USA > Indiana > Wayne County > Directory and soldiers' register of Wayne County, Indiana, 1865 > Part 75
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induced partly by decoy letters from differ- ent parts of the country-had been made, that the true scent was obtained, and Colonel L. C. Baker placed upon his track. It be- came evident from the direction he was idence opposite the theater, where he lay un- known to have taken, that it was his inten- conscious until twenty-two minutes past 7 o'clock on the morning of the 15th, when he breathed his last.
At the same hour of the assassination of the President, the residence of William H Seward, the Secretary of State. was entered, he lying upon his bed suffering from wounds received by being thrown from his carriage. Mr. Seward, his son Frederick, and a soldier who was acting as nurse, were each fearfully mangled, but all recovered. The would-be assassin escaped from the house and rode away.
tion to place himself under the protection of Mosby's rebel guerrillas. The pursuit was kept up with vigor, and he was traced from point to point, until he wasovertaken at the house of a man by the name of Garrett, near Bowling Green. On the 27th of April, the premises were surrounded, and Booth and his accomplice, Harrold, were found in the barn. They were ordered to surrender. This order was obeyed by Harrold, but Booth declined. A parley ensued, it being the desire of all to take the murderer alive. During the parley it became evident that he intended to sell his life as dearly as possible. The barn was
Less than a week previous to this, the peo- ple of the loval states had every-where been fired, hoping to drive him from his ambush, indulging in the wildest manifestations of re- but he was seen to make preparations for fir- joicing over the surrender of the rebel army ing upon the soldiers without. Just as he under General Lee, and on that very day, was taking aim, a sergeant in a cavalry com- aside from the meeting at Fort Sumter to pany by the name of Boston Corbett, who
raise the old flag over its battered walls,
was closly watching his movements discharg- there had been many other meetings through- ed a cavalry pistol, the contents of which out the county to celebrate that event. The took effect in the head of Booth, near the news of the assassination was telegraphed to same place that the President had been shot. all parts of the country in time to be read in Instead of entering the brain, it passed down the daily papers of Saturday morning, the the spinal column, paralyzing all the nerves 15th. Never was a nation called upon to of motion, but leaving those of feeling urin- pass so suddenly from the highest pinnacle of jured. He lived in great agony for about four rejoicing to the lowest abyss of sorrow. It hours, when death terminated his mortal ca- seemed that there was a corpse in every reer. After his death it was found that he house. As soon as it was known that the had broken a bone in one of his legs in jump- President was dead, measures were taken to ing from the box to the stage, after having inaugurate Vice-President Andrew Johnson. accomplished his fiendish purpose. This in- There was no public display; but few per- jury to the assassin was caused by his spur sons except the necessary officials were pres- catching in the American flag as he leaped, ent. The oath of office was administered on the old banner seeming endowed for the time the 15th, but a few hours after the death of being with lite and animation, that it might Mr. Lincoln, and the new President entered avenge the great crime just perpetrated upon the duties of his office in the midst of against it and the nation, in the murder of its
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chief. Booth was twenty-six years of age at addressed by Hon. Job E. Stevenson, the the time of his death. His corpse was orator selected for the occasion by the com- taken to Washington City for identification; mittee. On the stage were Major-Generals after which it was disposed of, how or where Hooker and Hunter and the clergy of the none but two persons exactly know. Thus city. summarily was the assassin brought to the
Rev. Mr. Goodwin opened the meeting bar of justice, even before the remains of his with prayer, after which the choir sang a victim had reached their final resting-place. hymn.
THE PRESIDENT'S FUNERAL.
Mr. Stevenson then spoke as follows:
Ohio mourns, America mourns, the civil-
Wednesday, the 19th of April, being set ized world will mourn the cruel death of apart for the observance of the funeral obse- Abraham Lincoln, the brave, the wise, the quies in honor of the deseased President, good; bravest, wisest, best of men.
religions assemblages met in thousands of churches and held services appropriate to the
History alone can measure and weigh his worth, but we, in parting from his mortal occasion. In some of the cities processions remains, may indulge the fullness of our composed of vast numbers, moved to the hearts in a few broken words of his life and his death and his fame; his noble life, and martyr's death, and matchless fame. A western farmer's son, self-made, in early manhood he won, by sterling qualities of head and heart, the public confidence, and was in- trusted with the people's power. Growing with his growing state, he became a leader
measure of the most solemn dirges. In the city of Washington it is estimated that the procession numbered 30,000, headed by the 22d U. S. Colored troops, ordered up from Richmond to participate in the cereno- nies. At noon the religious services were opened in the east room of the Presidential Mansion by the Rev. Dr. Hall, who read the in the West.
Episcopal form of service for the dead. Bishop Simpson of the M. E. Church follow- ed in prayer, and the Rev. Dr. Gurley of the Presbyterian, whose church Mr. Lincoln at- tended, delivered a sermon, and Dr. Grey of the Baptist Church offered the concluding prayer; after which at about two o'clock the procession began to move. The public feel- ing seemed to demand, that the remains should be removed to his former prairie home by such a route as would enable the largest num- ber of the American people to pay the last sad mark of respect to the honored dead. At eight o'clock on Friday evening, the 21st, the funeral train left Washington for Baltimore.
Elected president, he disbelieved the threats of traitors, and sought to serve his term in peace. The clouds of civil war darkened the land. The President pleaded and prayed for peace, "long declined the war," and only when the storm broke in fury on the flag, did he arm for the Union.
For four years the war raged, and the President was tried as man was never tried before.
Oh, "with what a load of toil and care" has he come, with steady, steadfast step, through the valley and shadow of defeat, over the bright mountain of victory, up to At ten o'clock the remains were received the sunlit plain of peace!
Tried by dire disaster at Bull Run, where
with universal drapings of woe in the city, where four years before plots had been laid volunteer patriots met veteran traitors; at to assassinate him on his way to the capital Fredericksburg, where courage contended of the nation. The body was exposed to with nature; at Chancellorsville, that des- view in the Exchange until three o'clock the perate venture; in the dismal swamps of the next morning, when it started for Harris- Chickahominy, where a brave army was burg, and from thence to Philadelphia, arriv- buried in vain; by the chronic seige of ing at six o'clock P. M. of Saturday, 22d. The Charleston, the mockery of Richmond, and body lay in state at Independent Hall until four the dangers at Washington,-through all o'clock A. M. on Monday, the 24th, when it these trials the President stood firm, trusting left for the city of New York, arriving at ten in God and the people, while the people o'clock, when it was conveyed to the City Hall, trusted in God and in him.
where it lay in state until Tuesday at one There were never braver men than the o'clock P. M., when it was escorted by a Union volunteers; none braver ever rallied monster procession-such as New York only in Grecian phalanx or Roman legion; none is capable of turning out-to the depot, to be braver ever bent the Saxon bow, or bore bar- conveyed to Albany, thence to Buffalo, Cleve- barian battle-ax, or set the lance in rest; none land, and Columbus. We select the follow- braver ever followed the crescent or the ing as a specimen of the many short address- cross, or fought with Napoleon, or Welling- es and orations that were delivered at vari- ton, or Washington. Yet the Commander- ous points on the route. The train arrived at in-Chief of the Union army and navy was Columbus on Saturday morning, the 29th, and worthy of the man-filling for four years in the afternoon a large meeting was held the foremost and most perilous post unfalter- on the east side of the capitol, which wasling.
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Tried by good fortune, he saw the soldiers; Abraham Lincoln was the personification of the West recover the great valley, and of Mercy. Andrew Johnson is the personi- bring back to the Union the Father of Waters, fication of Justice. and all his beautiful children. He saw the They have murdered Mercy, and Justice legions of Lee hurled from the hights of rules alone-and the people, with one voice, Gettysburg. He saw the flag of the free rise pray to Heaven that justice may be done. on Lookout Mountain, and spread from The mere momentum of our victorious ar- river to sea, and rest over Sumter. He saw mies will crush every rebel in arms, and the Star Spangled Banner, brightened by the then may our eyes behold the majesty of the blaze of battle bloom over Richmond, and he law. They have appealed to the sword; if saw Lee surrender. Yet he remained wise they were tried by the laws of war, their bar- and modest, giving all the glory to God, and barous crimes against humanity would doom our army aud navy. them to death.
Tried by civil affairs which would have The blood of thousands of murdered pris- taxed the powers and tested the virtue of oners cries to heaven. The shades of sixty- Jefferson, Hamilton and Washington, he ad- two thousand starved soldiers rise up in judg- ministered them so wisely and well that after ment against them. The body of the mur- three years no man was found to take his place. dered President condemns them. Some dep- He was re-elected, and the harvest of success recate vengeance. There is no room for vengc- came in so grandly that he might have said: ance here. Long before justice can have her " Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart perfect work, the material will be exhausted in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salva- and the record closed.
tion." Yet he was free from weakness or vanity.
Some wonder why the South killed her best friend. Abraham Lincoln was the true
Thus did he exhibit, on occasion, in due friend of the people of the South; for he was proportion and harmonious action, those car- their friend as Jesus is the friend of sinners- dinal virtues, the trinity of true greatness-
ready to save when they repent. He was not courage, wisdom, and goodness ; goodness to the friend of rebellion, of treason, of slavery love the right, wisdom to know the right, -he was their boldest and strongest foe, and and courage to do the right. Tried by these therefore they slew him-but in his death tests, and by the touch-stone of success, he they die-the people have judged them, and was the greatest of living men. they stand convicted, smitten with remorse
But why multiply words of his greatness ? and dismay-while the canse for which the We read it in the nation's eyes. What a President perished, sanctified by his blood, scene do we witness! Some of us remember grows stronger and brighter. These are when, on the 13th day of February, 1861, some of the consequences of the death of four years and two months before his death, Abraham Lincoln. Ours is the grief-theirs the President was here on his way to Wash- is the loss, and his is the gain. He died for ington, and spoke in the State House. Then Liberty and Union, and now he wears the this self-made western man was untried, and martyr's glorious crown. He is our crown- his friends, and he himself questioned his ca- ed President. While the Union survives- pacity to fill the responsible position to while the love of Liberty warms the human
which he was chosen. He spoke with mis- heart, Abraham Lincoln will hold high rank givings, but placing his reliance on Provi- among the immortal dead.
dence, went forward reluctantly to the chair;
The nation is saved and redeemed. She and now, after four short years, he returns, needs no aid from rebel hands to reconstruct the borne on the bosoms of millions of men, his Union. The Union needs no reconstruction. way watered with tears and strewn with flowers.
It was not made by man; it was created by the God of Nations. It is vital and immer-
He stood on the summit, his brow bathed tal. If it has wounds in the members of its in the beams of the rising sun of Peace, sing- body, they will heal, and leave no scar, with- ing in his heart the angelic song of "Glory out the cordial of compromise with treason. to God in the highest ; peace on earth, good Let us beware of the Delilah of the South, who will to man." has so lately betrayed our strong man. Let the
"With malice to none, with charity for "Prodigals" feed on the husks till they come all," he had forgiven the people of the South, in repentance, and ask to be received in their and might have forgotten their leaders-cov-
father's house-not as the equals to their ering with the broad mantle of his charity faithful brethren, but on a level with their their multitude of sins.
former servants. Then we can consider their
But he is slain-slain by Slavery. That petition, and discuss the question, not of the fiend incarnate did the deed. Beaten in bat- reconstruction of the Union, but of the form- tle, the leaders sought to save slavery by as-lation of free states from the national do- sination. This madness presaged their de- main. Until then let the sword which re- struction.
claimed their territory rule it, tempered by
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national law. Some cry conciliation, and this net-work of nature's embroidery, was say there can be no true peace by conquest. Mrs. Mary MeClelland, as the Genius of On the contrary, there is no enduring peace Liberty, Henry Cull, as soldeir, and Chas. but tho peace that is conquered. The peace Zimmerman as sailor. of France is a conquered peace; the peace of CENTERVILLE, IND., 3:41 A. M .- The depot was splendidly robed in mourning. At each end of the platform were two chandeliers, brilliantly lighted. The people seemed anx- ious that the cortege should stay, but of course their wishes could not be complied with. England is conquered and conquered again; the peace of our fathers was a conquered peace; the peace of the world is a conquered peace; the peace of Heaven is a conquered peace; and thanks be to God, our peace is to be a conquered, and therefore a lasting peace. For a hundred years sh: Il the people enjoy GERMANTOWN, IND., 4:05 A. M .- A num- ber of splendid bonfires were built, flags draped, and the usual evidences of grief ex- hibited. liberty and union in peace and security. The nation revived through all her members by the hand of free labor, prosperity shall fill and overflow the land-roll along the rail- ways-thrill the electric wires-pulsate on the rivers-blossom on the lakes; and the im- perial free republic, the best and strongest government on earth, will be a monument of the glory of Abraham Lincoln-while over and above all, shall rise and swell the great "dome of his fame."
CAMBRIDGE CITY, IND., 4:15 A. M .- As the train reached this place, it was received with salvos of artillery, and a very tasty arch had been thrown across the track. The darkness was turned into a solemn glare by the burn- ing of bengal lights, and as the red shadow met the first streak of gray in the east, the Along the entire route, both by day and by night, crowds awaited the funeral train, at even the smallest stations. From Columbus, the next principal point was Indianapolis. We give the accompanying reports by repre- effect was very impressive and solemn. It was the unanimous verdict of those who had traveled all the journey with the train, that this and the display at Richmond far ex- ceeded in solemnity and impressiveness any sentatives of the press on board the train, of thing that had been witnessed. There was a solemn earnestness depicted on every face as the train passed, and the sentence was written upon every feature, as if in burnished rows of steel, that though Lincoln has died,
what they saw in passing through Wayne county, Indiana, as specimens of what was seen at a thousand stations on their long and tedious journey.
RICHMOND, IND., April 30th, 3:10 A. M .-- the republic shall live. This was the observ- The scene here was not only imposing but ation of all on the train, as they looked magnificently solemn. From twelve to fifteen upon the stern yet sorrowful countenance of thousand people were assembled. As we ap- Indiana patriots. proached the city, the bells on the engines on
DUBLIN, IND., 4:30 A. M .- The platform and the Air Line Railroad were tolling, and all side tracks were lined with a people whose the engines were out, lit up with revolving looks and actions bespoke their deep grief. lamps and tastefully decorated in mourning. Their floral offerings to the dead gave evi- A gorgeous arch was constructed, twenty-five dence of their refined sensibilities. A neat feet high and thirty feet wide, under which and handsome arch of entwined evergreens the train passed. On both sides of the struc- was erected for the funeral to pass under. ture were the American flags, wrought into On the right was a large drooped flag. The triangles, down the sides of which were sus- depot was artistically draped. On the outer pended, at equal distances, transparencies of walls was a fine steel portrait of our red, white and blue, alternating with chap- murdered president, shrouded in evergreens, lets of evergreens, which clambered up the vases and velvet lengthenings.
sides of the triangles and centered at the
Sunday, 30th of April, wasspent at Indian- summit in velvet rosettes. Across the struc- anapolis. May 1st the journey was resumed ture, at about eighteen feet from the base,
to Chicago. The 2d was spent at Chicago, and was a platform carpeted with black velvet. on Wednesday the 3d, the escort, with its lov- On the ends of this platform were two flags ed remains arrived at Springfield, Illinois, in drooping folds. In the center of this up- having been twelve days traversing a distance per work was a young lady in sitting posture, of seventeen hundred miles, and stopping at representing the Genius of Liberty, and almost every station, that the millions of free- weeping over a coffin. On one side was a men might pay such honors to the dead, as boy soldier, and on the other. a boy sailor, were never paid to mortal man before, nei- both acting as mourners. Above this group ther in ancient or modern times, either among was reared another triangle, which was stud- ded with roses and rosettes. Linked wreathes of green again clasped ahout the flag-staff,
plebians, princes, kings or emperors. On Thursday, May 4th, the body was deposited in its resting place in Oak Ridge Cemetery, and folded themselves gracefully around the after which the following eloquent and im- already wreathed triangle. In the center of pressive discourse was delivered by Bishop
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Simpson of the Methodist Episcopal Church: If we glance at the procession which fol- Fellow-Citizens of Illinois, and of many parts lowed him we see how the nation stood of our entire Union!
aghast. Tears filled the eyes of many sun- Near the capital of this large and grow- burnt faces. Strong men as they clasped the ing state, in the midst of this beautiful hands of their friends, were unable to find grove, and at the mouth of this vault which vent for their grief in words. Women and has just received the remains of our fallen little children caught up the tidings as they chieftain, we gather to pay a tribute of re- ran through the land, and were melted into spect and to drop the tear of sorrow around tears. The nation stood still. Men left their the ashes of the mighty dead. plows in the fields and asked what the end A little more than four years ago, from should be? The hum of manufactories ceas- his plain and quiet home in yonder city, he ed, and the sound of the hammer was not started, receiving the parting words of the heard. Busy merchants closed their doors, concourse of friends who gathered around and in the exchange gold passed no more him, and in the midst of the dropping of from hand to hand. Though three weeks the gentle shower, he told of the pangs of have passed, the nation has scarcely breathed parting from the place where his children easily yet. A mournful silence is abroad up- had been born, and his home had been made on the land. Nor is this mourning confined pleasant by early recollections; and as he left, to any one class or to any district of coun- he made an earnest request, in the hearing of try. Men of all political parties and of all some who are present at this hour, that as he religious creeds have united in paying this was about to enter upon responsibilities mournful tribute. The archbishop of the Roman Catholic church in New York, and a which he believed to be greater than any which had fallen upon any man since the Protestant minister, walked side by side in days of Washington, that the people would the sad procession. A Jewish rabbi perform- offer up prayers that God would aid and
ed a part of the solemn services. Here are sustain him in the work which they had giv- gathered around his tomb the representatives en him to do.
of the army and navy, senators, judges,
His company left your quiet city, but, as it governors, and officers of all the branches of went, snares were in waiting for the Chief the Government.
Magistrate. Scarcely did he escape the dan- But the great cause of this mourning is to gers of the way or the hands of the assassin be found in the man himself. Mr. Lincoln as he neared Washington, and I believe he was no ordinary man; and I believe the escaped only through the vigilance of offi- cers and the prayers of his people. So that the blow was suspended for more than four conviction has been growing on the nation's mind, as it certainly has been on mine, espe- cially in the last years of his administration, years, which was at last permitted, through that by the hand of God he was especially the providence of God to fall. How different singled out to guide our government in these the occasion which witnessed his departure troubled times. And it seems to me that the from that which witnessed his return ! hand of God may be traced in many of the events connected with his history.
Doubtless he expected to visit you all again; doubtless you expected to take him by the
Here, too, are members of the civic profes-
hand, and to feel the warm grasp which you sions, with men and women from the hum- had felt in other days, and to see the tall blest as well as the highest occupations.
form walking among you, which you had de-
Here and there, too, are tears as sincere and lighted to honor in years past. But he was warm as any that drop, which come from the never permitted to return until he came with eyes of those whose kindred and whose race have been freed from their chains by him whom they mourn as their deliverer.
lips mute and silent, the frame encoffined, and a weeping nation following as his mourn- ers. Such a scene as his return to you was Far more eyes have gazed upon the face of the departed than ever looked upon the face of any other departed man. More eyes have looked upon the procession for sixteen never witnessed among the events of history. There was one for the Patriarch Jacob, which came up from Egypt, and the Egyp- tians wondered at the evidences of reverence hundred miles or more, by night and by and filial affection which came up from the day, by sunlight, dawn, twilight, and by torchlight, than ever before watched the progress of a procession. hearts of the Israelites. There was mourn- ing when Moses fell upon the hights of Pis- ga, and was hid from human view. There
We ask why this wonderful mourning- have been mournings in the kingdoms of the this great procession ? I answer, first: a earth, when kings and princes have fallen, part of the interest has arisen from the times but never was there in the history of man in which we live, and in which he, that had such mourning as that which accompanied fallen was a principal actor. It is a princi- this funeral procession; and has gathered ple of our nature that feelings once excited around the remains of him who was our lov- pass readily from the object by which they ed one, and who now sleepeth among us.
are excited to some other object, which may
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