Yesterday, our friend Jeff joined us for a visit to Baltimore's B&O Railroad museum where they were doing a commemoration and re-enactment of the funeral of President Lincoln (whose body was transported by train from Washington, DC to his home state of Illinois). While there, a reporter from the Baltimore Sun interviewed us! Here's the article! Rob and Tom
Onlookers moved by re-enactment of Lincoln funeral train
BALTIMORE SUN, SUNDAY, APRIL 19, 2015 By Joe Burris
SOURCE:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-lincoln-funeral-train-20150418-story.html
It was a funeral re-enactment, but the tears that glistened on Cindy
King's cheeks were real. The woman from Littlestown, Pa., took part in
the retelling of Abraham Lincoln's funeral rites on Saturday at the
B&O Railroad Museum, embodying a civilian overcome with emotion at
the sight of the assassinated president's remains. And she scarcely wept
alone.
Many
museum patrons were moved by the "War Came By Train" exhibit, which
marked the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's death. The production featured
re-enactments of Lincoln's funeral cortege, a replica casket, Civil War
soldier re-enactors and funeral music played by the Federal City Brass
Band.
As with the War of 1812 events re-enacted through last year,
Saturday's exhibit illustrated Baltimore's involvement in events that
shaped the nation's history.
"To embody the role you have to a
grasp of the history," said King, 67. "The death of Abraham Lincoln, I'm
convinced, changed our entire American history."
The
funeral cortege lasted about 15 minutes and featured the placing of the
coffin at the center of the museum's landmark roundhouse. Inside the
coffin was a mannequin that bore a striking resemblance to the
president, who was assassinated by one-time Baltimore resident John
Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington.
After the re-enactors circled the coffin, hundreds of spectators followed.
Guest
curator and exhibit designer Daniel Carroll Toomey, who also narrated
the event, told the crowd that in 1861 Lincoln had traveled through the
northern states en route to his inauguration. Following his death, his
remains were sent back to his home state of Illinois along a similar
route.
"To
plan this elaborate event," Toomey explained, "Secretary of War Edwin
Stanton called on his trusted friend John Work Garrett, president of the
B&O Railroad, and Governor John Brough of Ohio. The funeral train
would travel 1,600 miles over 25 different states and take 13 days to
complete its mournful journey." Toomey said that the first stop
for public viewing came in Baltimore, an event held on April 21 at the
Merchants' Exchange Building on Market Street.
Although the
building was just nine blocks from Camden Station, which was used by the
B&O Railroad, the procession took three hours to pass through the
city, he said. Lincoln's casket was made of walnut with lead lining,
covered with white satin and framed with silver plates, he added. "Over
7 million people saw Lincoln's funeral train between Washington and
Springfield," Toomey said. "Probably a million people viewed Lincoln's
casket in procession.
"I believe Lincoln's funeral is the most
extensive presidential funeral in the history of the ... United States. A
lot of people say, 'What about Kennedy?' Those people watched on
television. These 7 million people that watched Lincoln's funeral train
go by stood in the rain and stood in the dark."
Those who stood in the viewing procession on Saturday lauded the event.
"The
procession by the casket, I thought that was a really good
re-enactment," said Tom Williams, 52, of Bowie, who said he also
attended the event because of a fascination with trains. "I wanted
to learn more about the role that trains played in the transport of
troops and arms during the war," he said. "And the significance of the
funeral procession — I wanted to see what that would have been like."
Rob
Gutro, 52, of Bowie said he attended the event "to honor the memory of
President Lincoln and all the achievements that he made."
Other
artifacts on display at the museum included a reproduction of the
overcoat Lincoln wore on the night of his assassination and a 2-cent
copy of the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper dated April 17, 1865.
Before
the event, museum executive director Courtney Wilson said visitors
would be able to understand "the first great American tragedy."
"As
I looked around the roundhouse, people were in tears," Wilson, 61, said
afterward. "They were visibly moved by being in this experience that
was replicating something ... so important here in Baltimore 150 years
ago."
**NOTE: LATER BLOGS WILL INCLUDE HISTORY AND OUR PICTURES FROM THE EVENT **
