hearse, this time drawn by sixteen white horses, took Lincoln to the station of the Hudson River Railroad. One hundred twenty-five thousand people had viewed the corpse. Five hundred thousand stood along the procession route. “A time for weeping, But vengeance is not sleeping” read one of the signs that the hearse passed by.
The memorial arch above the tracks at Sing-Sing, New York.
At 3:00 P.M. the head of the procession arrived at the railroad station. It took another half hour for Lincoln’s hearse to arrive. General Townsend telegraphed the secretary of war:
NEW YORK CITY, April 25, 1865
Hon. E. M. STANTON:
The ceremonies and procession have been most complete and imposing. Everything passed off admirably. I have examined the remains and they are in perfect preservation. We start for Albany at 4.15 p.m.
E. D. TOWNSEND,
Assistant Adjutant-General.
The engine steamed north along the Hudson River. General Townsend was surprised at how many people he saw when he looked out the window. “The line of the Hudson River road seemed alive with people,” he remembered. At 6:20 P.M. , the train stopped across the river from the United States Military Academy at West Point. The corps of cadets assembled to honor their fallen commander in chief. They passed through the funeral car and saluted. Then the train moved on.
After darkness fell, the train passed through the town of Hudson. The people there had prepared a scene, almost a little play. There was a coffin on a platform, with a woman dressed in white mourning over it, and a soldier and a sailor standing at either end. “While a band of young women dressed in white sang a dirge,” Townsend wrote later, “two others in black entered the funeral-car.” The women laid an arrangement of flowers on Lincoln’s coffin. Then they “knelt for a moment of silence, and quietly withdrew.”
At 1:30 A.M. on April 26, Lincoln’s coffin was placed in the assembly chamber of the State Capitol in Albany and the viewing began. It was the middle of the night, but seventy mourners per minute came to see Lincoln’s corpse, more than four thousand an hour.
But something else happened at Albany—a telegram from Edwin Stanton caught up with Edward Townsend. While the funeral train had been in New York City, a photograph had been taken of Lincoln’s corpse. This was the first picture that had been taken of Lincoln since he had died. Stanton had learned of it by reading the newspapers. He sent off a furious message.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
Washington City, April 25, 1865—11.40 p.m.
Brigadier-General TOWNSEND,
Adjutant General, New York:
I see by the New York papers this evening that a photograph of the corpse of President Lincoln was allowed taken yesterday at New York. I cannot sufficiently express my surprise and disapproval of such an act while the body was in your charge. You will report what officers of the funeral escort were or ought to have been on duty at the time this was done, and immediately relieve them and order them to Washington. You will also direct the provost-marshal to go to the photographer, seize and destroy the plates and any pictures and engravings that may have been made, and consider yourself responsible if the offense is repeated.
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War
Stanton probably assumed that close-up images had been made of Lincoln’s face. By the time Lincoln was photographed in New York, he had been dead for nine days. There was only so much the undertakers could do. Stanton no doubt feared that pictures of Lincoln’s face in a state of gruesome decay would be distributed to anyone who wanted to buy them.
Townsend received the telegram in Albany, New York. He knew his boss well, including his temper. Once Stanton learned the full story, Townsend feared, he would be completely enraged—because it was Townsend, and no one else, who had allowed Lincoln’s corpse to be photographed. In fact, Townsend had posed in the picture, standing
The memorial arch above the tracks at Sing-Sing, New York.
At 3:00 P.M. the head of the procession arrived at the railroad station. It took another half hour for Lincoln’s hearse to arrive. General Townsend telegraphed the secretary of war:
NEW YORK CITY, April 25, 1865
Hon. E. M. STANTON:
The ceremonies and procession have been most complete and imposing. Everything passed off admirably. I have examined the remains and they are in perfect preservation. We start for Albany at 4.15 p.m.
E. D. TOWNSEND,
Assistant Adjutant-General.
The engine steamed north along the Hudson River. General Townsend was surprised at how many people he saw when he looked out the window. “The line of the Hudson River road seemed alive with people,” he remembered. At 6:20 P.M. , the train stopped across the river from the United States Military Academy at West Point. The corps of cadets assembled to honor their fallen commander in chief. They passed through the funeral car and saluted. Then the train moved on.
After darkness fell, the train passed through the town of Hudson. The people there had prepared a scene, almost a little play. There was a coffin on a platform, with a woman dressed in white mourning over it, and a soldier and a sailor standing at either end. “While a band of young women dressed in white sang a dirge,” Townsend wrote later, “two others in black entered the funeral-car.” The women laid an arrangement of flowers on Lincoln’s coffin. Then they “knelt for a moment of silence, and quietly withdrew.”
At 1:30 A.M. on April 26, Lincoln’s coffin was placed in the assembly chamber of the State Capitol in Albany and the viewing began. It was the middle of the night, but seventy mourners per minute came to see Lincoln’s corpse, more than four thousand an hour.
But something else happened at Albany—a telegram from Edwin Stanton caught up with Edward Townsend. While the funeral train had been in New York City, a photograph had been taken of Lincoln’s corpse. This was the first picture that had been taken of Lincoln since he had died. Stanton had learned of it by reading the newspapers. He sent off a furious message.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
Washington City, April 25, 1865—11.40 p.m.
Brigadier-General TOWNSEND,
Adjutant General, New York:
I see by the New York papers this evening that a photograph of the corpse of President Lincoln was allowed taken yesterday at New York. I cannot sufficiently express my surprise and disapproval of such an act while the body was in your charge. You will report what officers of the funeral escort were or ought to have been on duty at the time this was done, and immediately relieve them and order them to Washington. You will also direct the provost-marshal to go to the photographer, seize and destroy the plates and any pictures and engravings that may have been made, and consider yourself responsible if the offense is repeated.
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War
Stanton probably assumed that close-up images had been made of Lincoln’s face. By the time Lincoln was photographed in New York, he had been dead for nine days. There was only so much the undertakers could do. Stanton no doubt feared that pictures of Lincoln’s face in a state of gruesome decay would be distributed to anyone who wanted to buy them.
Townsend received the telegram in Albany, New York. He knew his boss well, including his temper. Once Stanton learned the full story, Townsend feared, he would be completely enraged—because it was Townsend, and no one else, who had allowed Lincoln’s corpse to be photographed. In fact, Townsend had posed in the picture, standing
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