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 History of the Con- 
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 founded by 
 
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 THE OFFICIAL WAR MAPI THE STANDARD HISTORY! 
 
 Kew Edition; Complete to June 1, 1865. 
 
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 ..f
 
 _ \
 
 THE 
 
 ASSASSINATION 
 
 AND HISTORY OF 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY, 
 
 A complete digest of the whole affair from its inception 
 to its culmination, Sketches of the principal Char- 
 acters, Reports of the Obsequies, etc. 
 
 FULLY ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 CINCINNATI: 
 
 J. R. Hawley & Co., 164 Vine Street. 
 
 1865.
 
 Efitered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, 
 
 By J. B. HAWLBT & CO., 
 
 In the Oerk'B OflBce of the District Ck)urt of the United States for the Southern District of Ohio. 
 
 /x
 
 q 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 oj»:o 
 
 X. 
 Sketch of the Life of Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 11. 
 About Secret Organizations Connected with the Con- 
 spiracy, and their Influences. 
 
 III. 
 History of the Conspiracy — the Plot and Deeds. 
 
 I"V. 
 The Assassins — their Pursuit and Capture. 
 
 •V. 
 
 Sketches of the leading Conspirators. 
 
 Obsequies — the Funeral Cortege from City to City 
 and final ceremonies at Springfield. 
 
 'VII. 
 Incidents and Reminiscences.
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 oj*;o 
 
 I. The Assassination of President Lincoln. 
 TI. The Attempt on Secretary Seward. 
 
 III. Portrait of John Wilkes Booth. 
 
 IV. Capture and Death of Booth. 
 V. Portrait of Boston Corbett.
 
 PEEFACE. 
 
 The poignant grief and universal deeply seated 
 sorrow of those who knew Abraham Lincoln best 
 and loved him most — the native and adopted 
 masses of our re-born republic — are not restricted 
 to the millions who, by his wise policy and stern 
 adherence to the right, may yet say to the down 
 trodden of other lands. "Come as your brothers 
 have come, our glorious Union is again intact, 
 an asylum for the oppressed." 
 
 The dire calamity that has enshrouded our 
 land with the ebony mantle of darkness is not 
 ours alone. It is world wide. The mighty na- 
 tions of Europe stand aghast at the dreadful 
 deed. 
 
 Brittania's royal widow sympathizes with her 
 Cv)
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 afflicted sister of Columbia. The Lion tames on 
 beholding the agony of the bird of Jove. Gallia 
 reverts to her Reign of Terror, and wonders 
 whether rivers of blood will flow in America as 
 in her days of Robespeirre. "Not so, Nephew of 
 your Uncle." The mantle of Elijah has fallen 
 upon Elisha ; Columbia has an abiding faith in 
 her Johnson. 
 
 Classic Italia drops her chisel at the unfin- 
 ished statue; the pencil refuses its office at the 
 canvas. Our Hosmer and Powers cease for awhile, 
 and mentally ask "who shall bring forth from 
 the marble the semblance of the noblest work of 
 God — a Good Man? 
 
 Lands of Kosciusko and Kossuth ! weep, as well 
 you may, for the martyred statesman, but de- 
 spair not. Wait a little longer and all will be 
 well for the cause of freedom. Dire calamities 
 to nations bring forth heroic vindicators of the 
 right, as did the dark spirits of slavery, and 
 treason accursed, call to the helm of State that 
 man who lived to witness the eradication of both 
 those blasting influences from the land which he
 
 PREFACE. y:^ 
 
 has honored no less than her people now, and 
 will for all time, honor his memory. 
 
 Thanks to her noble Emperor, Russia's Bear 
 has ceased his growl over serfdom, and the im- 
 mortal edict of our Lincoln unrivets the shackles 
 of four millions of men now — hitherto slaves. 
 Well may they chant their homely but joyous 
 ditty. "JN'ow has the Kingdom come, in the year 
 of Jubile3." Terrible as has been the ordeal 
 through which the nation has passed, there re- 
 mains tb3 proud boast that she faltered not in 
 her firm determination to sustain her position as 
 the Land of Freedom, the home of the opjDressed. 
 Nay, more, her grandeur and power are now far 
 greater than when the rebellious crew developed 
 their hell-born schemes for which they now stand 
 accursed of God and man. 
 
 The rainbow of promise dissipates the cloud of 
 doubt as to the perpetuity of the Republic and 
 all \yill soon be well. 
 
 The mighty drama is about to close. Four 
 acts, of a year each, have been witnessed by an 
 agonized audience of wailing widows and orphans.
 
 VIU PREFACE. 
 
 The curtain will soon fall on the fifth. Vindica- 
 ted justice, retribution and expiation of the atro- 
 cious deeds of traitors upon the gallows will be 
 the fitting denouement of that tragedy to which 
 generations unborn will turn with mingled feel- 
 ings of wonder and horror. 
 
 Historians of futurity will be at fault as to 
 upon whom of the two actors shall fall the ful- 
 lest execration of all men — the bloodstained As- 
 sassin of the tragedy, or the pusillanimous, un 
 sexed buffoon of the farce just enacted. 
 
 Such as the above were our first thoughts. To 
 speak or write calmly now is a heavy task. The 
 pulpit andthe rostrum have called forth the talent 
 of the nation, but the theme is too great. Our 
 Clay, Webster and Everett are no more. 
 
 We close our brief preface with a few remarks 
 suggested in our calmer moments. 
 
 Among the declarations of John Felton, , who 
 assassinated the Duke of Buckingham, circum- 
 stances gave prominence to this : " There is no 
 alliance nearer to any one than his country."
 
 PREFACE. ii 
 
 Every assassin of public men, and every rebel 
 against the laws of his country, has probably 
 persuaded himself that he was actuated by noble 
 motives, and therefore anxious to blazon his spu- 
 rious patriotism on the historic page. Under our 
 institutions, true patriotism recognizes "the coun- 
 try " in its faithful and trustworthy representa- 
 tive, and the good President of the United States 
 always becomes the object of unbounded endear- 
 ment to the American people, with small regard 
 to ordinary political bias on the part of any. 
 When a man has carried our loved country 
 through its sorest trials and greatest afflictions, 
 he should find his reward in the country's deep- 
 est love; and if a deeper love exists than that 
 with which loyal men to-day cherish the memory 
 of the martyr President, its manifestations are 
 unknown. 
 
 Abkaham Lincoln was justly called the good 
 President. From the first, he dared to do right, 
 even contrary to great prejudice on the part of 
 superficial judges ; and his acts, during the stormy 
 term of his administration, have formed for him
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 a prouder monument than his bereaved people 
 can ever dedicate to his name. Blocks of gran- 
 ite and marble shafts are not needed to per- 
 petuate the memory of the Christian statesman 
 and martyred patriot in the hearts of freemen 
 everj'^wheref on Grod's footstool ; and through the 
 record of his acts shall he evermore declare to 
 the world; "I still live." 
 
 " Charity for all, malice toward none," was a 
 declaration of his heart. The principle had marked 
 his life, give emphasis to his acts, and imbued 
 all his politics. That such a man could have a 
 personal enemy is incomprehensible, and seems 
 totally absurd, until explained as an offshoot of 
 the secession malady that crazed the brains of 
 his murderers, and fitted them, through its in- 
 quisitorial tuition, for the blackest crime ; and, 
 however matters may be patched, explained, apol- 
 ogized for or generally befogged, the common sense 
 of the people will force them to view this dam- 
 ning act only as the grand culmination of the 
 teachings of secession. 
 
 The horrible fact of the assassination of Presi- 
 dent Lincoln needs slight comment here. The
 
 PREFACE. Xi 
 
 people have weighed it deliberately, and are 
 calmly waiting for results that 'shall complete its 
 expiation. They demand nothing unreasonable, 
 and feel that the crime can- be measured by no 
 degree of punishment. Developments at this mo- 
 ment in progress are unraveling the dark intri- 
 cacies of the most horrible conspiracy that ever 
 stained our annals, and throughout the land the 
 fervent petition for justice ascends to God from 
 every loyal hamlet. Whatever the sacrifice, let 
 justice be done. 
 
 The mighty pilot who guided our nation's bark 
 through the perilous storm in safety, is cold in 
 his grave, and the genius of liberty will ever 
 mourn the irreparable loss. Let us profit by his 
 great example, and strive to imitate his virtues.
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 SKETCH OF HIS LIFE. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln was born in that part of Hardin county, 
 Kentucky, which has since been called Larue. His remote 
 ancestors were from Berks county, Pennsylvania. They re- 
 moved to Eockingham county, Virginia, where Abraham the 
 grandfather and Thomas the father of Mr. Lincoln were born. 
 In 1780, Abraham Lincoln settled in Kentucky, which was at 
 that time a wilderness filled with savages. His rude cabin was 
 distant two or three miles from the nearest white settler. Life 
 in this part of Kentucky was then in constant danger. The 
 settler carried his gun and axe to the place of his daily labor, the 
 one being as necessary to his protection as the other for the 
 purposes of work. At night when the family retired to rest. 
 the gun was always placed within convenient access. 
 
 For four years, Abraham Lincoln managed to escape, while 
 
 whole families in the immediate vicinity were murdered by the 
 
 Indians. At the end of that period, while engaged one day in 
 
 clearing a piece of land about four miles from home, he was 
 
 suddenly attacked and killed, and his scalped remains were 
 
 found the next morning. The blow fell heavily on his widow, 
 
 who was now alone in the wilderness with her three sons and 
 
 two daughters, and very little money with which to procure the 
 (SI) 2 
 
 /-3I
 
 22 LIFEAND MARTYRDOM 
 
 necessities of life. Compelled by poverty to separate, all the 
 children but Thomas left the county, the second son re- 
 moving to Indiana, the rest to other parts of Kentucky. 
 Thomas at the age of twelve also left home, but soon returned 
 to Kentucky, and in the year 1806 married Miss Nancy Hanks, 
 who was a native of Virginia, so that all of the immediate ances- 
 tors of the President were born on Southern soil. Mrs. Lincoln 
 could read but not write, while her husband could do neither, 
 except to scribble his name in a style which only some of his most 
 intimate friends could decipher. Eegretting his own want of 
 culture, he fully appreciated the advantages of education, and 
 honored the superior learning of others. He was noted for kind- 
 nessof heart and great industry and perseverance. Mrs. Lincoln, 
 although possessed of no education, was blessed with much 
 natural talent, excellent judgment and good sense. These quali- 
 fications, together with her great piety, made her a suitable 
 partner for a man of Thomas Lincoln's attributes. She was a 
 mother whose example and teaching could not fail to be of vast 
 benefit in the formation of the characters of her children. This 
 estimable couple had three children — a daughter, a son who died 
 in infancy, and Abraham who was born on the 12th of February, 
 1809. The sister attained the years of womanhood and married, 
 but died without issue. 
 
 Although Southern by birth and residence, Mr. Lincoln 
 early became imbued with a disgust for slavery. In witnessing 
 the evils of the " peculiar institution," he longed for freedom 
 from the disagreeable effects of a condition of society which made 
 a poor white man even more degraded than the negro. Enter- 
 taining these sentiments he naturally desired to change his place 
 of residence. Early in October, 1816, finding a purchaser for 
 his farm, he made arrangements for the transfer of the property
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 2S 
 
 and for his removal. Ten barrels of whisky of forty gallons each 
 formed the consideration for the sale of the farm, and although 
 Mr. Lincoln was a temperate man, he acceded to the terms, 
 because such transactions were common and regarded as proper. 
 The value of the whisky was two hundred and eighty dollars 
 and twenty cents in money. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln, with the slight assistance little Abe could give 
 him, prepared a flat-boat and was soon floating down the Roll- 
 ing Fork river with his household goods, tools and the barrels of 
 whisky on his way to Indiana. After he had left the JRolling 
 Fork and reached the Ohio, his boat was upset and all on it 
 thrown into the river. With the assistance of some men on the 
 bank, he saved the boat and a few tools, axes and three barrels 
 of whisky. Starting once more, and proceeding to a well 
 known ferry on the river, he was guided into the interior by a 
 resident of the section of country in which he had landed, to 
 whom he gave his boat in payment for his services. He trtiveled 
 for several days with much difficulty, most of the time being em- 
 ployed in cutting a road through the forest wide enough for a 
 team, and at the end of eighteen miles, Spencer county, Indiana, 
 was reached. The site of the new home being determined upon 
 Mr, Lincoln returned to Kentucky on foot, and made prepara- 
 tions to remove his family. In a few days the party bade fare- 
 well to their old home, Mrs. Lincoln and her daughter riding 
 one horse, the father another and Abe a third. After seven 
 days' journey through an uninhabited country, their resting place 
 at night being a blanket, spread upon the ground, they arrived 
 at the spot selected for their residence, and no unnecessary delays 
 were permitted to interfere with the immediate and successful 
 clearing of a site for a cabin. An axe was placed in Abe's hands, 
 and, with a neighbor's assistance, in two days Mr. Lincoln had a
 
 24 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 house of about eighteen feet square. It had only one room, but 
 some slabs laid across logs overhead gave additional accommo- 
 dations, which were reached by climbing a rough ladder in one 
 corner. A bed, a table and four stools were then made by the 
 two settlers, fiither and son, and the building was ready for oc- 
 cupancy. The loft was Abe's bed room, and there, night after 
 night for many years, he who but recently occupied the most 
 exalted position in the gift of the American people, and who 
 dwelt in the White House at Washington, surrounded by all the 
 comforts that wealth and power could give, slumbered with a 
 coarse blanket for his mattress and another for his coverings 
 Abe did not, through the long winter, neglect his reading and 
 spelling. Before leaving Kentucky he had attended school, 
 though for a short time only. He also practiced with the rifle, 
 and became a shot of some note, much to the delight of his pa- 
 rents. 
 
 About a year after the fjimily removed to Indiana, Mrs. 
 Lincoln died. Abe felt the loss keenly. He had been a dutiful 
 son, and she the most devoted of mothers. A young man, soon 
 after Mrs. Lincoln's death, offered to teach Abe writing. The 
 opportunity was fraught with too much benefit to be rejected, and 
 after a few weeks practice, under eye of his instructor and also 
 out of doors with a piece of chalk or charred stick, he was able 
 to write his name, and in less than twelve months could write a 
 letter. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln married during the next year, Mrs. Sally Johnston 
 of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, a widow lady with three children. 
 Between this lady and Abe a strong attachment sprung up. She 
 was every way calculated to supply the place made vacant by 
 the death of Mrs. Lincoln. At the time of Mr. Lincoln's second 
 marriage, a person named Crawford moved into the neighbor-
 
 OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 n 
 
 hood and opened a school to which Abe was sent. At this school 
 he improved very much in reading and writing, and mastered 
 arithmetic. " His school-garb comprised a suit of dressed buck- 
 skin and a cap made from a raccoon skin." He took an unusual 
 pride in his studies, and close application and a retentive memory 
 made him a favorite scholar with this teacher. He was employed 
 by the most ignorant settlers as their scribe whenever they had 
 letters to write. A brief period at this school, and, to use a com- 
 mon phrase, his education was finished. Six months of instruc- 
 tion within the walls of an insignificant schoolhouse is all the 
 education that Abraham Lincoln has received during a long life- 
 time. 
 
 For four or five years after leaving school, or until he was 
 eighteen, he constantly labored in the woods with his axe, cutting 
 down trees and splitting rails, and during the evening, read such 
 works as he could obtain among the settlers. A year after, he was 
 hired, by a man living near, at ten dollars a month, to go to New 
 Orleans on a flat-boat, loaded with stores, which were destined 
 for sale at the plantations on the Mississippi river, near the Cre- 
 scent city, and with but one companion, started on this rather 
 dangerous journey. At night they tied up alongside of the bank 
 and rested upon the hard deck, with a blanket for a covering, 
 and during the hours of light whether their lonely trip was 
 cheered by a bright sun, or made disagreeable in the extremely 
 violent storms, their craft floated down the stream, its helmsmen 
 never for a moment losing their spirits, or regretting their accep- 
 tance of the positions they occupied. Nothing occurred to mar 
 the success of the trip, nor the excitement naturally incident to 
 a flat-boat expedition of some eighteen hundred miles, save a 
 midnight attack by a party of negroes, who, after a severe con-
 
 26 LIFEAND MARTYRDOM 
 
 flict, were whipped by Abe and his comrade, and compelled to 
 flee. After selling their goods at a handsome profit, the young 
 merchants returned to Indiana. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln removed to Illinois in 1830, carrying their house-' 
 hold articles thither in large wagons drawn by oxen, Abe being 
 the driver of one team. In two weeks they reached Decatur, 
 Macon County, Illinois, near the center of the State, and in 
 another day, were on a tract of land of ten aci'cs, on the north 
 side of the Sangamon river, about ten miles west of Decatur. 
 Immediately after their arrival, a log cabin was erected, and 
 Abe commenced to split the rails for the fence, with which the 
 place was to be enclosed. As a rail splitter, a tiller of the soil, 
 or a huntsman, to whose great accuracy of aim the family depen- 
 ded in a great measure, for their daily food, young Abraham 
 Lincoln was active, earnest and laborious, and when in the fol- 
 lowing spring, he made known his intention to leave his home, 
 to seek his fortune among strangers, the tidings were received 
 by his parents and friends with the most profound sorrow. Pack- 
 ing up his clothing, he started westward, and engaged to work on 
 a farm in Menard county. Here he remained during the sum- 
 mer and winter, at the same time improving himself in reading, 
 writing, grammar and arithmetic. Early in the following spring 
 he was hired bj'^ a man named Offutt, to assist in taking a flat- 
 boat to New Orleans, and as it was found impossible to purchase 
 a suitable boat, Abe lent a willing and industrious hand in build- 
 ing one at Sagamon, from whence, when completed, it was float- 
 ed into the Mississippi river. The trip was made, and his 
 employer was so much gratified with the industry and tact of 
 his hired hand, that he engaged him to take charge of his mill 
 and store in the village of New Salem. In this position, Honest
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 2T 
 
 Abe as he was now called, won the respect an(t confidence of all 
 with whom he had business dealings, while socially, he was much 
 beloved by the residents, young and old, of the place. 
 
 The Black Hawk war broke out in the early part of the fol- 
 lowing 3'ear, and the governor of Illinois calling for troops, Abe 
 offered his services. He placed his name first on the roll at the 
 recruiting station in New Salem, and by his influence induced 
 many of his friends and companions to do likewise. A company 
 was soon formed, and Abe was unanimously elected captain. 
 The company marched to Bardstown, and from there to the seat 
 of war; but during their term of enlistment — thirty days — were 
 not called into active service. A new levy was then called for 
 and he enlisted as a private, and at the end of thirty days re- 
 enlisted, and remained with his regiment until the end of the war. 
 
 Soon after his return from this campaign, he was waited upon 
 by several of the influential citizens of New Salem, who asked him 
 his consent to nominate him for the Legislature. He had been 
 a resident of the county only nine months but as a thorough- 
 going " Henry Clay man" was needed, he was deemed the most 
 suitable person to run. There were eight aspirants for the legis- 
 tive position, but although he received tivo hundred and seventy- 
 seven votes out of txoo hundred and eighty -four cast in New Salem 
 he was not elected, the successful candidate leading by a few 
 votes, having received a heavy vote in the country. 
 
 He engaged in the mercantile business soon after his defeat, 
 but in a few months sold out, and under the tuition of John Cal- 
 houn — in later years connected with the Lecompton Convention 
 — became proficient in surveying, an occupation which for more 
 than a year he found very remunerative for a novice. He was 
 for a time post-master at New Salem.
 
 28. LIFEANDMARTTRDOM 
 
 In August, 1834, he was elected to the Legislature, and in 
 1836, 1838 and 18-10 was re-elected. He determined to become a 
 lawyer while attending the first session of the Legislature to 
 which he was elected, and being placed in possession of the 
 necessary books, through the kindness of Hon. John T. Stuart, 
 applied himself to study, and in 1836 was admitted to practice at 
 the bar. He became a partner of Mr. Stuart at Springfield in 
 1837. 
 
 In March, 1837, a protest was presented to the House of Rep- 
 resentatives of Illinois, and signed by Daniel Stone and Abraham. 
 Lincoln, Representatives from Sangamon county. This is the 
 first record that we have of the sentiments of Mr. Lincoln on 
 the slavery question. It was in opposition to a series of resolu- 
 tions which had been adopted, taking an extreme Southern view 
 of slavery, for which Mr. Lincoln refused to vote, and subse- 
 quently handed in the protest. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was a Whig candidate for Presidential elector in 
 every campaign from 1836 to 1852, and in 1844 he stumped the 
 entire State of Illinois for Henry Clay, and going into Indiana 
 spoke daily to large gatherings, until the day of the election. 
 His style of speaking was pleasing to the masses of the people, 
 and his earnest appeals were not only well received, but were 
 productive of much benefit to his favorite candidate. He was ac- 
 customed, from early childhood, to the habits and peculiarities of 
 all kinds of people, and he knew exactly what particular style 
 of language best suited his hearers, and the result was that he 
 was always listened to with a degree of attention and interest 
 which few political speakers received. 
 
 Mr, Lincoln was elected to Congress from the central district 
 of lUiiimfi in 1846, by a majority of over 1500 votes — the largest
 
 OT ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 29 
 
 ever given in that district for a candidate opposed to the Demo- 
 cratic party. Illinois elected seven representatives that year 
 and all were Democrats but Mr. Lincoln. In the Whig con- 
 vention of 1848, he was an active delegate, and earnestly ad- 
 vocated the selection of General Taylor as the nominee for 
 the Presidency. 
 
 He was a candidate before the Legislature of Illinois for U. 
 S. Senator, but his political opponents were in the majority, and 
 General Shields was chosen. From that time till 1854, he con- 
 fined himself to his profession. In the latter year he again en- 
 tered the political field and battled indefatigably in the celebra- 
 ted campaign which resulted in victory for the first time to the 
 opposition of the Democratic party in Illinois. During the can- 
 vass Mr. Lincoln was frequently brought into controversy upon 
 the stand with Stephen A. Douglas. One of the discussions 
 that was held on the fourth of October, 1854, during the pro- 
 gress of the Annual State Fair, being remarkable as the great 
 discussion of the campaign. 
 
 On the second of June, 1858, the Republican State Conven- 
 tion met at Springfield, and nominated Mr. Lincoln as their 
 candidate for the United States Senate. The contest which 
 followed was one of the most exciting and remarkable ever 
 witnessed in this country. Mr. Douglas his opponent, had 
 few superiors as a political debater, and while he had made 
 many enemies, by his course upon the Nebraska bill, his per- 
 sonal popularity had been greatly incronscd by his indepen- 
 dence, and by the opposition manifested to him by the Ad- 
 ministration. 
 
 During the campaign Mr. Lincoln spoke thus of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence : 
 
 *' These communities, (the thirteen colonies,) by their repre-
 
 fM LIFE AMD MARTYRDOM 
 
 Bentativcs in old Independence Hall, said to the world of men, 
 ' We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are born 
 equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with inalienable 
 rights ; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of 
 happiness.' This was their majestic interpretation of the econ- 
 omy oT the universe. This was their lofty, wise and noble un- 
 derstanding of the justice of the Creator to His creatures. Yes, 
 gentlemen, to all His creatures, to the whole great family of 
 man. In their enlightened belief, nothing stamped with the 
 Divine image and likeness, was sent into the world to be trod- 
 den on and degraded and imbruted by its fellows. They grasp- 
 ed not only the race of men then living, but they reached for- 
 ward and seized upon the furthest posterity. They created a 
 beacon to guide their children, and their children's children, 
 and the countless myriads who should inhabit the earth in other 
 ages. Wise statesmen as they were, they knew the tendency of 
 prosperity to breed tyrants, and so they established these great 
 self-evident truths that when in the distant future some man, 
 some faction, some interest, should set up the doctrine that none 
 but rich men, or none but white men, or none but Anglo-Saxon 
 white men, were entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of hap- 
 piness their posterity might look up again to the Declaration 
 of Independence, and take courage to renew the battle which 
 their fathers began, so that truth and justice and mercy, 
 and all the humane and christian virtues, might not be 
 extinguished from the land, so that no man would, here- 
 after, dare to limit and circumscribe the great principles 
 on which the temple of liberty was being built. 
 
 " Now, my countrymen, if you have been taught doc- 
 trines conflicting with the great landmarks of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence, if you have listened to suggestions
 
 OFABRAHAMLINCOLJT. 31 
 
 which would take away from its grandeur, and mutilate the 
 fair symmetry of its proportions, if you have been in- 
 clined to believe that all men are not created equal iu 
 those inalienable rights enumerated by our chart of liberty, 
 let me entreat you to come back, return to the fountain 
 whose waters spring close by the blood of the Kevolution. 
 Think nothing of me, take no thought for the political 
 fate of any man whomsoever, but come back to the truths 
 that are m the Declaration of Independence. 
 
 "You may do any thing with me you choose, if you will 
 but heed these sacred principles. You may not only de- 
 feat me for the Senate, but you may take me and put 
 me to death. While pretending no indifference to earthly 
 honors, I do claim to be actuated in this contest by some- 
 thing higher than an anxiety ibr office. I charge you to 
 drop every jDaltry and insignificant thought for any man's 
 success. It is nothing, I am nothing. Judge Douglas is 
 nothing. But do not destroy that immortal emblem of humanity^ 
 the Declaration of American Independence." 
 
 The election day at length arrived, and although the efforts of 
 Mr. Lincoln resulted in an immense increase of Eepublican votes, 
 whatever aspirations he had for personal success were frustra- 
 ted. A vote of 126,08-4 was cast for the Eepublican candidates, 
 121,940 for the Douglas Democrats and 5,091 for the Lecompton 
 candidates, but Mr. Douglas was elected United States Senator 
 by the Legislature, in which his supporters had a majority of 
 eight on joint ballot. 
 
 On the sixteenth of May, 1860, the Eepublican National Con- 
 vention assembled in Chicago, for the purpose of nominating 
 candidates for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency. On the 
 third ballot Mr. Lincoln came within one of being nominated.
 
 32 LIFEANDUA.RTTBDOH 
 
 One of the delegates then changed four votes of his State, giving 
 them to Mr. Lincoln, thus nominating him. 
 
 On the sixth of November, 1860, the election for President 
 took place with the following result. Mr. Lincoln received 
 491,275 votes over Mr. Douglas; 1,018,499 over Mr. Breckin- 
 ridge and 1,275,821 over Mr. Bell; and the vote was subsequent- 
 ly proclaimed by Congress as follows : 
 
 For Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois 180 
 
 For John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky 72 
 
 For John Bell, of Tennessee 39 
 
 For Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois.. 12
 
 INCEPTION OF THE PLOT 
 
 A leading officer of the Buchanan Administration received, on 
 the first of January, 1861, a letter from a friend, a gentleman of 
 Southern sympathies living in Baltimore, in which among other 
 things, it Avas stated that twelve thousand men were already en- 
 rolled and organized in that city, bound by the most solemn 
 oaths, to do the bidding of their leaders, whose purpose was to 
 march them against Washington, capture it, and with such re- 
 inforcements as they could get from the south, hold it, not only 
 to' prevent the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, but in order to make 
 it the capital of the future Southern Republic. Still darker 
 threats than this, the letter stated, were whispered about, being 
 nothing less than the assassination of Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Ham- 
 lin. At that time, it is well known, bets were freely made in 
 the streets of Washington that Mr. Lincoln would never be in- 
 augurated as President of the United States. These stories were 
 shortly after denied, but subsequent events j)rove that they have 
 some foundation. 
 
 On the 11th of February, Mr. Lincoln left his home in Spring- 
 field, Illinois, on his way to Washington. A large number of 
 people assembled, to pay him a token of respect before his depar- 
 ture. The moment was a solemn one. The reports of threat- 
 ened assassination, forcible prevention of the inauguration, and 
 the like, had reached his eai'S, as well as those of his townsmen. 
 His speech was short but affecting. He said : 
 
 (33J '
 
 34 LIFEANDMARTTBDOM 
 
 " My friends : No one in my position can appreciate the sad- 
 ness I feel al this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. 
 Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century; here my 
 children were born, and here one of them lies buried. I know 
 not how I shall see you again. A duty devolves upon me 
 which is greater, perhaps, than that which devolved upon any 
 other man since the days of Washington. He never would have 
 succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which 
 he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the 
 same Divine aid which sustained him, and on the same Almighty 
 Being I place my reliance for supjiort ; and I hope you, my 
 friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance 
 without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is cer- 
 tain. Again I bid you all an affectionate farewell." 
 
 During this speech Mr. Lincoln betrayed much emotion, and 
 hundreds in the crowd were affected to tears ; cries of " We will 
 pray for you, " "be just and have no fear" were heard, and a 
 feeling of deep solemnity settled over the whole assemblage. 
 
 Leaving Springfield Mr. Lincoln proceeded by easy passages 
 to Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, 
 Buffalo, Albany and New York. At all these places he was 
 warmly received. Having been welcomed to the city in the 
 presence of the Common Council of New York, by Mayor Wood, 
 he replied : 
 
 "Mr. Mayor; — It is with feelings of deep gratitude that I 
 make my acknowledgment for the reception which is given me 
 in the great commercial city of New York. I cannot but remem- 
 ber that this is done by people who do not by a majority agree 
 with me in political sentiment. It is more grateful because in 
 this I see that for the great principles of our Grovernment the 
 people are nearly all or quite unanimous. In regard to the diflS-
 
 OFABRAHAMLINCOIiV. 36 
 
 culties that confront ns at this time, and of which your Honor 
 *has thought fit to speak so becomingly and so justly, as I sup- 
 pose, I can only say that I agree in the sentiments expressed by 
 the Mayor. 
 
 " In my devotion I hope I am behind no man in the Union. 
 But as for the wisdom with which to conduct the affairs tending 
 to the preservation of the Union, I fear that too great confidence 
 may have been reposed in me. I am sure I bring a devoted heart 
 to the work. There is nothing that could ever bring me to con- 
 sent, willingly, to the destruction of this Union, under which, 
 not only the great commercial city of New York but the whole 
 country has acquired its greatness, unless it were to be for that 
 thing for which the Union itself was made. I understand the 
 ship to be made for the carrying of the cargo, and so long as the 
 ship can be sailed with the cargo it should never be abandoned. 
 This Union should never bo abandoned unless it fails, and the 
 possibility of its preservation shall cease to exist, without throw- 
 ing passengers and cargo overboard. So long, then, as it is 
 possible that the prosperity and liberties of this people can be 
 preserved in the Union it shall be my purpose at all times 
 to preserve it. And now, Mr. Mayor, again thanking you 
 for the reception which has been given me, allow me to 
 draw to a close." 
 
 During this day (February 20th) reports of the threatened 
 assassination of the President were circulated in the streets. 
 At Newark, N. J., a handbill was circulated, calling upon 
 unemployed working-men to attend at the depot on Mr. 
 Lincoln's arrival at that city, and " demonstrate their dif- 
 ferences " with him. 
 
 A meeting was held in the evening, and a largo number 
 3
 
 36 LIFEAKDMARTYRDOM 
 
 of persons volunteered for a cavalry escort. At Trenton 
 a large additional police force was put on duty to preserve' 
 order. No disturbance took place however. Mr. Lincoln 
 arrived at Philadelphia on the evening of the 2l6t, and was 
 enthusiastically received, as he had been at Newark, Rah way, 
 New Brunswick, Princeton, Trenton, and other points along 
 the route. Leaving Philadelphia on the morning of the 
 22d, he reached Harrisburgh in the happiest manner by th« 
 authorities and people of the city. Here, for the first time, 
 rumors began to avail of persons being colluded togetho 
 for some evil purpose. 
 
 The committee of arrangements at Harrisburg learninj 
 on creditable authority, that in all probability an attemp'' 
 would be made on the President's life at Baltimore, de 
 bated the question of the manner of his passage — whether h] 
 should pass from depot to depot, or go by a route whicl 
 avoided change of cars. Finally it was arranged to leavo 
 Harrisburgh at 6 o'clock in the evening, arriving at Balti- 
 more and Washington at hours different from those hereto- 
 fore announced. Accordingly Mr. Lincoln left Harrisburgh 
 at the time secretly determined upon. The plan of action 
 which was successfully carried out was this. Speeches and 
 receptions were to be kept up all the afternoon ; special 
 trains were arranged, the telegraph silenced, and men were 
 stationed to cut the wires if necessary ; and upon the arrival 
 in Baltimore, Mr. Lincoln was to be conveyed through the 
 city in a close carriage. The plan was laid before Mr. Lin- 
 coln, and it is said he indignantly rejected it. Mrs. Lincoln 
 begged of him to go, and Governor Curtin and other in- 
 fluential men also entreated him to adojjt the plan. He was
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINOOLK. 3( 
 
 assured that he would certainly be assassinated if ho fol- 
 lowed the original jjrogramme ; and it is said that Mrs. 
 Lincoln's tears, and the arguments of his friends finally 
 persuaded him to adopt the proposed course. He proceeded 
 to Baltimore by a special express train, passed through the 
 city unobserved, and reached Wasbington at 6 o'clock on 
 the morning ofthe 24th. The train containing Mrs. Lin- 
 coln and the rest of the Presidental party left Ilarrisburgh 
 at the time publicly announced. When it reached Balti- 
 more a vast crowd had assembled to meet it ; but it had 
 got abroad that Mr. Lincoln had already passed through 
 the city, and the train was saluted with groans and hisses. 
 No violence was offered, however. 
 
 It is well here to state, in justice to the character of our 
 murdered President, that the story published in the telegraphic 
 dispatches of the New York Times, on the 24th of February, 
 that Mr. Lincoln passed from Harrisburgh to "Washington at- 
 tired in a " Scotch plaid cap and very long military cloak, so 
 that he was entirely unrecognizable," was utterly false. It 
 was made out of whole cloth by a sensation reporter whose 
 recent familiarity with Presidential attributes is fresh in the 
 minds of the public. Mr. Lincoln was very much opposed to 
 any concealment, but his opinion was overborne by that of 
 undoubted personal and political friends. When he did go, 
 howdver, he made no change in hia costume, and no attempt 
 at concealment. 
 
 The features of the Baltimore plot have never been per- 
 fectly made clear. Innumerable rumors prevailed at the time, 
 Bom« of them doubtless founded om fact, others simply absurd. 
 On the evening of the 21st of February, 1861, Secretary (then
 
 38 LIFB AND UARTTRDOIC 
 
 Senator) Seward received official intelligence from General 
 Scott, that a most diabolical plot had been successfully ar- 
 ranged on the part of a secret organization in Baltimore to 
 assassinate the President-elect on his arrival at that city. Mr. 
 Seward communicated this intelligence to a few private friends, 
 and it was determined to despatch a message at once ^^ 
 Philadelphia to inform Mr. Lincoln of the fact. On being 
 told of it, the intended victim replied that he had heard the 
 same thing from other sources, giving the Baltimore chief of 
 police as one authority. The plot was to throw the Presi- 
 dential train off the track by a torpedo placed conveniently to 
 some high embankment, or failing in this, to mob and as- 
 sassinate Mr. Lincoln on his arrival in Baltimore, the con- 
 spirators to surround the depot, armed with knife or pistol. 
 Ten or fifteen men were said to have been prepared to com- 
 plete the work, and it is reported that a vessel was lying in 
 the harbor ready to convey the murderers to Mobile. The 
 following account is taken from a souice every way worthy 
 of credit. 
 
 "Some of Mr. Lincoln's friends having heard that a con- 
 spiracy existed to assassinate him on his way to Washing- 
 ton, set on foot an investigation of the matter. For this 
 purpose they employed a detective of great experience, who 
 was engaged at Baltimore in the business some three weeks 
 prior to Mr. Lincoln's expected arrival there, employing 
 both men and women to assist him. Shortly after coming 
 to Baltimore the detective discovered a combination of men 
 banded together under a solemn oath to assassinate the Presi- 
 dent-elect. The leader of the conspiracy was an Italian 
 refugee, a barber, well-known in Baltimore, who assumed th«
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 85 
 
 name of Orsini as indicative of the part he was to perform. 
 The assistants employed by the detective, who, like himself^ 
 were strangers in Baltimore city, by assuming to be Seces- 
 sionists from Louisiana and other seceding States, gained the 
 confidence of some of the conspirators, and were intrusted 
 with their plans. It was arranged, in case Mr. Lincoln should 
 pass safely over the railroad to Baltimore, that the conspira- 
 tors should mingle with the crowd which might surround 
 his carriage, and by pretending to be his friends, be en- 
 abled to approach his pei'son, when, upon a signal from 
 their leader, some of them would shoot at Mr. Lincoln 
 with their pistols, and would throw into his carriage hand- 
 grenades filled with detonating powder, similar to those 
 used in the attempted assassination of the Emperor Louie 
 Napoleon. It was intended that in the confhsion which 
 should result from this attack, the assailants would escape 
 to a vessel, which was waiting in the harbor to receive 
 them, and be carried to Mobile, in the seceding State of 
 Alabama. 
 
 "Upon Mr. Lincoln's arrival in Philadelphia, upon Thur&- 
 day, the 21st day of February, a detective visited Phila- 
 delphia, and submitted to certain friends of the President- 
 elect the information he had collected as to the conspira- 
 tors and their plans. An interview was immediately ar- 
 ranged between Mr. Lincoln and the detective. The in- 
 terview took place in Mr. Lincoln's room, in the Continen 
 tal Hotel, where he was staying during his visit to Phila' 
 delphia. 
 
 " Mr. Lincoln, having heard the officer's statement, in 
 formed him that he had promised to raise the Americ*:
 
 40 LIFEAXD MAKTYKDOM 
 
 flag on Independence Hall the next morning — the morning 
 of the anniversary of "Washington's Birthday — and that he 
 had accepted the invitation of the Pennsylvania Legisla- 
 ture to be publicly received by that body in the after- 
 noon of the same day. ' Both of these engagements,' said 
 he, with emphasis, ' I will keep, if it costs me my life. 
 If, however, after I have concluded these engagements, you 
 can take me in safety to Washington, I will place myself at 
 your disposal, and authorize you to make such arrange- 
 ments as you may deem proper for that purpose.' 
 
 " On the next day in the morning Mr. Lincoln performed 
 the ceremony of raising the American flag on Independence 
 Hall in Philadeljphia according to his promise, and arrived at 
 Harrisburg on the afternoon of the same day, when he was 
 formally welcomed by the Pennsylvania Legislature. After 
 the reception he retired to his hotel, the Jones' House, and 
 withdrew with a few confidential friends to a private apart- 
 mient. Here he remained until nearly six o'clock the next 
 morning, when in company with Colonel Lamon, he quietly 
 entered a carriage without observation, and was driven to 
 the Pennsylvania Railroad, where a sj^ecial train for Phila- 
 delphia was waiting for him. Simultaneously with his de- 
 parture from Harrisburg the telegraph wires were cut, so 
 that his departure, if it should become known, might not be 
 communicated at a distance. 
 
 " The special train arrived in Philadelphia at a quai-ter be- 
 fore 11 o'clock at night. Here he was met by the detec- 
 tir© who had a carriage in readiness into which the party 
 entered, and were driven to the depot of the Philadelphia 
 Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad.
 
 OTABRAHAMLIXCOLK. 41 
 
 "They did not reach the depot until a quarter past 11; 
 but fortunately for them, the regular train, the hour of 
 which for starting was 11, had been delayed. The party 
 then took berths in the sleeping-car, and without change 
 of cars passed directly through to Washington, where they 
 arrived at the usual hour, 6^ o'clock on the morning of 
 Saturday, the 23d. Mr. Lincoln wore no disguise whatever, 
 but journeyed in an ordinary traveling-dress. 
 
 "It is proper to state here that prior to Mr. Lincoln's 
 arrival in Philadelphia, General Scott and Senator Seward in 
 Washington had been apprised from independent sources that 
 imminent danger threatened Mr. Lincoln in case he should 
 publicly pass through Baltimore, and accordingly a special 
 messenger, Mr. Frederick W. Seward, was dispatched to Phil- 
 adelphia to urge Mr. Lincoln to come direct to Washington 
 in a quiet manner. The messenger arrived in Philadelphia 
 late on Thursday night, and had an interview with the Pres- 
 ident-elect immediately subsequent to his interview with the 
 detective. He was informed that Mr. Lincoln would arrive 
 by the early train on Saturday morning, and, in accordance 
 with this information, Mr. Washburne, ' member of Congress 
 ftom Illinois, awaited the President-elect at the depot in Wash- 
 ington, whence he was taken in his carriage to his quarters 
 in Willard's Hotel, where Secretary Seward stood ready to 
 receive him. 
 
 " The detective traveled with Mr. Lincoln under the name 
 of E. J. Allen, which name was registered with the President 
 elect in the book at Willard's Hotel. Being a well-known 
 individual, he was speedily recognized, and suspicion naturally 
 arose that he had been instrumental in exposing the plot which 
 caused Mr. Lincoln's hurried journey. It was deemed prudent
 
 42 
 
 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 that he should leave Washington two days after his arrival, 
 although he had intended to remain and witness the ceremon- 
 ies of inaugeration. 
 
 " After the discovery of the plot, a strict watch was kept 
 by the agents of detection over the movements of the con- 
 spirators, and efficient measures were adopted to guard against 
 any attack which they might meditate upon the President- 
 elect until he was installed in office. 
 
 " Mr. Lincoln's family left ilarrisburgh for Baltimore, on 
 their way to Washington, in the special train intended for 
 him ; and, as before starting, a message announcing Mr. Lin- 
 coln's departure and arrival at Washington had been telegraphed 
 to Baltimore over wires which had been repaired that morn- 
 iag, the passage through Baltimore was safely effected. 
 
 " The remark of Mr. Lincoln during the ceremony of rais- 
 ing the flag on Independence Hall on Friday morning, that 
 he would assert his principles on his inaugeration, although 
 he were to be assassinated on the spot, had evident reference 
 to the communication made to him by the detective on the 
 night preceding. 
 
 " The number originally ascertained to be banded together 
 for the assassination of Mr. Lincoln was twenty, but the num- 
 ber ef those who were fully apprised of the details of the 
 plot became daily smaller as the time for executing it drew 
 near. 
 
 "Some of the women employed by the detective went to 
 serre as waiters, seamstresses, etc., in the families of the con- 
 spirators, and a record was regularly kept of what was said 
 and done to further their enterprise. A record was also kept 
 by the detective of their deliberations in secret conclave. The
 
 OFABRAHAMLINCOLSr. 43 
 
 detective and his agents regularly contributed money to pay 
 the expenses of the conspiracy." 
 
 Threats were made after !Mr. Lincoln's first inaugeration. 
 It is well known, that he reached Washington in safety, but 
 the secession element vastly predominated at the Capital, and 
 threats of violence to the President-elect and to Mr. Hamlin^ 
 and of the forcible suspension of the inaugeration, were neither 
 few nor secret. The city was filled with rebels who pro- 
 claimed their seentiments boldly in the streets, and hinted 
 violence to the Executive. National airs were hissed dowa in 
 public places of amusement, loyal men were assaulted on the 
 avenue, and cheers for Jeff. Davis were of common oecurrenee. 
 
 For some time previous to the inaugeration there had been 
 threats of bloodshed on that occasion and the military author- 
 ities taxed their brains for devices to prevent any such catas- 
 trophe. Geneaal Scott made every preparation for fighting. 
 The volunteer organizations in the procession were supplied 
 with cartridges ; sharpshooters were posted at convenient spots 
 along the avenue and on the roofs of buildings, and at the 
 market house a small force of infantry was posted for the 
 support of the riflemen in that vicinity. 
 
 The batteries of Magruder and Fry were at the corner of 
 Delaware Avenue and B street, ready for action ; the gunners 
 and drivers remaining at ther posts throughout the ceremon- 
 ies. General Scott in the meantime kept his scouts busiiy 
 occupied visiting all parts ef the dense crowd, and watching 
 for the first indications of trouble. The day passed off how- 
 ever quietly. But the feverish anxiety of that morning, aad 
 the certainty of terrible bloodshed following any riotous de- 
 monstrations, created impressions on the minds of those who
 
 44 L I F E A X D 51 A R T Y K D JI 
 
 were present, that will probably never be erased. The com- 
 inandaat !Magruder of oue of those batteries referred to, left 
 Washington a few days after and [subsequently was made a 
 general by the rebels. Despite all the plans to the contrary 
 the inaugeration happily passed off without the occurrence of 
 any scenes of violence of a similar character, the fighting being 
 confined to drunken partisans in the street. 
 
 Since 1861, Mr. Lincoln has rarely, if ever, appeared in 
 public without a sufficient escort, one company of cavalry 
 being inevitable in attendance. Of late, however, it has been 
 thought that precaution was not so absolutely necessary, and 
 in the visit to the theatre at which it was destined he should 
 be murdered, he was accompanied by no person save members 
 of his own family and one officer of the army. However, 
 great danger is known to be, after a time we became indiff- 
 erent to it and neglect precautions that were at first deemed 
 necessary. Not only was it all important that there should be 
 a guard in constant attendance on the President, but so long 
 as there, was the least reason for suspicion of plots to destroy 
 him, every effort ought to have been made to ferret out the schem- 
 ers and bring them to justice, that an example be made. Had 
 desperadoes been made to feel that so sure as they were dis- 
 covered in any such undertakings, punishment the most severe 
 was to follow, few would design a conspiracy and none poss- 
 ibly attempt to execute. 
 
 The last inaugeration, however, did not pass off without a 
 due i:)roportion of rumors ; and, amongst these was one that 
 something was going on, indicating that trouble was anticipated 
 from some undeveloped quarter. Rumor had it that all the 
 roads leading to Washington had been heavily picketed for
 
 OFABRAHAMLINCOLN. 45 
 
 some days, and the bridges guarded with extra vigilance, as 
 if on the watch for suspicious characters. Also, that the 
 Eighth Illinois Cavalry had been pushed out from Fairfax 
 Court House, on an active scouting expedition, as if in search 
 of some of the same suspicious characters ; and further, that 
 undue proportion of hard cases, in grizzled costume, were to 
 be seen upon the streets, indicating something pertending. 
 But as the day wore on in tranquillity, all fears wore dissi- 
 pated. For the purpose of preserving order, the military pat- 
 rols were doubled, and made more frequent rounds of the 
 streets than usual. But notwithstanding the large number of 
 strangers in the city, good order prevailed and but few arrests 
 were made by the military or police authorities. 
 
 On the 7th of March, in the present year, a man named 
 Clemens was arrested in Washington, chargee with having 
 contemplated the assassination of the President. The facts 
 in the case are as follows : — Clemens and another person 
 came from Alexandria on inaugeration day. They were both 
 extremely disorderly, and seemed to have been drinking freely, 
 Clemens, in particular, was very abusive. He said, using 
 gross and profane language, that he came to Washington to 
 kill the President; that he was late by about one-half hour, 
 and that his Saviour would never forgive him for failing to 
 do so ; that he would do it that night, namely, the 4th day 
 of March ; and that he came expressly to do it, and he would 
 do it before he left town. He furthermore said that tiie 
 Government has robbed him of a certain sum of«*ioney. This 
 was the substance of an affidavit. Clemens was turned over 
 from the military to the civil authorities, and was committed 
 to jail for trial by the Court. Afterward he was released,
 
 46 LIFEAKDMARTTKDOM 
 
 as having been completely under the influence of liquor at 
 the time the alleged threats were made, that he did not 
 know what he said. But would it be remarkable, in view of 
 present circumstances, if this man Clemens should really have 
 had, or have, some connection with the real assassin of the 
 President in carrying out the dread ful plot. It will be seen 
 from Washington despatches that letters found in the 
 trunk of Booth, the murderer, show that the assassination 
 was originally fixed for the 4th of March, but postponed 
 for some reason not yet known. Clemens declared that he 
 also intended to murder Mr. Lincoln on that day. 
 
 8E0RET ORGANIZATIONS. 
 
 Secret societies are of two kinds, those whose proceedings 
 are unknown to all who do not belong to them ; and those 
 whose existence as well as transactions is kept inviolate. Of 
 the second kind are those which have their origin and being 
 in Europe, mostly in Italy, where they ought to remain. The 
 American soil is no place for them. Societies of this kind 
 are destructive of liberty, and the only means of suppressing 
 them when they are found to exist is to bring to bear such 
 an opposition of public opinion, that respectable persons will 
 have nothing to do with them. No good in a land of free- 
 dom will come from organizations of this nature. What a 
 man is unwilling to acknowledge openly, in reference to his 
 political leanjjggs and convictions, will generally be found to be 
 in, antagonism to the principles on which the government is 
 based. Free discussion of all questions relating to the public 
 weal is not only to be encouraged, but should be deemed absolutely
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 47 
 
 necessary. We can never expect to advance in political science so 
 long as tlie votes of enough to decide contests can be bought 
 or controled by a few. If a number of persons in secret con- 
 clave, oath bound, are allowed to sway the masses, that they 
 may ride into power and retain it, popular government is 
 but a name, a sound, and an aristocracy becomes in effect the 
 government. 
 
 The liberties of a people are not lost at once. The 
 gi-adation is not rapid even. Slowly in most cases, but 
 act the less surely the process goes on, and not till some 
 violent measure is adopted by those who are thus seeking 
 to deprive the peoj)le of their rights, do they wake up to 
 a sense of their situation. And then it is found that what 
 Jvas once nothing more than a simple assertion of right 
 has become treason against a person, or set of persons, who 
 were originally nothing more than the agents of the people. 
 
 Extreme measures always beget extremes. Violence will 
 be followed by violence, and there is no better way to 
 bring about a despotism than by the commission of such 
 deeds as those of the 14th of April. Stringent means will 
 be adopted in such cases to capture the guilty ones, and 
 many persons who are really innocent of all complicity 
 in the affair will be suspected, and perhaps punished. 
 The attention of every law-abiding citizen and well-wisher 
 of his country must be drawn to the investigation going 
 on. All are alike interested, and he who appears indiffer- 
 ent is morally an abettor. Sneers at those who assert that 
 secret bodies exist must not be heeded. There do exist 
 treasonable combinationg whose purpose is, first, destruction 
 of those in power, and finally subversion of republican in- 
 stitutions.
 
 PLOTTIis'G OEGAiTIZATIONS. 
 
 " There can be no reasonable doubt that Lincoln and 
 Seward have been assassinated. The crimes of these two 
 men may make this event justifiable in the eyes of man 
 and God, but wo do not concur with those who rejoice. 
 Johnson has greater native ability, if this has not been 
 impaired by his excesses, than any Northern statesman of 
 his j)arty except Chase. The war will now assume a new 
 phase. If confined to these States, then it is one of utter 
 extermination. The veritable Eeigu of Terror has already 
 begun in Tennessee. It is probable, if Booth be a Northern 
 man, that the assassination of Lincoln is the work of those 
 secret Western clubs whose mysteries have been developed in late 
 judicial proceedings in Chicago and Ohio. If this he true, the 
 war may begin in the North-west. 
 
 <' All the decency of the North was recently thoroughly 
 disgusted by Johnson's conduct on the occasion of his in- 
 auguration as Vice-President. His drunken speech was il- 
 lustrative of his character, and of the old adage, in vino 
 Veritas. 
 
 "He is a veritable 'plebeian,' a Icveler, a sans cnlotte. 
 However wedded to Johnson's theories of radicalism may 
 liave been the Eepublican newspapers, a few of them dared 
 to mollify his violation of all laws of civilized decency. 
 Coppcrheadism could have inflicted upon the vanity and self-re- 
 
 [48]
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 49 
 
 sped Puntanism no xoound so deep^ as that which sent Lin- 
 coln to perdition and elevated Johnson to the throne. He has- 
 tened to assume the royal purple, and despite the recent 
 military triumphs, the pride of the North was never so 
 humiliated as at this very hour.''— Meridian {Miss.) Clarion. 
 
 The italicised portions of the above extract point unmis- 
 takably to the Knights of the Golden Circle, or, as they 
 are latterly known. Sons of Liberty; and convey informa- 
 tion that is anything but guess-work on the part of the 
 author. Matter coming to us in this semi-official form is 
 abundant confirmation of all our preconceived suspicions, 
 und we are fully assured that the damnable conspiracy 
 >hat culminated in the murder of our beloved President, 
 vras incubated in the temples oi this cursed league of the 
 Circle, and that its minions in the persons of Booth, Har^ 
 rold, Payne, Surratt, and their associates, were let loose 
 upon their victims as the more active agents of this trea- 
 sonable association. The rapid, positive and thoroughly 
 systematic development of facts by the investigators of the 
 assassination conspiracy is daily offering proof in sujiport 
 of this theory, if, indeed, it is not already demonstrated; 
 and, if the proofs are really conclusive, what further out- 
 rage by this compact with hell are our people waiting for, 
 before they arise in their might and destroy it? Has it 
 not been treated as a myth long enough? And where its 
 existence was known, have not its vagai-ies and mummery 
 been sufficiently laughed at to allow .people to give it a 
 little serious attention just now? After this evidence of its 
 power and outrageous designs, are there any Aveak enough 
 to believe it impalpable, or simply the matter for pleas-
 
 50 L I P K A N D M A R T Y R D M 
 
 antry? Such are in danger; and our country is in immj- 
 nent danger until the destructive elements germinated by 
 this pestiferous order ai-e searched out and thoroughly ex- 
 purgated from our politics! 
 
 Knights mini, and similar quackeries, are scarcely con- 
 genial to 'the spirit of Republican Institutions, and Avere 
 never organized to perpetuate the governmeut our fathers 
 established through great tribulation. They are seeking 
 strange gods, as outre and distasteful to the public weal 
 as the prostituted representative of Reason in the Eeign 
 of Terror. Ben. Allen, the Grand Seigneur of Copperhead- 
 ism in New York, declared at the Democratic National 
 Convention at Chicago, last year: '^ The people will soon 
 rise, and if they cannot put Lincoln out of power by the bal- 
 lot, they icill by the bullet^ This declaration was received 
 with loud cheers, and thereupon S. S. Cox, C. C. Burr, 
 Koontz of Pennsylvania, Baker of Michigan, Stambaugh of 
 Ohio, and several other delegates gave utterance to similar 
 choice opinions, — each calling our President a usurper, and 
 denouncing against him all the most outrageous crimes 
 known to our laws. Threats of assassination were not made 
 vaguely, but if the Copperhead chiefs meant what they 
 publicly declared, every one of them should be indicted as 
 accessories before the fact, and tried without ceremony. 
 
 The order of the Knights of the Golden Circle is not confined 
 to the North-west, as rebel authority would have us believe, 
 but is co-extensive with secession proclivities everywhere. It 
 was an invention of the Secession movement years ago, when 
 Jackson forced the poisonous hydra to secrete itself in dark 
 and unfrequented places, and deposit its slime where it would
 
 OF ABKAHAJI LINCOLN. 51 
 
 not be contagious ; but cop]Derheadisni could not thrive with- 
 out it, and it was imported from the South to force the 
 growth of a Northern party with Southern sympathies. It has 
 existed in our midst duz'ing the past four years, but we hardly 
 comprehend the fact ; and still less do the people know of 
 the nature and unholy pui'poses of the organization. It is 
 time these particulars are fully understood. Its oath; » and 
 penalties, its sj)y system and police regulations, all its mm*- 
 derous ingenuity and damnable crimes, should be made public, 
 that we may know the enemy we have to contend against j 
 and that the people may know what a mine has been planted 
 beneath their homes, in many cases by their own neighbors, 
 to blow them to destruction in a moment. The " exposition " 
 of Edmund Wright, first published about a year since, was 
 scarcely heeded, although widel}'' read. The Knights jeered 
 at it, and called it incredible; but their object is now evident 
 enough to thinking men, for of course they saw plainly 
 that if Wright was believed, their power was at an end. 
 It is time now to heed every warning, and to break, per- 
 manently, the power of this oligarchy of devils. It is 
 more dangerous to our liberties to-day than all the armies 
 the South have had in the field have ever been ; it works 
 in secret, and we can have no notice of its intentions to sally 
 forth to burn, pillage and murder. Its oaths are binding 
 as words can make them ; its penalties are terrible as the 
 foulest devises of the Spanish Inquisition ; its police regula- 
 tions are on a large scale, carefully and systematically ar- 
 ranged ; and all the guards that ingenuity can invent are 
 thi'own out to prevent recursancy. It is sworn to support 
 the South, at any and all hazards, in every attempt 
 4
 
 52 LIFEAND MARTYRDOM 
 
 to subvert our government j and such has been its oath 
 through four years of devastating war. It is sworn to kill 
 all who oppose its designs, if such a result seems necessary 
 to gain its ends ; and the initiate pledges his own life to 
 assist in murder, arson, robbery, and the carrying out of 
 all its schemes, on his first introduction to its mysteries. Not 
 a few; of the sudden disai^pearances of people who will never be 
 heard of more in this world, may be traced to the " Knights," 
 provided the knowing ones would uncover some of their 
 tracks in the sand; and they will be forced to answer for 
 the death of Abraham Lincoln ! 
 
 This order, whose history, when known, will entitle it to 
 outrank all the secret political orders of Italy, in the enormity 
 of its crimes, still exists—not only in the Northwest, but to 
 an alarming extent throughout the North and South; and its 
 leaders are now plotting fresh treason ; at the same time 
 are subscribing oaths of allegiance and making the loudest pro- 
 fessions of loyalty, while its outlaws commit murder, arson, 
 and robbery to administer to the wants of its exchequer. It 
 works in secret within its "temples" and without; places its 
 assassins in hiding to shoot and stab; applies the torch at 
 midnight, when the innocent are wrapped in peaceful slum- 
 bers ; waylays railway trains, to tumble them down embank- 
 ments, by the displaeeneient of the track ; conceals torpedoes 
 in coal heaps to explode in steamboat furnaces and hotels ; 
 and comes upon the solitary traveler unawares, to wrest from 
 him his money and life. 
 
 Investigation has already indicated that this order originated 
 the plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, and when such is 
 proven to be the fact, as it will be, who will contend that all
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 53 
 
 its members- are not accessories? "Who will say they are not 
 all guilty of the murder, and that all should suffer the pen- 
 alty of that crime ? If not all guilty, or equally so, it is im- 
 portant now to know who of these Knights are innocent, and 
 the degrees of guilt of the others. It is of the first impor- 
 tance to them personally, to show their skirts clear of blood- 
 stains ; for the vengeance of the people will be appeased for 
 this crime without let or hindrance, fully and to the last re- 
 sort j and the guilty will suffer, whatever their numbers, or 
 positions. 
 
 It is shown that the programme of murder was arranged on 
 an immense scale, and at least one hundred prominent person- 
 ages were marked for sacrifice to the Moloch of Blood. There 
 were one hundred armed assassins at Ford's Theatre on the 
 night of the 14th of April, each ready to aim the deadly bul- 
 let at the life of a victim; and only through that Providence 
 that stayed the hand of him who had promised to turn off 
 the gas and leave the place in darkness, was such an event 
 averted I Other murderers were engaged in similar scenes of 
 blood at other localities in Washington ; and will probably 
 never be known how many hearts God struck with terror or 
 remorse — how many failed through fear or lack of opportu- 
 nity, that otherwise would have added their names to this 
 black record. What, then, may reasonably be supposed as 
 the extent of a conspiracy that employs so many agents to 
 do its work ? Too large, by far, for the safety of freemen ; 
 too powerful for evil to remain in power. 
 
 When the tidings of the assassination were made public 
 
 throughout the land, a few in each locality were inconsider- 
 ate enough to express gratification at the calamity of tha
 
 64 LIFKANDMARTTKDOM 
 
 nation! Who were tliey? Of what class and antecedent? 
 Many paid the penalty for their blasphemy with their lives, 
 and few stopped to consider that the executioners were heed- 
 ful of the old Mosaic law, that requires "a life for a life ;" 
 but history, in other times, will so wake up the record I 
 They were part of a murderous gang — part of the machinery 
 that worked it into action, and equally guilty with those who 
 executed the bloody work. 
 
 In other localities, remote from telegraph stations, de- 
 tailed reports of the great crime reached the jjeople too 
 soon, and in forms greatly exaggerated, involving the death 
 of President, Vice-President, and every member of the 
 Cabinet. It is useless to assume that in such neighbor- 
 hoods something of the matter was not foreknown, — but 
 by whom ? Evidence is plentiful enough that the conspi- 
 racy was extensive, and that its moving spirits were of the 
 North and So-uth, in combination. The investigation and 
 working up of the evidence is in charge of shrewd heads, 
 who will do their work thoroughly. It is no longer a 
 question whether the conspiracy will be traced to its real 
 projectors and abettors, for the tangled skein is daily un- 
 raveling ; — new developments transpire as rapidly as the 
 scenes in a panorama ; — each discovery adds a fresh link 
 to the chain of evidence that is gathering around the ac- 
 cused, to hem them in beyond rescue ; and it is known 
 that none of the guilty ones can escape. 
 
 The lesson is dearly purchased, but should be heeded 
 by all.
 
 PLOT TO ASSASSINATE THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 Whether Jefferson Davis and other rebel leaders con- 
 trived, authorized, or openly approve the assassination of 
 President Lincoln, is a question to which we can not give 
 a direct answer. The evidence in the case is collateral, 
 and illustrative rather than positive. When Preston S. 
 Brooks, of South Carolina, assaulted and tried to murder 
 Charles Sumner, we of the North said: The South will 
 denounce that act as cowai-dly and infamous; but, on the 
 conti-ary, the South by her newspapers and public men, 
 without one exception, applauded it. Since that time, be- 
 side making war on the republic, the South has evinced 
 its fiendish hatred of the North by the atrocities commit- 
 ted on our dead soldiers at Bull Run, by the massacres 
 at Milliken's Bend and Fort Pillow, by the systematic cru- 
 elties inflicted on our prisoners, by the Alabama outrages, 
 by the St. Albans' and other piracies on the border, by 
 
 the hotel bui-ning plots, and so far as threats went, there 
 has been abundant evidence that assassination was deemed 
 an equally legitimate and justifiable method of wai'fare. 
 The advertisements and editorials, appearing repeated- 
 ly unrebuked in Southern papers, proposing rewards for 
 the murder or kidnapping of Mr. Lincoln, show that the 
 rebel leaders did not object to such schemes though they 
 
 [65]
 
 66 LIFEANDMARTYRDOM 
 
 may not or may have incited them. About a year ago, a 
 correspondent of the New York Tribune, who had for some 
 time been on duty inside the war office at Eichmond, and 
 who afterwards escaped to "Washington, sent to that paper 
 some vahiable and timely information. He wrote subse- 
 quently from Canada, disclosing and thereby preventing 
 more than one scheme for a murdex'ous foray across the 
 border. He foretold the plot which culminated in New 
 York, in the attempt to fire the hotels, and he revealed 
 the particulars of a conspiracy to kidnap the President, 
 which the following details will show to have been consid- 
 ered aad approved by the rebel President, Secretary of State, 
 and Secretary of War. We quote in full a passage from a 
 letter published in the Tribune of March 19th, 1S64: 
 
 "In a former communication I stated that a plan had 
 been submitted to the rebel War Department by Mar- 
 -grave, who had been for a considerable time an emissary 
 in the North, to kidnap President Lincoln and carry him 
 to Richmond, or if it should be found impossible to escape 
 with him to the Rebel lines, to assassinate him. Owing 
 to a change in the position of the armies about this time, 
 the plan proposed was rendered imi)ra«ticable. 
 
 " In the early part of November, and only a few days 
 before he was sent North, Margrave submitted another 
 plan, the details of which may be interesting to the 
 reader. To give the plan in minutiae would occupy too 
 much space, but a digest of it will prove quite intelligible. 
 
 " One hundred and fifty picked men were to go secretly 
 North and take quarters in Washington, Georgetown, Bal- 
 timore and Alexandria, so as to be able to communicate
 
 OFABRAHAMUNCOLN'. 57 
 
 daily Tvith each other, and, upon a day fixed by their 
 leader, were to assemble in Washington for the purpose of 
 making the seizure. The President, it Avas claimed, could 
 be -easily seized at a private hour at the White House, or 
 in going to, or returning from church, or on some other 
 . favorable occasion, and thrust into a carriage and driven 
 off. The carriage was to be joined a few miles out of the 
 city by twenty-five or thirty armed men on horseback. It 
 was proposed to drive to Indian Point, about twenty-five 
 miles south of Washington, on the Potomac — two or three 
 relays of fleet horses being stationed on the way — where 
 a boat was to bo in waiting to cross the river, and land 
 the captive a few miles south of Occoquan, when it would 
 be an easy matter for his captors to work their way with 
 him through the woods by night into the Eebel lines. To 
 prevent pux'suit, every bridge between Washington and In- 
 dian Point was to be mined beforehand, and blown up as 
 soon as the captive and his captors had crossed. Huge 
 trees were also to be ready cut and thrown across the 
 road in various places, as soon as they had passed, by 
 men stationed along for the purpose, who were afterward 
 to separate and escape as best they could. 
 
 " The Secretary of War thought this scheme might succeed ; 
 but he doubted whether such a proceeding would be of a 
 military character and justifiable under the laws of war. 
 He promised, however, to consult the President and Mr. Ben- 
 jamin ; but what conclusion was arrived at I am unable with 
 certainty to say. About a week, however, after the plan 
 was submitted, and the same day that Margrave left for the 
 North, I asked Mr. Wellford, who is familiar with all the
 
 58 
 
 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 secrets of the Department, if the plan had been adopted, and 
 lie answered, "You will see Old Abe here in the spring as 
 sure as God." A few days afterward I was sent to Atlanta, 
 and never returned to Richmond to hear about the matter. 
 
 " But this is not the only scheme by any means that has 
 been devised for kidnapping our President. Last summer a 
 club or society of wealthy citizens of Richmond was formed 
 for the purpose of raising a fund for this object. Circulars 
 were sent to trustworthy citizens in every other city and 
 town in the Confederacy, inviting co-operation in the grand 
 undertaking, and an immense sum of money was subscribed. 
 The firm of Merry & Co., bankers in Richmond, subscribed 
 §10,000, and Sumner & Arents, auctioneers, subscribed §5,000; 
 and I have heard on good authority that there were several 
 in the capital who subscribed even more liberally than the 
 parties named, but who they were, I did not learn. One 
 man of Charleston, South Carolina, whose name I have for- 
 gotten, subscribed $20,000. It was proposed, when all was 
 ready, to obtain a furlough for Mosby, and make him lead- 
 er of the enterprise. 
 
 " Whether these schemes have been abandoned, or whether 
 the kidnappers are only awaiting a favorable opportunity to 
 execute them, remains to be seen ; but certain it is that too 
 much caution cannot be observed by the President, or the 
 military commanders stationid at the capital." 
 
 As these statements were questioned by many journals 
 in the North, the writer of the above subsequently for- 
 warded to the same paper the following documentary evi- 
 dence, being a letter from Calhoun Cullum, at that time a 
 captain in a North Carolina regiment, and well known in
 
 OF ABRAHAM LIN CO I. X. 59 
 
 the South. The original letter was gent enveloped, post- 
 marked and stamped with a Confederate ten cent postage 
 stamp, and addressed to Mr. "Wellford, a clerk in the war 
 office at Eichmond. Although it was published as long ago 
 as April 23d, 1864, its genuineness has never been denied 
 nor its statements contradicted : 
 
 "MoROANTOWK, Sept. 30, 1803. 
 
 "Mt Dkar Wellfoed : I have for several weeks been looking for a 
 letter from you on the subject of our last conversation. On yesterday, 
 Mr. Gaither, M. C. for the IXth District, came to see father and dined 
 with us. He spent the week before last in Richmond, and had a num- 
 ber of conversations with the President, Secretary of War, and other of- 
 ficials. I inquired of him if he had heard anything of the ruse de 
 guerre to capture "Honest Abe," and he said he had, but that the af- 
 fair would probably be managed rather by individual enterprise than by 
 the Government. He gave me the names of the most prominent workers in 
 the project in Richmond, and as you must be acquainted with them all, I beg 
 you to put in a timely word for me. If the affair was to be managed 
 by the Government I knew your influence, and that of my other 
 friends, with Mr. Seddon, would get me assigned to the part I desire to 
 play in the grand comedy cr tragedy, as the case may be ; but if it is 
 to be managed by the citizens of Richmond, my chances are not so goodj 
 and I may have to depend entirely on you. Speak a good word for 
 me at once, and I will see you next week. As I told you, I would 
 willingly sell my soul to the devil for the honor of playing a conspicu- 
 tHis part in the destruction of the great hydra. 
 
 "My arm is nearly well, and I find it quite useful again, as you wil! 
 conclude from my being able to dispense with an amanuensis. 
 " Don't neglect me. 
 
 " Tour sincere friend, Cullum." 
 
 Now, it is remarkable that this kidnapping scheme is the 
 same which Booth at first contemplated, as shown in his re- 
 cently published letter, but which he subsequently abandoned 
 for the assassination. If, then, one part of the plot of
 
 '60 L I F E A N D M A R T Y R D M 
 
 wliicli Booth was the agent, was concocted at Eichmond by 
 Davis, Seddon and Benjamin, is it not like that tliey knew 
 of the other part and of the more horrible shape which it 
 finally took ? There are unwritten chapters which will be 
 unfolded to the public, as the trial of the chief conspirators 
 progresses. There are chapters of such horrid detail and 
 extensive combinations, that will startle the country equal to 
 anything which has transpired since the commencement of 
 the rebellion. The public have no idea of the extent to 
 which the authorities have probed this plot. The accounts 
 published give but a faint idea. They know the chief actor 
 in the tragedy has been tracked and fallowed through Mary- 
 land, and hunted down in Virginia, and how he died like a 
 dog ; but this is only one portion of the whole affair 
 — only one branch of the main stream which has been gone 
 over. In almost every other respect, equal success crowned 
 the efforts of the authorities ; and in flict some instances, with 
 much greater success, as the public will see in due course 
 of time. The persons taken into custody as participators, 
 aiders and abettors, or in some way accomplices to the 
 tragic deed, are numbered almost by hundreds. There are 
 still a few at large, and until they are captured it will not 
 be the part of wisdom to give details and developments in 
 full, which have transpired. It is but proper to state that 
 the principal actors — the men, who, on the night of the four- 
 teenth of April, were at their posts, and performed their al- 
 lotted portion of the work — are in limbo. 
 
 The facts are not conclusive where the plot originated, but 
 circumstances point strongly to its being the work of the 
 fire-eating Southerners, who by their flaming speeches and 
 boasts that a Brutus would arise to plant the dagger in the
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 61 
 
 breast of the first anti-slavery President that was ever elected, 
 gave the idea to their followers which has been put into prac- 
 tice by the over zealous fanatics in our midst who had not 
 the courage, to enter the Southern armies, and fight for the 
 cause which they pretended to uphold. Whether the detail or 
 the employment of the leading men in the tragedy was the 
 work of the rebel conspirators who had sought refuge 
 in Canada or not the facts at the trial will no doubt tell. 
 The fact that some of the parties connected with it were 
 participators in the St. Albans' raid, and Confederates in the 
 attempt to burn New York city last Fall furnishes strong cir- 
 cumstantial evidence, that the same brain that planned or insti- 
 gated those atrocious deeds instigated and set in motion the . 
 plot for assassinating our late, lamented Chief Magistrate. 
 
 The conspirators were bound together by one of the strongest 
 oaths ever taken by mortals and every person who was ad- 
 mitted to the secret, was bound to remain faithful to the end 
 at the penalty of death — his life to be taken by one of his 
 associates. Many of the Confederates were not taken fully 
 into the secret, and those only were allowed to approach it 
 who by degrees had their faithfulness tested. The authori- 
 ties have been fortunate enough to ascertain where, when, 
 and how often the conspirators held their meetings, and 
 have taken into custody the people who occupied the houses 
 where they met. The number which were taken into the se- 
 cret before the consummation of the deed, was so large that 
 it is astonishing that some one of the number did not re- 
 veal it. 
 
 It seems that about three weeks before the plans were put 
 into execution, one of the parties revolted at the part of the
 
 62 LIFEANDMARTTKDOM 
 
 work whhh the leaders had allotted to him on the eventful 
 night, aud at once manifested a desire to withdraw. He 
 was, hcvever, reminded of his oath and every eflfort made to 
 bring him up to his work. But the more he thought of it 
 the more he became alarmed at the fearful propositiun of the 
 hellish schemes. After several days parlying, he succeeded in 
 getting the consent of his associates to relieve him from all 
 further connection with them, on condition that he should 
 leave the city and not return for sixty days. He left the 
 city, and was somewhere within the limits of the Army of 
 the Potomac, when the news came there of the Assassination 
 of the President. He repaired immediately to Fortress Mon- 
 roe and gave himself up and was sent to Washington, ar- 
 riving there the next morning after the funeral services of 
 Mr. Lincoln at the White House. When taken before the 
 authorities he made a f\ill confession of all he knew of the 
 plot, n'i to where and when they met, and who were con- 
 cerned in it. It is understood that the proclamation issued 
 during that day by Secretary Stanton, offering an additional 
 reward for Booth, also rewards for Atzerot and Harrold, was 
 based xipon the confession of this prisoner. At any rate the 
 arreste on that day were numerous, and several residents of 
 Washington were among the number. This opened the way 
 fbr further important developments. 
 
 The number engaged in executing the plot is very large. 
 Besides Booth and his accomplices, in and around the 
 theatre, the assassin of Mr. Seward, and Atzerot at the 
 Kirkvirood, there were a number engaged in cutting the 
 telegraph wires leading from the War Department, and 
 still another set endeavoring to divert the attention of the
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. , 63 
 
 authorities from the fleeing culprits. It appears that at 
 precisely ten minutes past ten there were twenty-two wires 
 leading from the War Office in different directions, and 
 connecting with the fortifications and out-posts cut. These 
 wires having been cut at a considerable distance from each 
 other, together with the simultaneousness of this work, 
 shows very plainly that a number of men were engaged 
 in it, and it is now believed that there were twenty-two 
 men appointed to do this work. The time at which this 
 was accomplished furnishes beyond a doubt, the hour which 
 the President was assassinated, which has been stated all 
 the way from half-past nine to half-past ten. It probably 
 did not vary much from ten o'clock. 
 
 The numerous stories in reference to the contemplated 
 assassination of all the leading officials in the government 
 are not at all to be credited. The evidence thus far ob- 
 tained, shows that the schemes only contemplated the as- 
 sassination of the President, Vice-President and Secretary 
 Seward, — no more and no less. For some reason the per- 
 son who was to execute the programme on Mr. Johnson 
 failed to do his work. Booth is the only man who car- 
 ried out his part of the work to the letter. The would- 
 be assassin of Mr. Seward no doubt considered that he had 
 performed his work thoroughly, but providential circum- 
 stances prevented his blows being effective. 
 
 Justice bids fair to be swift in visiting these culprits 
 and accomplices. The leader has already died a death of 
 great agony and hard suffering. The future has confined 
 within its unknown mysteries the fate of the rest.
 
 THE ASSASSIITS— THEIR PURSUIT AXi) 
 
 CAPTURE. 
 
 The President and General Grant had been invited to 
 attend Ford's theatre, in "Washington, on the evening of 
 the fourteenth, and both had accepted the invitation. Gen- 
 eral Grant was called North and left Washington during 
 the evening. The President attended the theatre lest the 
 audience might be entirely disapiDointed, in consequence of 
 General Grant's absence. Shortly after the President and 
 party entered the box and had become interested in the 
 performance, John Wilkes Booth was seen, by one wHo 
 knew him well, passing along the dress circle toward the 
 President's box, when he came to within a step or two of 
 the door of the box Booth stopped, and taking off his hat 
 held it in his left hand, while he leaned against the wall 
 behind him. In this attitude he remained for about half 
 a minute, then stepping down one step he put his hand on 
 the door- and bent his knee against it; the door opened 
 and Booth entered. The shot was the next thing, Booth 
 stood upright with both hands raised, but at that moment 
 no weapon or any thing else, in either hand was seen. 
 He then sprang to the front of the box, laid his left 
 hand on the railway, but was checked for an instant evi- 
 dently by his coat or pants being caught in something, 
 
 [64]
 
 JOHN WILKES BOOTH,
 
 OPABRAHAMLINCOLN. 65 
 
 or being held back by somebody, A knife was now seen 
 in bis right hand, which he also laid upon the railing 
 where he already had his left, and vaulted out. As his 
 legs passed between the folds of the flags decorating the 
 box, his spur, which he wore on the right heel, caught 
 the drapery and brought it down, tearing a strip with it. 
 When he let go the railing he still clutched the shining 
 knife. He crouched as he fell, falling on one knee and 
 putting forth both hands to help himself to recover an 
 erect position, which he did with the rapidity and easy 
 agility of an athlete. As he strode across the stage he 
 shouted the motto of Virginia " Sic semper tyranyiis," floiu-- 
 ishing his knife as he passed. When he reached the other 
 side of the stage, just before he became invisible by pass- 
 ing into the entrance, he looked up and was heard to 
 say, "I have done it," and was then lost sight of. 
 
 JOHN WILKES BO OTH. 
 
 It has been generally understood, and the family encour- 
 aged the belief, that Junius Brutus Booth, Sr., was legally 
 married to the lady who passed in this country as his second 
 wife. Indeed, when some seven years ago, the announcement 
 of the death of the first wife, Mrs. Mary Booth, in Balti- 
 more, was made in a New York paper, the statement that she 
 had been divorced being added, the sons united in a card, 
 which was published in that journal, setting forth that their 
 father had had but one wife, and that one their mother, 
 then (and now) living — the putative Mrs. Rosalie Booth, from 
 whom he had never been divorced. This, however, was in^ 
 
 correct. The elder Booth was a married man at the time he 
 5
 
 66 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 4 
 
 last appeared at Covent Garden Theatre. While there, he 
 chanced to meet in the Covent Garden Market, (then as well 
 known as Haymarket) a flower-girl named Rosalie, who reg- 
 ularly sold flowers to market customers in that quarter of 
 London. She possessed rare personal attractions, and was, in 
 fact, exceedingly beautiful. Booth cultivated an acquaintance 
 with her, which ripened into intimacy, and resulted in an 
 elopement, Booth at once taking passage for America, where 
 the fair Rosalie was presented as, and passed for, his wife. 
 By his first wife, he had one child, at the time of his 
 desertion from her — an infant. When she ascertained where 
 Booth had gone, she also followed, bringing the child with 
 her, afid subsequently took up her residence in Baltimore. 
 This child, when arrived at man's estate, adopted the profes- 
 sion of the law, and Richard Booth, Esq., was afterward 
 known as a prominent member of the Boston bar. He never 
 so much as recognized the other children of Booth, and for 
 years did not speak to his father. It was probably out of 
 consideration for this child, that the elder Booth did not 
 sue for a writ of divorce from his wife Mary ; if, indeed, 
 there were any grounds upon which he could hope to obtain 
 the desired legal severance, without which, it seems a second 
 marriage was out of the question. Her troubles and trials 
 led her gradually into habits of dissipation. She became al- 
 most as intemperate as Booth himself, and it was a custom 
 with her, when in liquor, to haunt the Baltimore markets 
 for a chance meeting with the woman who had usurped her 
 place in the heart and home of her husband. These en- 
 counters were as much avoided by the one, as sought for by 
 the other. Mrs. Booth assailed Rosalie with violent, oflen 
 
 1
 
 OFABRAHAMLINCOLN. 67 
 
 coarse language, opprobrious epithets, whicli the other never 
 resented, but cut short by the speediest exit. The fact grow- 
 ing out of this condition of affairs is, that the children — 
 Junius Brutus, Edwin Forrest, John Wilkes, Joseph and the 
 sisters — are of illegitimate birth ; and it is a fact which 
 would probably have died out with the few who were privy 
 to it, but for the great crime which has quickened public 
 curiosity and unlocked the secrets of the family charnel-house, 
 whose gates had been so securely closed and guarded by 
 the children, in their struggle for professional rank and so- 
 cial position, that even a legal inquisition could hardly have 
 forced them ajar. They were all greatly attached to their mother, 
 and it was their custom, when fulfilling engagements through- 
 out the country, to remit their funds to her in trust, ex- 
 cept so much as was necessary to defray their personal ex 
 penses. 
 
 The elder Booth was an English tragedian, born in Lon- 
 don in the year 1796. During his minority he played in 
 several of the provincial English theatres with moderate 
 success, and in 1814 made his debut at Coven t Garden 
 Theatre, in his native city as Richard III. His per- 
 sonal resemblance to " that hunch-backed toad " conformed 
 so well to the stage-traditions, and his personification of 
 the character was, in other respects so striking, that he at 
 once took a prominent rank in his profession, and success- 
 fully competed with Edmund Kean, then the rising star of 
 the English stage, at Drury Lane Theatre. He shortly after 
 played with Kean at the Drury, and was subsequently an- 
 nounced to reappear at Covent Garden. Meantime an affair 
 occurred which rendered him very unpopular with the 
 public, and his reappearance was the signal for a serious
 
 68 LIFEANDMABTTRDOM 
 
 theatrical riot, which resulted in driving him temporarily 
 from the London stage. We do not distinctly recollect the 
 particulars. Jealousy, professional or otherwise, stirred up 
 the fiery nature of Booth and he attempted the life of the 
 obnoxious person, but failed to take it. The man survived 
 the assault, and is now we believe, a resident of St. Louis. 
 Booth remained in England till about the year 1820, when 
 he crossed the Atlantic, and made his first professional ap- 
 pearance in this country at Petersburg, Virginia, and the 
 year following at the Park Threatre, New York, on both 
 of which occasions he assumed his favorite role of "Richard 
 III." From that time to the close of his life he fulfilled 
 engagements in nearly, if not every theatre in the United 
 States, and was accounted one of the greatest actors of his 
 time, though the range of characters which he assumed was 
 limited, and was confined almost exclusively to those which 
 he had studied in the beginning of his career. Having se- 
 cured a moderate competence, Booth purchased a property 
 near Baltmore, known as " The Farm," where, during his 
 latter years he resided, making occasional professional visits 
 to other cities. He made an excursion to California some- 
 where about the year 1850, where he fulfilled a very lucra- 
 tive engagement, and on his way home stopped in New Or- 
 leans, where he made his last appearance at the St. Charles, 
 as Sir Giles Overreach, in "A New Way to Pay Old Debts." 
 It was while on his passage from that city to Cincinnati 
 that he died. His remains were taken to "The Farm" for 
 kurial. 
 
 Booth's habits were exceedingly irregular, and so interfered 
 with his performances at times that an actor less gifted 
 would have forfeited his popularity beyond redemption. It
 
 OPABRAHAMLINCOLN. W 
 
 was rarely that he appeared sober oa the stage, and, toward 
 the close of his life, it required all the vigilance and art of 
 managers to keep him in a condition to appear on the stage 
 at all. The stories told of him in this connection are in- 
 numerable, and some of them extremely ludicrous. His ap- 
 petite for liquor was absolutely voracious. Being without 
 money at one time in New York, he went to a pawn brok- 
 er's shop, literally pawned himself for money to purchase 
 liquor, was regularly ticketed and exhibited in a window, 
 where he staid till "redeemed" by a friend. On another oc- 
 cason, being announced to appear in Philadelphia — at the 
 Walnut street, we believe — the manager, on the day for the 
 performance, had Booth locked up, but was outwitted by the 
 actor, who bribed the servant to bring a bottle of brandy, a 
 saucer and a clay pipe. Inserting the pipe through the key- 
 hole, with the bowl inverted, the brandy was poured into 
 the saucer, and sucked up through the pipe by the thirsty 
 tragedian, and the fact was disclosed when in the twilight 
 the manager proceeded there to conduct him to the dressing- 
 room, and found him in an insensible condition. It was con» 
 sidered somewhat perilous to play Richmond to Booth's Rich- 
 ard III, particularly if the actor was in liquor. During the 
 combat on Bosworth field, he was apt, in his excitement, to 
 consider himself in reality the King, and cut and thrust 
 with the earnestness and ferocity of a man engaged in au_ 
 earnest and life-depending trial of arms. At such times it 
 was necessary to disable him, and it was in one of these 
 "crazy spells" that his face was disfigured for life by an im-r 
 perilled actor, the bridge of his nose being broken by tha 
 blow delivered through sheer defence.
 
 10' LIFEANDMARTTRDOM 
 
 The very ludicrous scene -whicli occurred at a New York 
 theatre, between Booth and the celebrated " fat girl," of Barnum's 
 Museum, is probably familiar to many, and is, perhaps, one of 
 the most amusing incidents in the annals of the stage. It is 
 very doubtful whether Booth was insane at any time when 
 not under the influence of strong drink. He was, however, of 
 a very fiery quality, and in his peculiar sphere — the sudden 
 and nervous expression of concentrated passion, as also in the 
 more quiet and subtle passages of his delineations — he was, 
 perhaps, unsurpassed by any actor of his time, and would have 
 passed for crazy if it were supposed he was guided in his 
 dramatic out-bursts by feeling rather than artistic skill. On 
 the stage the elder Booth, was convivial, genial, warm-hearted, 
 and as much loved in his profession as he was admired. 
 
 John Wilkes Booth — the infamous — was born on "the 
 Farm," near Baltimore, Md., in 1838, and is consequently but 
 twenty-seven years old. He made his first stage appearance 
 in 1855, at Eichmond, in " Richard III," at the St. Charles 
 Theatre in Baltimore, and in the fall of 1857, appeared under 
 the name of Wilkes at the Arch-street Theatre in Philadelphia 
 where he played stock parts during the entire season. The 
 name of Wilkes was given him by his father, in honor of 
 an old Baltimore friend, Jim Wilkes, a successful merchant 
 and great wit. Young Booth next became a member of the 
 Kichmond, Ya., Theatre, improved rapidly in his profession, 
 and became a great favorite there. During the season of 
 1860 and 1861 wc find him engaged still further South, play- 
 ing chiefly at Montgomery and Columbus, Ga. Probably not 
 fancying conscription into the Southern Army, however much 
 he favored the cause, he escaped North, and in 1861 and
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 11 
 
 1862 played in St. Louis, Louisville, and other western cit- 
 ies. It was during the season following, we believe, that he 
 first appeared in Cincinnati, at Wood's Theatre, and left the 
 impression, that though rather an unequal actor, as might be 
 expected of one of his limited experience, he gave un- 
 mistakable evidence of dramatic talent. He had, added to 
 his native genius, of a voice musically full and rich, a face 
 almost classic in outline, features highly intellectual, a pierc- 
 ing black eye, capable of expressing the fiercest and the 
 tenderest passion and emotion, and a commanding figure and 
 impressive stage address. In his transitions from the quiet 
 and reflective passages of a part too fierce and violent out- 
 breaks of passion, his sudden and impetuous manner had in 
 it something of that electrical force and power which mado 
 the elder Booth so celebrated, and called up afresh to the 
 memory of men of the last generation, the presence, voice, 
 and manner of his father. Convivial in his habits, sprightly 
 and genial in conversation, John Wilkes made many acquain- 
 tances and friends among the young men of his own age in 
 the city — an acquaintance that was renewed during two sub- 
 sequent engagements. 
 
 Our recollection of Booth is somewhat indistinct ; but we 
 remember his features in repose had rather a sombre and 
 melancholy cast; yet under agreeable influence or emotion, 
 the expression was very animated and glowing. His hair, jet 
 black and glossy, curled slightly, set off in due relief a 
 high intellectual forehead and face full of intelligence. Both 
 chin and nose were markedly prominent, and the firm set 
 lips and lines about the mouth indicated firmness of will, 
 decision, and resolution. He was scrupulously neat in his
 
 it LIFEAKDMARTIRDOU 
 
 dress, and selected his habit with a rare perception of what 
 was becoming to his figure and complexion. He would pass 
 any where for a neatly, but not overly, dressed man of 
 fashion. 
 
 Of his political views very little was known. He kept a 
 still tongue on the subject, so far as we have heard. Being 
 of Southern birth and education, it was presumed his sym- 
 pathies tended in that direction; but he exhibited no par- 
 ticular warmth or zeal for the Rebellion, and nothing to in- 
 dicate the remotest desire to further the cause b}' so much 
 as giving it pecuniary aid, much less personal assistance. It 
 is reported by a gentleman who heard the conversation, that 
 during his engagement in Louisville in 1862, Booth fell 
 into a controversy with the treasurer of the theatre — a rabid 
 secessionist — while standing one morning in the box-oflBce. 
 He remarked in eifect that he was a Southern man, and 
 liked the people of the South, who had been kind to him, 
 but he could not, for all that, admit that they had any 
 right or occasion to secede; that they had it all their own 
 way in Congress, and that if they insisted on fighting they 
 should have taken the American flag and fought under that. 
 There is another story, to the efi"ect that Booth, while play- 
 ing an engagement in Cleveland a year or more ago, assert- 
 ed rn a public bar-room that the man who would kill Abra- 
 ham Lincoln would gain a more enviable notoriety than 
 "Washington himself. It is of course impossible to say whether 
 these reported sayings are apocryphal or not. 
 
 The last appearance of Booth on the stage (except at 
 one or two benefits in "Washington), was at the "Winter Gar- 
 den, New York; and, in conjunction with his brothers, Ed-
 
 OFABRAHAMLIXCOLN. 73 
 
 win and Junius Brutus, in the play of "Julius Caesar," for 
 the benefit of the Shakespeare Monument Fund. He was, 
 we believe, to have played with them again at the same 
 theatre, on the 22d of April, for the benefit of the 
 same fund. The play selected was "Romeo and Juliet", the 
 cast of the Booths being — John Wilkes as Borneo, Edwin as 
 Mercutio, and Junius as Friar Lawrence. 
 
 As the public journals have been and are still filled with 
 paragraphs concerning Booth's connection with the oil busi- 
 ness, it may prove interesting to learn that the War De- 
 partment have thoroughly examined this matter, and the fol- 
 lowing are the facts established : 
 
 " J. Wilkes Booth never was in the oil regions of Penn,- 
 sylvania but 07ice, and that was last summer. He stayed two 
 days at the Petroleum House in Oil City, and then started, 
 as he said, for New York. He is traced to Salamanca and 
 thence to Buffalo, whence it is supposed he went into Canada. 
 He never purchased a single barrel of oil anywhere in the 
 whole oil territory of this State, never purchased, owned or 
 rented a lease, well, or parcel of ground in the State. Not 
 a single oil company is yet found in which he ever held a 
 single share or interest of any kind ! Not a solitary indi- 
 vidual can be found who ever sold him anything, or traded 
 or bartered with him for anything in the oil regions. And 
 the most singular circumstance is that not a single individual 
 can be found in the oil regions of Pennsylvania who ever 
 met Booth here and knew him at the time ! 
 
 BOSTON CO RBETT. 
 Boston Corbett, the hero of Booth's capture, was born in 
 London, England.' He was brought to New York by hia
 
 T4 LIFEANDMARTYRDOM 
 
 father, at eigth years of age. He subsequently went to Bos- 
 ton, where he was baptized a member of the Methodist 
 Church. He says, at that time desiring to lead a new life, he 
 changed his former given name and was baptized "Boston." 
 His subsequent residence has been in New York, when he 
 enlisted in the 16th Cavalry. He is as modest as he is de- 
 voted, and his lieutenant pronounces him a most worthy sol- 
 dier. He was offered one of Booth's pistols by the detect- 
 ives as a momento of the occasion ; but he declined it say- 
 ing, he desired no reminder of the sad duty he had to per- 
 form, and desired to have it banished from his mind as soon 
 as possible. He was recently offered one hundred dollars 
 for his own pistol with which he killed Booth ; but he in- 
 stantly replied, "That is not mine — it belongs to the Govern- 
 ment, and I would not sell it for any price." Being spoken 
 to about the large reward, he replied he desired no reward 
 for having done what God made manifest to him, in answer 
 to prayer, was his duty to do. He remarked, however, that 
 if the Government wished to reward him, and would allow 
 him to keep his little horse, when his term of service was 
 over, it would be all he could wish. 
 
 PURSUIT AND CAPTURE. 
 
 The first traces of Booth were discovered by Col. Baker, 
 who recently made the successful raid on the bounty jump- 
 ers and brokers of Xew York city. It appears that Booth's 
 leg was fractured in jumping from the President's box. Upon 
 mounting his horse he proceeded toward the lower counties 
 of Maryland, after being joined by Harrold who was intimate- 
 ly acquainted with the swamps and biding places of that 
 
 \
 
 OPABRAHAMLINCOLN. T5 
 
 region. At first, Booth scarcely noticed his leg; but after 
 riding a few miles, the pain became so intense that he went 
 to the house of Dr. Mudd, in Charles county, and had it 
 set at 3 o'clock in the morning of Sunday, April 16th, the 
 second day after the murder of the President. Dr. Mudd 
 split Booth's boot open to get it off, and when he left the 
 doctor gave him a pair of crutches, and it is supposed he 
 left in an easterly direction from the neighborhood of Bry- 
 antown. They then reached Turner's, about five miles from 
 Bryantown, and while taking some refreshments, the servant 
 was sent to inform the neighbors of their presence, Booth 
 having been recognized. They discovered the dilemma they 
 were in, and seizing the food on the table, decamped and 
 took refuge in the swamps and underbrush. Some lady in 
 Maryland presented Booth with a buffalo robe which was 
 consumed in the fire at Garrett's barn, in which he was 
 captured. Col. Baker's force traced him to Dr. Mudd'g 
 house, and the doctor was arrested by the military, with 
 one of Booth's boots in his possession, which had Booth's 
 name in it. The doctor was immediately taken to Washing- 
 ton. 
 
 Learnins; that no traces of him could be found after his 
 departure from the house of Dr. Mudd, near Port Tobacco, 
 where his fractured leg was set. Col. Baker became satisfied 
 that Booth must have crossed the Potomac and escaped into 
 Virginia, at, or near, Aquia Creek. He therefore procured an 
 order for General Hancock to furnish him twenty-six picked 
 cavalrymen to act as an escort to his brother. Lieutenant 
 Baker, and Lieutenant Colonel Conger, who were to conduct 
 them upon a route which a cardTul consultation of the map
 
 T6 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 of Virginia had indicated as the one most likely to be taken 
 by Booth. They proceeded down the river to Belle Plain, 
 in the steamer Ides, and thence disembarking, rode across to 
 a point opposite Port Royal on the Rappahannock. Here waa 
 a scow ferry, and the ferryman was critically questioned as 
 to the passage of any such party as Booth and Harrold. 
 The Virginia ferryman could remember nothing of such per- 
 sons ; but while Lieutenant Baker was exhibiting Booth's pho- 
 tograph with the view of refreshing his memory, a darker col- 
 ored but more loyal Virginian, employed as an assistant on 
 the ferry, happened to see the photograph over the detec- 
 tive's shoulder, and instantly replied, "Yes, master, I knows 
 dat man, I set um across de river t'other day, wid three 
 Oder men, in two boss wagon." The white proprietor could 
 remember nothing whatever, yet the trail was deemed good. 
 At Port Eoyal they took the Bowling Green Road, and pass- 
 ed the farm bouse of the Garretts, which, being about a 
 quarter of a mile from the road they passed, and rode on 
 several miles. This was about 3 o'clock, A. M. They met 
 another colored Virginian, however, and from him learned 
 that a party, such as was inquired for, was left at Mr. Gar- 
 rett's two days before, by two rebel oflacers. The party then 
 wheeled and returned to Garrett's house. Lieutenant Baker 
 dismounted and demanded admittance and the surrender of 
 Booth. The senior Garrett denied all knowledge of Booth ; 
 but seeing Baker manipulate his revolver, bethought him of 
 two Confederate soldiers who had been stopping at his house, 
 one of whom was wounded. He pretended he knew nothing 
 of their names ; he said they had been apprised that the 
 Union cavalry was about and had left the house, demanding
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. It 
 
 his horses and saying they must get away ; but he (Gar- 
 rett) stoutly refused to let his horses go, fearing, he said, 
 he should never get them again. So Booth and Harrold 
 fled to the barn, and Garrett sent his son to watch the 
 baim to see that they did not steal the horses, and that 
 he was at that moment hiding in the corn-house adjoining 
 the barn. This was found to be as stated. Lieutenant Ba- 
 ker then went to the barn door and knocked heavily with 
 his revolver upon the door, shouting out, "Booth, Booth." 
 After a protracted silence, Baker continued the knocking 
 and calling — Booth came to the door and asked, "Who are 
 you, and what do you want ? Are you Confederate or Yan- 
 kee?" Baker replied, giving his name, when Booth de- 
 clared he would shoot the first man who attempted to enter 
 the barn. 
 
 When challenged to come out and surrender, he, in a very 
 wild and excited tone, demanded to know who they supposed 
 him to be and by what authority, desiring to know of what 
 crime he was charged, and evincing the greatest excitement 
 and talking very incoherently. The officers demanded him to 
 come forth and give himself up. He refused to do so and 
 threatened to shoot whoever should approach. He said he 
 was alone there, but he would never surre'nder. Sergeant 
 Boston Corbett was stationed at a corner of the barn where 
 there was a board off, and where he was exposed to Booth's 
 fire. He expressed a desire to go in and secure him, saying 
 he was willing to venture his life in the encounter and had 
 much rather go in and attack him than to stand in his ex- 
 posed position ; but it was so evident that Booth meant to 
 sell his life as dearly as possible, that Lieutenant Doherty 
 would not permit him to enter. The officers then gave Booth
 
 78 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 five minutes to surrender or else the barn would be fired. 
 Nearly a half hour was consumed in the parley, however, 
 when fire was set to the barn. During the progress of the 
 flames Booth was seen by Corbett, aiming his Spencer car- 
 bine at one of the men. Corbett, who is a deeply religious 
 man, ^says he prayed fervently for Booth, and that God 
 would have mercy upon his soul, and feeling that he was 
 justified in shooting him to prevent the possible death of 
 another innocent man, approached the crack in the barn lev- 
 eled his revolver and fired. His shot, by a strange coinci- 
 dence, entered his head in almost precisely the same spot 
 that President Lincoln was shot; the ball passed through 
 and out of the upper part of the neck on the opposite side. 
 Booth instantly fell, and his carbine dropped heavily with 
 him. He was standing at the time supported by a crutch ; 
 his body was immediately removed from the burning barn. 
 This took place just at daybreak of the 26th of April, and 
 he lived till almost seven o'clock. 
 
 Booth and Harrold reached Garrett's on the ■24th, Booth 
 walking on crutches. A party of four or five accompanied 
 them who spoke of Booth as a wounded Marylander on his 
 way home, and that they wished to leave him there a short 
 time, and they would take him away by the 20th. Booth 
 limped somewhat and walked on crutches about the place 
 complaining of his ankle. He and Harrold regularly took 
 their meals at the house, and both kept up appearances well. 
 One day at the dinner table the conversation turned on the 
 assassination of the President, when Booth denounced the 
 crime in the strongest terms, saying that there was no pun- 
 ishment severe enough for the perpetrator. At another time, 
 some one said in Booth's presence that rewards amounting to
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 79 
 
 $200,000 had been oflfered for Booth, and that he would like 
 to catch him, when Booth replied, •' Yes, it would be a 
 good haul, but the amount will doubtless soon be increased 
 to $500,000." The Garretts, who lived on the place, allege 
 that they had no idea that these parties, Booth and Har- 
 rold, were any other than what their friends represented them 
 — paroled Confederate soldiers on their way home. They 
 also say, that when the cavalry appeared in that neighbor- 
 hood and they heard they weie looking for the assassins that 
 they sent word to them that these two men were on the 
 place. In other words they assert that they are entirely in- 
 nocent of giving the assassins any aid and comfort, knowing 
 them to be such. 
 
 Another account says, that the detachment of the 16th 
 New York Cavalry under Lieutenant Doherty, numbering 
 twenty-eight men and accompanied by two of Colonel Baker's 
 detective force, which went down the river on Monday even- 
 ing, obtained the first news of Booth at Port Royal on Tues- 
 day evening, from an old man who stated that four men in 
 company with a rebel captain, had crossed the Rappahannock 
 a short time previous going in the direction of Bowling 
 Green, and he added that the captain would probably be 
 found in that place, as he was courting a lady there. On 
 pushing on to Bowling Green the captain was found at the 
 hotel and taken into custody. From him it was ascertained 
 that Booth and Harrold were at the house of John & Will- 
 iam Garrett, three miles back toward Port Royal, and about 
 a quarter of a mile from the road passed over by the cavalry. 
 In the meantime, it appears that Booth and Harrold applied 
 to Garrett for* horses to ride to Louisa Court House, but the
 
 80 LIFE AX D MARTYRDOM 
 
 latter fearing the horses would not be returned, refused tc 
 hire them notwithstanding the large sums offered. These cir- 
 cumstances, together with the re-criminations of Booth and 
 Harrold, each charging the other with the responsibility of 
 their difficulties, had aroused the suspicions of the Garrett 
 brothers who urged Booth and Harrold to leave lest they 
 (the Garretts) should get into trouble with the cavalry. This 
 Booth refused to do without a horse, and the two men re- 
 tired to a barn the door of which, after they had entered 
 Garrett locked, and remained himself on guard in a neighbor- 
 ing corn-crib, as he states, to prevent the horses from being 
 taken and ridden off in the night by Booth and Harrold. 
 Upon the approach of the cavalry from Bowling Green, about 
 three o'clock on Wednesday morning, the Garretts came out 
 of the corn-crib to meet them, and in answer to their inqui- 
 ries directed them to the barn. Booth was at once sum- 
 moned to surrender but refused. Harrold expressed his wil- 
 lingness to give himself up but was overruled by Booth for 
 some time ; he finally surrendered, leaving Booth in the barn. 
 The latter then assuming a defiant air called out to know 
 the commanding officer, and proposed to him that his men 
 should be drawn up at fifty yards distance, when he would 
 come out and fight them. After the barn had been burning 
 three quarters of an hour, and when the roof was about fall- 
 ing in Booth who had been standing with a revolver in one 
 hand and a carbine resting on the floor made a demonstra- 
 tion as if to break through the guard and escape. To pre- 
 vent this Sergeant Corbutt fired intending to hit Booth in 
 the shoulder so as to cripple him. The ball however, struck 
 a little too high, and entered the neck, resulting fatally as
 
 OFABRAHAMLINCOLN. 81 
 
 before stated. In his leather belt -which he wore, was found 
 the dirk which he so tragically brandished upon the stage, 
 with clotted blood dried upon its blade. This knife, his car- 
 bine and two revolvers which he also had upon his person, 
 ^holding one in each hand at the time of being shot, and 
 while aiming his carbine, were all taken to Washington with 
 iis body. 
 
 Booth's confederate and companion Harrold came out of 
 tie barn at the first fire in an excited state of friglit and 
 professed contrition with his arms upraised. He also audibly 
 besought Booth to surrender, without avail however. Booth 
 in his forced hauteur shouted out just before Harrold left 
 him, " Here captain is one man who wants to surrender 
 mighty bad." He had but a moment previous insisted that 
 no one was in the barn with him. Harrold is pronounced a 
 mean cowardly boy. He said he wished J. Wilkes Booth had 
 been dead before he had ever seen him, and then remarked 
 with a silly tone and action, " He always liked Mr. Lincoln 
 and was very fond of his jokes." Harrold was taken to Wash- 
 ington and confined among the other prisoners. 
 
 Booth, before he died, was apparently rational, but talked 
 at random, and contradicted himself as he had done 
 throughout, and said, "Tell my Mother, I have died for my 
 country. You gentlemen have spoiled my fun in Mexico." 
 He seemed conscious of the near approach of death, but 
 died as frivilous and hardened as he had lived. His body 
 ■was fully identified by his initials on bis hand, in India 
 ink — his memorandum books and other papers, and by the 
 personal recognition, before and after death, of the detec- 
 tive officers who knew him. He had his moustache shaved 
 6
 
 82 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 off and had a uniform beard of four or five days. He 
 wore a gray woolen shirt ; had on dark cassimere jiants ; one 
 cavahy or theatre top boot which drew up above the 
 knee, but was turned down when captured. On the other 
 foot he had an old shoe. His leg was bandaged where it 
 was broken. Harrold said Booth had a third revolver 
 which was burned up in the barn. Booth wanted to know 
 where they would take him if he would give himself up. 
 He was informed by the detectives that he must make an 
 unconditional surrender. He is said to have showered im- 
 precations upon his confederates, who, he said, had promised 
 to stand by him but had all deserted him. 
 
 Booth was brought to the house of Mr. Garrett by a 
 Confederate Captain, who told Mr. Garrett that he was a 
 Marylander who was endeavoring to make his way to 
 Johnston's army. Several small squads of rebel cavalry 
 were seen hovering about, and were no doubt attempting 
 to cover his escape. 
 
 Booth had $105 in greenbacks, and sundry Canadian bills 
 of exchange, dated last October. His hair was badly matted 
 — his clothing soiled — and the body looked more like that 
 of a dirt bearer than that of the whilom fop. 
 
 Harrold said he was outside the theatre on horse back, 
 awaiting Booth's coming out, on the night of the murder 
 — that some how Booth got out and passed him without 
 his seeing him, and that he galloped four miles across 
 the Anacosta bridge, before he overtook Booth. He said 
 Booth injured his leg by jumping on the stage and not 
 by falling off his horse — that they changed their intended 
 course and rode directly to the house of Dr. Mudd, near
 
 OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ^ 
 
 Port Tobacco, to have his leg cared for ; but they secret- 
 ed themselves thereabout several days — saw the scouts pass 
 and re-pass, and finally got across the Potomac by paying 
 three hundred dollars for an old scow. Booth and Harrold 
 narrowly escaped capture on the Maryland side of the Po- 
 tomac. Marshal Murray and a posse of New York detec- 
 tives, tracked them to within a short distance of Swain 
 Point; but the Marshal being unacquainted with the coun 
 try, and without a guide, during the darkness of the night, 
 took the wrong road, and before he could regain the trail, 
 Booth and Harrold succeeded in crossing the river to Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 After the death of Booth, his body was placed in a 
 cart and convej^ed across to Belle Plain, to the steamer 
 Ides, which awaited the return of the party, and brought 
 to Washington. The two Garretts, who were paroled sol- 
 diers of Lee's army, and had just returned home, were 
 brought up as prisoners also. Harrold, and Booth's body 
 were safely lodged on a gunboat, at Washington, on the 
 27th of April, and the Garretts placed in the Old Cap- 
 itol. 
 
 Surgeon General Barnes held an autopsy upon Booth's 
 body, on the 27th. The smaller bone of his left leg was 
 badly fractured-7-one of the smaller arteries ruptured — and 
 the leg badly swollen. The ball entered the left side of 
 the upper section of the neck, passing out on the oppo- 
 site side.
 
 84 LIFEJlNDMARTTRDOM 
 
 ATTACK ON SECRETARY SEWARD. 
 
 Lewis Paine, tLe person who made tlie attempt on the life 
 of Secretary Seward, gained admittance to the house by repre- 
 senting himself as one sent there with a prescription. When 
 near the room in which Mr. Seward was lying, he was met 
 by Frederick W. Seward, who demanded who he was and 
 what he wanted ; Payne made no reply, but striking him 
 a blow with the butt of a pistol and cutting him with a 
 knife, rushed into the room, he made his way to the bedside 
 of Mr. Seward, who was lying on a low couch with his head 
 inclined to the right. The thrusts of the knife were received 
 in the cheek and neek. Mr. Seward's attendant came in- 
 stantly to his aid, and the assailant thinking probably he 
 had completed his work, grappled with him. The tussle was 
 of some minutes duration, during which time the attendant 
 received some very severe wounds. From loss of blood he 
 Bank to the floor, and Payne endeavored to escape. He was 
 met at the door by Augustus H. Seward, whom he struck 
 with his knife, inflicting a dangerous wound. His eff"orts to 
 escape were further arrested, but he seems to have become 
 inspired with desparation, and all who met him on his way 
 out of the house, felt the keen edge of his blade. 
 
 Payne after leaving Mr. Seward's house, rode out of the
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 85 
 
 city with all possible speed. After going some distance he 
 dismounted and disguising himself as best he could, returned 
 to the city. Pretending to be a laboring man, and with a 
 pick on his shoulder he proceeded to the residence of Mrs. 
 Surratt. It was now nearly daylight and the officers had tak- 
 en possession of the house. 
 
 Knocking at the door which was opened by an officer, he 
 was admitted but was surprised and disconcerted at finding 
 himself overpowered. His replies to questions put to him 
 were incoherent, and satisfied the officers of his complicity in 
 the murderous transactions of the night.
 
 SKETCHES. 
 
 PAYNE. 
 
 Payne is shown to have been the confederate of Booth, and 
 the one who assaulted with intent to kill Secretary Seward, Fred- 
 erick W. Seward, Augustus H. Seward, Emerick N. Hansell and 
 George F. Robinson. The antecedents of Payne are not known, 
 and the first of him is his appearance at the house of Mrs. Surratt 
 in the early part of March last, when he stated that his 
 name W98 Wood. He called for John H. Surratt but in his 
 absence he asked for Mrs. Surratt. He lodged there that night, 
 taking his meals in his room, and departed the next day. About 
 the same time he took a room in company with O'Laughlin in a 
 boarding house in D street, where Booth visited them frequently. 
 Here O'Laughlin and Payne remained about three weeks. 
 
 Afterwards Payne put up two or three days at Surratt's, where 
 John H. Surratt, Atzeroth, Booth and himself had secret consul- 
 tations. On this second visit Payne represented to some of the 
 members of the family that he was a Baptist preacher. He and 
 Surratt were found at one time in the bedroom playing with bowie 
 knives. In this same room were two revolvers, and four sets of 
 spurs similar to the revolvers and spur found in Atzeroth's 
 room at the Kirkwood House. At another time just before the 
 assassination he was found occupying a room at Herndon. 
 
 (86)
 
 OF ABKAHAM LINCOLN. 87 
 
 / 
 
 HARROLD. 
 
 Harrold is a young man less than twenty-five years of age, 
 a native of Washingtoji, formerly a druggist's clerk in that 
 city, but for some months without any known means of sup- 
 port though during that time apparently well supplied with money 
 He has frequently been in St. Mary's county, Maryland, always 
 taking his gun with him. On the night of the assassination he 
 was seen at the livery stable with Booth, and the evidence 
 obtained before the court shows him to have been Booth's 
 accomplice. It is shown by the evidence that he was several 
 times discovered in secret meetings with Booth, Atzeroth and 
 others of the conspiracy. He was found at Mrs. Surratt's in 
 company with them. Accompanied by Surratt and Atzeroth 
 he called at the tavern in Surrattsville and left the two car- 
 bines, the ammunition, &c., which were taken from that 
 place by him and Booth on the night of the assassination. Dur- 
 ing their flight he acknowledged to Confederate soldiers that 
 he and Booth were the assassins of the President. There is no 
 doubt whatever of his guilt, and we trust he will suffer the 
 penalty of his crime as it shall be defined by the commis- 
 sion. 
 
 ATZEROTH. 
 
 Atzeroth like Harrold is proven to have been a co-conspi- 
 rator. He made his first appearance at Mrs. Surratt's in the 
 early part of February, where he inquired for John H. Surratt 
 or Mrs. Surratt, and was frequently found in secret communi- 
 cation with Booth and his confederates. To him was assigned 
 the murder of President Johnson at the Kirkwood house. It 
 does not appear however that he made any effort to get access
 
 88 LIFEANDMARTYRDOM 
 
 to his intended victim on the evening of the 14th of April. 
 On the morning of that day, he took a room at Kirkwood's, and 
 was seen there at noon, and about six o'clock in the evening. 
 He was traced there on horseback, but was not apparently 
 about the house after that hour. He proved false to his 
 confederates. He was active in his co-operation with them 
 however throughout the night and fled at daylight the next 
 morning; of his guilt there is not a shadow of doubt. 
 
 MRS. SURRATT. 
 
 This worthy, it appears, was cognizant of the intended crime 
 almost from its inception, and became an active participant in 
 every overt act. She was a general manager, and received 
 and entertained at her house all the criminals except Dr. 
 Mudd, O'Laughlin and Arnold. With Dr. Mudd she planned 
 the means and assistance for the escape of the assassins. 
 She visited Mudd at five o'clock on the day of the assas- 
 sination, to see that the carbines, &c., should be in readiness 
 and informed him that they would be called for that night. 
 Booth frequently called at her house and had long interviews 
 with her. He was with her in the afternoon of the four- 
 teenth. 
 
 DR. MUDD. 
 
 Dr. Mudd's status is identical with the foregoing. Last Novem- 
 ber he is shown to have been in the confidence of Booth. Ho 
 had a meeting with Surratt and Booth at the National Hotel 
 in January. He introduced Booth to Surratt. Booth visited 
 him at his room in the Pennsylvania House. When the as- 
 sassins fled to his house he dressed Booth's wound and 
 assisted in the escape of Booth and Harrold.
 
 OFABRAHAMLINCOLN. 89 
 
 When the officers called at his house, Thursday after the 
 assassination, he denied that he knew either of the criminals, 
 and at the time of his arrest on the Friday following, ho 
 prevaricated, but finally admitted outright that he knew Booth. 
 He says he first heard of the assassination on the Sunday 
 after it was committed at church, and it is shown that he 
 was in Bryantown on the preceding Saturday at the time when 
 the excitement was at the highest pitch, the town guarded 
 by soldiers, and every man, woman or child in the place had , 
 not only heard of the murder, but knew the name of the 
 assassin. It remains to be seen what punishment the com- 
 mission will inflict upon him. 
 
 SPANGLER. 
 
 Spangler does not appear to haVe been in the conspiracy 
 at an earlier period than a few hours before the commission 
 of the crime. If he be guilty his participation would seem 
 to have been in preparing the means of escape by keeping 
 the passage-way clear on the stage, and by closing the door 
 after Booth had passed through, so as to retard the move- 
 ments of pursuers. He knew the purpose of Booth, and 
 promised a few minutes before the murder to help the assassin. 
 
 O'LAUGHLIN. 
 
 O'Laughlin is shown to have been in some kind of conspir- 
 acy with Booth. He was assigned to murder General Grant, 
 but whether he failed through lack of courage or from dis- 
 inclination does not appear. Atzeroth remarked the next day, 
 ■when it had been reported that General Grant had been shot
 
 90 LIFE AKD MARTYRDOM 
 
 that "probably it is the fact if he was followed by the man 
 that was to do it. It is said he withdrew from the conspiracy 
 on Friday the day of the assassination. 
 
 ARNOLD. 
 
 Arnold it is stated quarrelled with Booth and withdrew 
 from the conspiracy and went to Fortress Monroe, where he 
 was prior to and On the fourteenth of April.
 
 THE OBSEQUIES. 
 
 On the morning of the 15th of April, at half-past nine, 
 the President's body was removed from the private residence 
 opposite Ford's Theatre to the Executive Mansion, in a 
 hearse and wrapped in the America flag. It was escorted 
 by a small guard of cavalry. Gen. Augur and other mili- 
 tary officers followed on foot. 
 
 A dense crowd accompanied the remains to the White 
 House, where a military guard excluded the crowd, allow- 
 ing none but persons of the household and personal friends 
 of the deceased to enter the premises. 
 
 Flags over the Departments and throughout the city 
 were at half mast. Scarcely any business was transacted 
 anywhere, either on private or public account. Our citi- 
 zens, without any preconcert whatever, draped their pre- 
 mises with festoons of mourning. The bells tolled mourn- 
 fully, all was the deepest gloom and sadness. Strong men 
 wept in the streets. The grief was wide-spread and deep, 
 and in strange contrast to the joy that had been mani- 
 fested over our recent military victories. That day was 
 indeed a day of gloom. 
 
 The body was embalmed, with a view to its removal to 
 
 Illinois, and laid out in the room known as the "guests' 
 91
 
 92 LIFEANDMAETTRDOM 
 
 room," in Jthe north-west wing of the White House. It 
 was dressed in the suit of black clothes worn by him at 
 his late inauguration. The catafalque upon which the 
 body rested was placed in the south part of the east 
 room, and was somewhat similar in style to that used on 
 the occasion of the death of President Harrison. 
 
 THE FUNERAL AT WASHINGTON. 
 
 On the 18th the obsequies of the late President, at the 
 Executive Mansion, were of the most imposing and solemn 
 character. The pi-ocession was very large, and in its line 
 were many of the most eminent citizens of the republic, 
 civil, military and naval, including President Johnson, Gen- 
 eral Grant, Vice Admiral Farragut, the members of the 
 Cabinet, Senators, Representatives, Governors of States and 
 numerous others of distinction. The Foreign Powers were 
 also represented by their Ministers. The route of the pro- 
 cession was densely thronged by thousands of spectators. 
 Not an incident occurred to mar the solemnity of the 
 august spectacle. 
 
 The procession moved from the "White House at 2 o'clock 
 P. M., and so great was its length that when the van 
 reached the Capital the rear was still at Willard's Hotel, 
 nearly a mile long. 
 
 The military portion of the procession was swelled by 
 various civic associations from Washington and other cities, 
 and a large number of State delegations. New York^ 
 Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, 
 Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, West Virginia, and seve- 
 ral other States were represented by large delegations.
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 93 
 
 Officers of the army and navy occupied a prominent 
 place in the procession, all wearing crape upon their arms 
 and sword-hilts. Several colored associations were also rep- 
 resented, one of which bore a banner with the inscription, 
 "we mourn our loss." 
 
 Death had fastened into the frozen face of the corpse 
 all the character and idiosyncrasy of life. He had not 
 changed one line of his grave grotesque countenance, nor 
 smoothed out a single feature. The hue was rather blood- 
 less and leaden; but he was always sallow. The dark eye- 
 brows seemed abruptly arched ; the beard, which will grow 
 no more, was shaved close, save the tuft at the short, 
 small chin. The mouth was shut, like that of one who 
 had put the foot down firm, and so were the eyes, which 
 looked as calm as slumber. The collar was short and 
 awkward, turned over the stiff elastic cravat, and whatever 
 energy or humor or tender gravity marked the living face 
 was hardened into pulseless outline. No corpse in the 
 world was better prejDared according to appearances. The 
 white satin around it reflected sufficient light upon the 
 face to show us that death was really there; but there 
 were sweet roses and early magnolias, and the balmiest of 
 lillies strewn around, as if the flowers had begun to bloom 
 even upon his coffin. There was then no blood in 
 the body; it was drained by the jugular vein and saci'edly 
 preserved, and through a cutting on the inside of the thigh 
 the empty blood vessels were charged with a chemical 
 preparation which hardened to the consistence of stone. 
 The long and bony body was hard and stiff, so that it 
 could not be moved any more than the arms or legs of a 
 etatue. It had undergone many changes,
 
 94 LIFE AKD MARTYRDOM 
 
 Close by the corpse sat the relatives of tte deceased; 
 plain, honest, hardy people, typical as much of the simplic- 
 ity of our institutions as of Mr. Lincoln's self-made emi- 
 nence. No blood relations of Mr. Lincoln were to be 
 found. It is a singular evidence of the poverty of his 
 origin, and therefore of his exceeding good report, that, 
 excepting his immediate family, none answei-ing to his name 
 could be discovered. Mrs. Lincoln's relatives, ' however, 
 were present in some force. Dr. Lyman Beecher Todd, 
 General John B. S. Todd, C. M. Smith, Esq., and Mr. N. 
 "W. Edwards, tlie late President's brother-in-law. Plain, 
 self-made people were here and were sincerely affected. 
 Captain Eobert Lincoln sat during the services with his face 
 in his handkei'chief weeping quietly, and little Thad, his 
 face red and heated, cried as if his heart would break. 
 Mrs. Lincoln, weak, worn and nervous, did not enter the 
 east room nor follow the remains. She was the chief mag- 
 istrate's wife the day before ; then a widow bearing only 
 an immortal name. Among the neighbors of the late Pres- 
 ident, who came from afar to pay resj)ect to his remains, 
 was one old gentleman from Richmond. He had been hot in 
 wrangle upon the boat with some officers who advised the 
 execution of all rebel leaders. This the old man opposed, 
 when the feeling against him became so intense that he 
 was compelled to retire. He counselled mei'cy, good faith 
 and forgiveness. That day the men who had called him 
 a traitor, saw him among the family mourners, bent with 
 grief. All these were waiting in solemn lines, standing 
 erect, with a space of several feet between them and the 
 coffin, and there was no bustle nor unseemly curiosity.
 
 OFABRAHAMLINCOLN. 95 
 
 But the first accession of force was that of the clergy, 
 sixty in number. They were devout looking men, darkly 
 attired, coming from all the neighboring cities to repre- 
 sent every denomination. Five years ago these were wrang- 
 ling over slavery as a theological question, and at the be- 
 ginning of the war it was hard, in many of their bodies, 
 to carry loyal resolutions. Then there were there such 
 sincere mourners, as Eobert Pattison, of the Methodist 
 church, who passed much of his life among slaves and 
 masters. He and the rest had come to believe that the 
 President was wise and right, and follow him to his grave, 
 as the apostles did the interred on calvary. All these retired 
 to the south end of the room, facing the feet of the 
 corpse, and stood there silently waiting for the coming of 
 others. Very soon this east room was filled with the rep- 
 resentative intelligence of the entire nation. The governors 
 of States stood on the dais next to the head of the cof- 
 fin, with the various features of Curtin, Brough, Fenton, 
 Stone, Oglesby and Ingi-aham. Behind them were the 
 Mayors and Councilmen of many towns paying their last 
 respects to the representative of the source of all munici- 
 pal freedom. To their left were the corporate oflScers of 
 Washington. 
 
 Still further down the steps and closer to the catafalque 
 rested the manly features of Augur, whose blood has trick- 
 led forth upon the field of battle ; the open, almost beard- 
 less contour of Halleck, who has often talked of sieges 
 and campaigns with that homely gentleman who was going 
 to the grave. There were many more bright stars twink- 
 ling in contiguous shoulder bars, but sitting in a chair 
 7
 
 96 LIFEANDMARTTRDOM 
 
 upon the beflowered carpet was Ulysses Grant, who has 
 lived a century in the previous three weeks, and came 
 that day to add the lustre of his iron face to that thrill- 
 ing and saddened picture. He wore white gloves and 
 sash, and was swarthy, nervous and almost tearful, his feet 
 crossed, his square, receding head turning now here, now 
 there, his treble constellation blazing upon the left shoul- 
 der only, but hidden on the right, and one could read 
 upon his compact features the indurate and obstinate will 
 to fight, on the line he has selected, the honor of tha 
 country through any peril, as if he had sworn it by the 
 slain man's bier, his state-fellow, patron and friend. Here 
 also was the thin haired, conical head of Farragut, close 
 by General Grant, with many naval heroes close behind, 
 storm beaten, and every inch Americans in thought and 
 physiognomy. 
 
 But nearer down, and just opposite the catafalque, so that 
 it was perpendicular to the direction of vision, stood the cen- 
 tral powers of our Government — its President and counsellors. 
 President Johnson facing the middle of the coffin, upon the 
 lowest step. His hands were crossed upon his breast, his 
 dark clothing just revealing his plaited shirt, and upon his 
 full, plethoric, shaven face, broad and severely compact, two 
 telling grey eyes rested under a thoughtful brow, whose turn- 
 ing hair is straight and smooth. Beside him were Vice-Pres- 
 ident Hamlin, whom he succeeded ; and ex-Governor King, 
 his most intimate friend, who lends to the ruling severity of 
 the place a half Falstaffian episode. The Cabinet were be- 
 hind, as if arranged for a daguerreotypist. Stanton, short 
 and quicksilvery, in long goatee and glasses, in stunted con-
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 97 
 
 trast to the tall and snow-tipped shape of Mr. Wells. "With 
 the rest, practical and attentive, and at their side, was Sec- 
 retary Chase, high, dignified and handsome, with folded 
 arms, listening, but undemonsti'ative, a half foot higher than 
 any spectator, and dividing with Charles Sumner, who was 
 near by, the preference for manly beauty in age. With Mr. 
 Chase were other justices of the Supreme Court, and to their 
 left, near the feet of the corpse, were the revered Senators, 
 representing the oldest and newest States — splendid faces, a 
 little worn with earlier and later toils, backed up by the 
 high, classic features of Col. Forney. Beyond, were the re- 
 presentatives and leading officials of the various departments, 
 with a few odd folks, like George Francis Tl*ain, exquisite as 
 ever, and, for this time only, with nothing to say — not a 
 whisper, not a footfall — only the collected nation looked with 
 awed hearts upon eminent death. 
 
 At 12:10 amid profound silence, the Rev. Dr. Gurley ap- 
 proached the head of the catafalque, announced the order of 
 the religious service, when Dr. Hall, Episcopalian, read a 
 portion of the Scriptures, according to the form of that 
 Church. 
 
 THE OPENING PRAYER. 
 
 The opening prayer was made by Bishop Simpson, Metho- 
 dist Episcopalian, who in the course of it, said that in the 
 hands of God were the issues of life and death. Our sins 
 had called for his wrath to descend upon us as individuals, 
 and as a community. For the sake of our Blessed Redeemer, 
 forgiveness was asked for all our transgressions, and that all 
 our iniquities may be washed away, while we bow under
 
 98 LIFEANDMARTTRDOM 
 
 this sad bereavement which has caused a wide spread gloom 
 not only in this circle but over the entire land, an invoca- 
 tion was made that all might submit to God's holy will. 
 
 Thanks were returned for the gift of such a man as our 
 Heavenly Father had just taken from us, and for th^ many 
 virtues which distinguished all his transactions ; for the in- 
 tegrity, honesty and transparency of character bestowed upon 
 him, and for having given him counselors to guide our na- 
 tion through periods of unprecedent sorrow. He was per- 
 mitted to live to behold the breaking of the clouds which 
 overhung our national sky, and the disentegration of the 
 Rebellion. Going up the mount he beheld the land of 
 promise, with its beauty and happiness and the glorious 
 destiny reserved for us as a nation. Thanks were also re- 
 turned that his arm was strengthened and wisdom and 
 firmness given to his heart to pen a declaration of Eman- 
 cipation, by which were broken the chains of millions of 
 the human race. God be thanked that the assassin who 
 struck down the Chief Magistrate had not the hand to 
 again bind the suffering and oppressed. The name of the 
 beloved dead would ever be identified with all that is 
 great and glorious with humanity on earth. God grant 
 that all who stand here intrusted with the administration 
 of public affairs, may have the power, strength and wisdom 
 to complete the jvork of his servant so gloriously begun ; 
 and may the successor of the deceased President not bear 
 the sword in vain. God grant that strength may be given 
 to him and to our military to perfect victory and to com- 
 plete the contest now nearly closed. May the spirit of re- 
 bellion soon pass away. May the last vestige of Slavery,
 
 OFABRAHAMLINCOLN. 99 
 
 which caused the Eebellion, be driven from our land, 
 God grant that the sun may shine on a free people, from 
 the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the lakes to the 
 Gulf. May he not only safely lead us through the strug- 
 gle, but give us peace with all nations of the earth ; give 
 us hearts to deal justly with them, and give them hearts 
 to deal justly with us, so that universal peace may reign 
 on earth. We raise our hearts to Thee to plead that Thy 
 blessing may descend on the family of the deceased. God 
 bless the weeping widow in her broken-heartedness ; she 
 bows under a sad stroke, more than she can bear. En- 
 circle her in thine own arms. God be graciously with the 
 children left behind him. Endow his sons with wisdom. 
 From on high endow them with great usefulness. May 
 they appreciate the patriotic example and virtues of their 
 Father, and walk in his footsteps. We pray Thee, the 
 Bishop said, to make the assassination of jjersonal profit 
 to our hearts, while by the remains of the deceased, whom 
 we had called a friend. Do Thou grant us grace and re- 
 pentance of our sins, so that at the end of life we may 
 be gathered where assassins are not found, where sorrow 
 and sickness never come, but all gather in peace and love 
 around the Father's throne and glory. We pray Thee 
 that our Kepublic may be made the stronger for this 
 blow, while here we pledge ourselves to set our faces as a 
 flint against every form of opposition which may rise up 
 for its destruction; so that we, the children, may enjoy 
 the blessed advantages of a Government delivered from our 
 fathers. He concluded by repeating the Lord's Prayer.
 
 100 LIFE AND MARTYnOOM 
 
 DR. GUR LEY'S SERMON. 
 The Rev. Dr. Gurley Presbyterian, and the President's own 
 pastor, then delivered a sermon, standing on the step near 
 the head of the coffin. He commenced by saying, we recog- 
 nize and adore the sovereignty of Almighty God. • His throne 
 is in the Heavens, and His Kingdom ruleth over all. It 
 was a cruel hand — the dark hand of the assassin — thai 
 smote our honored, wise and noble President, and filled th* 
 land with mourning. But above this hand there is anothet 
 which we must see and acknowledge. It is the chastening 
 hand of a wise and faithful God. He gives us the bittei 
 cup. We yield to the behest and drink the draught. Thia 
 chastisement comes in a way heavy and mysteriously deep 
 at a time when the Rebellion is passing away. The occa. 
 sion has stricken down a man upon whom the people had 
 learned to trust and upon whom, more than any other, they 
 had centered their hopes for a restoration of union and re- 
 turn of harmony. In the midst of our rejoicing we needed 
 this stroke, this discipline, and therefore God has sent it. 
 Our affliction has not come forth from the dust nor from 
 the ground. Beyond the act of assassinatipn let us look to 
 God, whose prerogative is to bring light out of darkness and 
 good out of evil. He who has led us so well and prosper- 
 ed us so wonderfully during the last four years of anxiety 
 and conflict, will not forsake us now. He may chasten but 
 will not destroy. He may purify us in the furnace, but will 
 not consume us. Let our principle anxiety now be that this 
 new sorrow may be a sanctified sorrow, and induce us to 
 give all we have to the cause of truth, justice, law, order, 
 liberty and good government, and pure and undefiled religion.
 
 OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 101 
 
 Thougli weeping may endure for a night, joy cometh in the 
 morning. Thank God that in spite of this temporary dark 
 ness the morning* has began to dawn, the morning of a 
 brighter day than our country has ever before seen. That 
 day will come, and the death of a hundred Presidents and 
 Cabinets cannot prevent it. The people confided in the late 
 lamented President with a firm, and loving confidence which 
 no other man has enjoyed since the days of Washington. 
 He deserved it well, and deserved it all. He merited it by 
 his character, by his acts, and by the whole tenor and tone 
 and spirit of his life. He was wise, simple, sincere, plain 
 and honest, truthful and just, benevolent and kind. His per- 
 ceptions were quick and clear, his judgment was calm and 
 accurate, and his purposes were good and pure. Beyond a 
 question, always and everywhere, he aimed and endeavored 
 to be right and to do right. His integrity was all prevad- 
 ing, all controlling, and incorruptible. He gave his personal 
 consideration to all matters, whether great or small. How 
 firmly and well he occupied his post and met its grave de- 
 mands in seasons of trial and difiiculty is known to you all, 
 to the country and the world. He comprehended all the en- 
 ormity of treason and rose to the full dignity of the occa- 
 sion. He saw his duty as Chief Magistrate of a great and 
 imperiled people, and leaned on the arm of Him who giveth 
 power to the faint, and who increaseth strength. The Rev. 
 Dr. Gurley, toward the close of his address said : I speak 
 what I know, and testify what I have often heard him say, 
 when I affirm that guidance and mercy were the prop on 
 which he humbly and habitually leaned ; that they were tht 
 best hope he had for himself and his country. Hence,
 
 102 LIFE AND JIAKTTRDOM 
 
 when lie was leaving his home in Illinois, arid coming tc 
 the city to take his seat in the Executive chair of a dis- 
 turbed and troubled nation, he said to the old and tried 
 friends who gathered tearfully around him, and bade him 
 farewell : "I leave with this request, pray for me." They 
 did pray for him, and millions of others prayed, nor did 
 they pray in vain. Their prayer was heard, and the an- 
 swer appears in all his subsequent history. It shines forti 
 with heavenly radience in the whole course and tenor of hia 
 administration, from its commencement to its close. God 
 raised him up for a great and glorious mission, flirnishej 
 him for his work and aided him in its accomplishment. 
 Nor was it merely by strength of mind and honesty of 
 heart, and purity and pertinacity of purpose that he furnish, 
 ed him. In addition to these things he gave him a calm 
 and abiding confidence in the over-ruling Providence of God, 
 and in the ultimate triumph of truth and righteousness. 
 Through the power and blessing of God this confidence 
 strengthened him in all his hours of anxiety and toil, and 
 inspired him with calm and cheering hope, when others were 
 inclined to despondency and gloom. Never shall I forget the 
 emphasis and the deep emotion with which he said, in this 
 very room, to a company of clergymen and others who call- 
 ed to pay him their respects, in the darkest days of our 
 civil conflict : 
 
 "Gentlemen, my hope of success in this great and terrible struggle, 
 rests on that immutable foundation — the justice and goodness of God; 
 and "when events are very threatening and prospects very dark, I still 
 hope that in some way, which man cannot see, all will be well in tha 
 end, because our cause is just, and God is on our side." 
 
 Such was his sublime and holy faith, and it was an
 
 OF A 
 
 BltliHAM LINCOLN, 103 
 
 anchor to his so.tf^ both siire an(A».Bteadfast; It made him 
 firm and s^ong. It enibbldened him in the pathway of 
 iuty, however rugged and perilous ,it might be. It made 
 dim valiant for the rischt, for the -cause of God and hu- 
 manity, and it held him in steady, patient and unswerving 
 adherance to a policy of administration which he thought, 
 and which we all now think, both God and humanity re- 
 quired him to adopt. "We admired and loved him on many 
 accounts, for strong and various reasons. We admired his 
 childlike simplicity, his freedom from guile and deceit, 
 his staunch and sterling integrity, his kind and forgiving 
 temper, his industry and patience, his persistent, self-sacrific- 
 ing devotion to all the duties of his eminent position, from 
 the least to the greatest, his readiness to hear and con- 
 sider the cause of the poor and humble, the suifering and 
 oppressed, his charity toward those who questioned the 
 correctness of his opinions and the wisdom of his policy ; 
 his wonderful skill in reconciling differences among the 
 friends of the Union, leading them away from abstractions 
 and inducing them to work together and harmoniously for 
 the public weal ; his true and enlarged philanthrophy that 
 knew no distinction of color or race, but regarded all men 
 as brethren and endowed alike by their Creator With cer- 
 tain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and 
 the pursuit of happiness, his inflexible purpose that what 
 freedom had gained in our terrible civil strife should never 
 be lost, and that the end of the war should be the end 
 of slavery, and, as a consequence, of Rebellion ; his readi- 
 ness to spend and to be spent for the attainment of such 
 a triumph — a triumph the fruits of which should be as
 
 104 LIFEAND MARTYRDOM 
 
 ■wide spreading 'as the earth, and as enduring as the sun ; 
 all these things commanded and T&xed our admiration and 
 tlie admiration of the world, and stamped upon his charac- 
 ter and life the unmistakable impress of greatness. But 
 more sublime than any or all of these, more holy and 
 influential, more beautiful and strong and sustaining was his 
 abiding confidence in God and the final triumph of truth 
 and righteousness through him and for his sake. This was 
 his noblest vii-tue, his grandest principle, the secret alike 
 of his strength, his patience and his success. And this, 
 it seems to me, after being near him steadily and with 
 him often for more than four years, is the principle by 
 which more than by any other '• he being dead yet speak- 
 eth." Yes by his steady, enduring confidence in God and 
 in the complete ultimate triumph of the cause of God, 
 which is the cause of humanity, more than in any other 
 way, does he now speak to us, and to the nation he loved 
 and served so well. By this he < speaks to his successor 
 in office, and charges him to have faith in God ; by this 
 he speaks to the members of his Cabinet, the men with 
 whom he counselled so often and was associated with so 
 long, and he charges them to have faith in God; by this 
 he speaks to all who occupy positions of influence and au- 
 thority in these sad and troublesome times, and he charges 
 them all to have faith in God; by these he speaks to this 
 great people as they sit in sack-cloth to-day, and weep for 
 him with a bitter wailing and refuse to be comforted, and 
 he charijes them to have faith in God. And bv this he 
 will speak through the ages, and to all rulers and people 
 in every land, and his message to them will be : " Cling to 
 liberty and right; battle for them ; bleed for them; die for
 
 • OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 105 
 
 them, if need be, and have confidence in God." Oh ! 
 that the voice of this testimony may sink down into our 
 hearts to day and every day, and into the hearts of the 
 nation, and exert its appropriate influence upon our feel- 
 ings, our faith, our patience, and our devotion to the cause 
 now dearer to us than ever before, because consecrated by 
 the blood of its most conspicuous defender, its wisest and 
 most fondly trusted friend. He is dead, but the God in 
 whom he trusted lives, and He can guide and strengthen 
 his successor, as He guided and strengthened him. He is 
 dead, but tlie memory of his virtues, of his wise and 
 patriotic councils, and the labors of his calm and steady 
 faith in God live, is precious, and will be a power for 
 good in the country down to- the end of time. He is 
 dead, but the cause he so ardently loved, so ably, patient- 
 ly, faithfully represented and defended, not for himselt 
 only, not for us only, but for all people in all their com- 
 ing generations, till time shall be no more — that cause 
 survives his fall, and will survive it. The light of its 
 brightening prospects flashes cheeringly to-day at heart. 
 The gloom occasioned by his death, and the language of 
 God's united providences in telling us that though the 
 friends of liberty die. Liberty itself is immortal. There is 
 no assassin strong enough, and no weapon deadly enough 
 to quench its inextinguishable life or arrest its onward 
 march to the conquest and empire of the world. 
 
 This is our confidence, and this is our consolation as we 
 meet and mourn to-day. Though our beloved President is 
 slain, our beloved country is saved, and some sing of 
 mercy as well as of judgment. Tears of gratitude mingle 
 with those of sorrow, while there is also the dawning of
 
 106 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 a brighter, happier day upon our stricken and -n-eaiy lurid. 
 God be praised that our fallen chief lived long enough to 
 see the day dawn, and the day-star of joy and j^eace arise 
 upon the nation. He saw it and he was glad. Alas ! alas I 
 He only saw the dawn. When the sun has risen, full-orbea 
 and glorious, and a haj^py, reunited people are rejoicing 
 in its light, it will shine upon his grave, but that grave 
 will be a precious and a consecrated spot. The friends of 
 Liberty and the Union will repair to it in years and ages 
 to come, to pronounce the memory of its occupant blessed, 
 and gathering from his very ashes, and from ' the rehearsal 
 of his deeds and virtues fresh incentives to patriotism, they 
 will there renew their vows of fidelity to their country 
 and their God. 
 
 The closing pi*ayer, by Dr. Grey, Baptist, was sonorous 
 and concise. He concluded as follows : 
 
 "God of the bereaved, comfort and sustain this mourning 
 family. Bless the new Chief Magistrate. Let the mantle of 
 his predecessor fall upon him. Bless the Secretary of State 
 and his family. God, if possible, according to thy will, 
 spare their lives that they may render still important ser- 
 vices to the country. Bless all members of the Cabinet, 
 Endow them with wisdom from above. Bless the command- 
 ers in our army and navy, and all the brave defenders of 
 the country. Give them continued success. Bless the em- 
 bassadors from foreign courts, and give us peace with the 
 nations of the earth. God, let treason, that has deluged 
 our land with blood, and desolated our country, and be- 
 reaved our homes, and filled them with widows and orphans, 
 which has at lenjith culminated in the assassination of the
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 107 
 
 nation's chosen ruler — God of justice, and the avenger of 
 the nation's wrong, let the work of treason cease, and let 
 the guilty perpetrators of this horrible crime be arrested and 
 brought to justice. O, hear the cry and the prayer, and the 
 wail rising from the nation's smitten and crushed heart, and 
 deliver us from the power of our enemy, and send speedy 
 peace into all our borders, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, 
 Amen." 
 
 The corpse was then removed to the hearse which was in 
 front of the Executive Mansion, and at two o'clock the pro- 
 cession was formed. It took the line of Pennsylvania avenue. 
 The streets were kept clear of all encumbrances ; but the 
 eide-walks were densely lined with people from the "White 
 House to the Capitol, a distance of a mile and a half. The 
 roofs, porticos and windows, and all elevated points were oc- 
 cupied by interested spectators. As the procession started, 
 minute guns were fired near St. John's Church, the City 
 Hall and the Capitol. The bells of all the Churches in the 
 city and of the various engine houses were tolled. 
 
 First in the order of procession was a detachment of col- 
 ored troops ; then followed white regiments of infantry, and 
 bodies of artillery and cavalry, navy, marine and army of- 
 ficers on foot; the pall-bearers in carriages next; the hearse 
 drawn by six white horses, the coffin prominent to every be- 
 holder. The floor on which it rested was strewn with ever- 
 greens, and the coffin covered with white flowers. Then fol- 
 lowed the President and Cabinet, the diplomatic corps, mem- 
 bers of Congress, Governors of States, the delegations from 
 various States, fire companies, civic associations, the clerks of 
 the various departments, and others, all in order of proces-
 
 108 LIFEANDMARTYRDOM 
 
 sion, together with many public and private carriages, all 
 closing up with a large number of colored men. 
 
 The nearest relatives of the late President's family there 
 were the two sons of the deceased, namely: Captain Robert 
 and Thaddeus Lincoln, N. W. Edwards and C. M. Smith, of 
 Springfield, brothers-in-law of the late President, and Dr. 
 Lyman B. Todd, of Lexington, Ky., and General and J. B. 
 Todd, of Dakota, cousins of Mrs. Lincoln. 
 
 Mrs. Lincoln was not present at the funeral. It was said 
 she had not even seen her husband's corpse since the morn 
 ing of his death. 
 
 After the President's remains was placed on the catafalque, 
 in the rotunda of the Capitol, Major General Meigs, Quar- 
 termaster General, remained until they were taken in charge 
 by the guard of honor detailed for the night of the 19th 
 and for the 20th, which was composed of the following ar- 
 my officers. 
 
 Brigadier General John P. Slough, 
 
 Brevet Brigadier General William Gamble, commanding Ist separate 
 Brigade, 22d Army Corps, Fairfax Court House. 
 Captain R. C. Gale, A.. A. G. 
 Surgeon F. W. Mead. 
 Surgeon Hard. 
 
 Captain "Wickersham, E. A. G. 
 
 Captain H. C. Laurence, A. Q. M. > 
 
 Captain Brown, A. A. G. 
 Lieutenant Gamble, A. D. C. 
 Lieutenant Pearson, A. D. C. 
 Lieutenant Moore, A. D. C. 
 
 NAVAL OFFICERS. 
 
 Lieutenant Commander Edward E. Stone, Monitor Moutauk. 
 Lieutenant Commander A. Ward Weaver, Monitor Mahopac. 
 Lieutenant N. H. Farquhar. 
 Lieutenant A. R. McNair. 
 Lieutenant B. F. Day. 
 Lieutenant E'. M. Shepard.
 
 OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 109 
 
 A detachment of the Twenty-fourth regiment Veteran Re- 
 serves did guard duty at the entrance of the rotunda and 
 at the gates of the Capitol. 
 
 As soon as the doors were thrown open on the morning 
 of the 20th, the throng of visitors began to press forward. 
 All were required to enter at the main eastern entrance, and 
 passing in two lines on either side of the catafalque, to go 
 to the western door of the rotunda. None were permitted 
 to linger. A strong guard was placed across the lower 
 steps of the eastern entrance, and a line of guards in close 
 order on either side, marked the avenue left for the people 
 who desired to pass in. About ten o'clock a heavy rain 
 storm partially checked the crowd : but, notwithstanding the 
 rain, the long and ceaseless procession of saddened faces 
 came pressing forward at the rate of three thousand persons 
 per hour. 
 
 The catafalque was better arranged to afford a view of the 
 features of the honored dead than the one at the White 
 House. The features were little changed, and by many are 
 said to look more natural than when they lay in state at 
 the White House. 
 
 The whole force of the Capitol Police, under the direction 
 of Captain Newman, clad in mourning habiliments, were on 
 duty preserving order, and politely, but in suppressed tones, 
 and almost noiseless steps, directing the movemen's of the 
 crowd. 
 
 The rotunda, which was lighted by only a sort of twi- 
 light hue, was filled with solemn stillness, unbroken save by 
 the rustling of the dresses of the female mourners, and oc- 
 asionally a deep sigh from some of those passing the coffin, 
 
 «
 
 110 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 THE REMAINS OF THE PRESIDENT EXROUTE FROM 
 
 WASHINGTON. 
 
 At 6 o'clock Friday Morning, April 21, the members of 
 the Cabinet and many distinguished individuals met at the 
 Kotunda to pay their last respects to tlie late Chief Magis- 
 trate. The Rev. Dr. Gurley offered up a fervent prayer, 
 and at 7:-40 the body was placed in a hearse, and followed 
 to the depot by Lieut.-Gen. Grant and Staff, and Maj. B. 
 B. French. Then came the Cabinet, consisting of Secretar- 
 ies Stanton, Welles and Usher, Postmaster-General Dennison 
 ^nd Attorney-General Speed. The carriage of President 
 Johnson following the carriage of Lieut.-Gen. Grant. On 
 arriving at the depot, the coffin was placed in the car assigned. 
 At precisely eight o'clock the train started, all standing with 
 uncovered heads until the train passed out of view. The 
 remains of little Willie Lincoln, who died in Washington Feb- 
 ruary, 1862, accompany those of his father. 
 
 B ALTIMORE. 
 
 The funeral cortege arrived at the Cowden Station of the 
 JBaltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, about 10 o'clock. 
 Amid the tolling of the city bells and firing of minute guns 
 from the forts, a procession composed of the military and 
 civic societies, under command of Brigadier General Lock- 
 wood was soon formed. Provost Marshal Col. Woolley acting as 
 Grand Marshal, and line of march taken to the Exchange, where 
 the remains were laid in state in the Rotunda. The catafalque 
 was richly draped, and ornamented with silver stars and 
 fringe. The floor of the dais was bordered with evergieens 
 and choice flowers. Upward of 10,000 persons viewed the
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Ill 
 
 body, but double that number were denied tlie coveted priv- 
 ilege, as when the hour of 2 o'clock, P. M. arrived, the 
 coffin was closed and the remains escorted by the military 
 to the depot of the Northern Central Kailroad. At a few 
 minutes past 3 o'clock the funeral train was wending its way 
 to Ilarrisburg, Pa. 
 
 Upon reaching the State line at 5J o'clock, it was found 
 that Gov. Curtin had arrived from Ilarrisburg in a special 
 train, accompanied by his Staff. The greetings of the Gov- 
 ernors of Pennsylvania and Maryland, was exceedingly cordial. 
 At various places along the road the national banner was 
 displayed, either festooned with crape or bearing a black 
 border. The same solemnity of countenance was everywhere seen, 
 and all seemed to be profoundly mournful spectators of the burial 
 cortege. At York the ladies asked permission to lay on 
 the coffin a wreath of flowers. The hand of affection could 
 not have contributed a more choice and delicate tribute to 
 departed worth. 
 
 HARRISBURG. 
 
 The funeral train reached Ilarrisburg at 8J o'clock, Friday 
 Evening. It was heavily raining; but notwithstanding this 
 the streets were densely thronged, and a large military escort 
 accompanied the remains of the President, to the State House, 
 amid the sound of minute guns, where the corpse was exposed 
 to the view of the public until a late hour. 
 
 The train left for Philadelphia at 11 o'clock Saturday 
 
 Mornino-. Thousands of persons were sad witnesses of its 
 
 departure. The patriotic daughters laid a wreath of flowers 
 
 on the President's coffin. The cars in quick succession passed 
 
 8
 
 112 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 country houses, workshops and settlements, every resident 
 appearing to witness the passing train. Battle flags were 
 displayed everywhere, banners were at half mast, badges 
 of black were universal, and all elevated points, balconies 
 windows, housetops, &e., were occupied by persons of both 
 sexes and all conditions, each countenance bespeaking a sad 
 heart. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 The train arrived at the Broad Street Station at precisely 
 half-past four o'clock, on Saturday afternoon, or two hours 
 earlier than the schedule of time originally announced, in 
 order to afford more daylight for the display. The military 
 both white and black made a fine display. The city troop 
 acted as body guard. In the procession were the Mayor, 
 the City Councils, and other municipal authorities, Federal 
 officers, army and navy ofl3.cers stationed in the city and 
 neighborhood, the Judiciary, members of the Legislature, 
 members of Congress, representatives of Foreign Courts, and 
 numerous others of distinction. The firemen and every society, 
 institute and organization were well represented, especially the 
 the Knights Templars, the Odd Fellows, and the Fenians. 
 Many colored men also appeared as members of charitable 
 and other societies, with appropriate badges and regalia. The 
 chimes of St. Peter's and Christ Churches (Episcopal) were 
 responded to by St. Mary's (Roman Catholic) Church. The 
 procession occupied an hour and a half in passing the streets 
 designated in the programme, when the Old State House 
 having been reached, the corpse was taken into Independence 
 Hall, where it was placed near the bell which first proclaimed
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 113 
 
 the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The Hah 
 was clothed in such a manner as became the occasion, ren- 
 dering the entire scene solemnly imposing. The houses were 
 draped with mou;-ning. Ingenuity was exhausted in showing 
 to the best advantage this exterior manifestation of grief. 
 The body of the President was visited by thousands during 
 the night on invitation tickets from the Select Councils. 
 
 Before day light lines were formed east and west of Inde- 
 pendence Hall, passing in by two stairways through the front 
 windows, and out by the rear into the Square. By 10 o'- 
 clock these lines extended at least three miles, from the 
 Delaware to the Schuylkill Riter, thousands occupying three 
 or four hours before accomplishing their object of seeing the 
 remains. Great numbers of women took position in the line, 
 and notwithstanding the fatigue of slow progress, effected their 
 object. Many, only giving up when they fainted, were car- 
 ried off by their friends. The scenes at the hall were im- 
 pressively solemn, and not a few persons were affected to 
 tears. An old colored woman, 65 or 70 years of age, thrilled 
 the spectators with her open expressions of grief. Gazing tor 
 a few moments on the face of the dead, she exclaimed, clasp- 
 ino- her hands, while tears coursed down her withered cheeks: 
 "Oh, Abraham Lincoln ! Oh, he is dead ! he is dead ! " The 
 sympathy and love expressed by this poor woman found a 
 response in every heart, and seemed to increase, if possible, 
 the general grief. It was not until long after midnight that 
 the coffin-lid was replaced, and the face thus forever hid 
 from the afflicted citizens. The Pbiladelphians did everything 
 possible to show their respect for the distinguished deceased. 
 The countenances of the people best express the sadness of
 
 114 lib's and martyrdom 
 
 their hearts. The good taste of the citizens of Philadelphia 
 was displayed iu the mourning habiliments of their dwellings 
 and places of business. The ladies appeared with moui'uing 
 badges on their left shoulders, and this custom was so gen- 
 eral that its non-observance was noticed. 
 
 The funeral train left at 4 o'clock Monday morning for 
 New York. 
 
 JERSEY CITY. 
 
 At 10 o'clock on Monday the vast crowds, which had 
 gathered in front of the depot gates, were observed to surge 
 from side to side, and immediately afterward the train moved 
 slowly into the depot. It consisted of nine handsome cars. 
 The car containing the coffin was large and roomy, black 
 paneled, the upper portion festooned with black merino, looped 
 with silver cords, with silver tassels drooping below, the 
 whole surmounted with solemn rows of sable plumes. All 
 heads were uncovered as the train moved in, and a most 
 impressive silence prevailed throughout the vast multitude. 
 While the train moved in, and for several moments afterward, 
 while the remains were being borne from the boat the Ger- 
 man singers, of whom we have already spoken, raised their 
 grand and solemn requiem for the dead, until the vaulted 
 roof of the great structure resounded to the impressive strains. 
 In the interval, the crowds in the galleries remained perfectly 
 hushed, and that grand song alone rose and fell, and swelled 
 and wavered among them, like the lament of a mourning 
 world. 
 
 The coffin inclosing the remains was slowly and carefully 
 removed from the car and placed upon the stalwart shoulders 
 of the guard which had accompanied it from Washington — a
 
 OFABRAHAM LINCOLN. 115 
 
 detachment of the Veteran Reserve Corps. The preliminary 
 procession was then formed, and proceeded to the boat. 
 
 As the imposing procession moved through the densely 
 crowded depot to the still more crowded street, and thence 
 into the depot again, there was a most remarkable silence 
 everywhere. The roofs of the buildings and the tops of cars 
 in the company's yards were crowded to suffocation ; the crowds 
 in the streets were immense, and the same deeply respectful 
 silence, the same breathless suspense prevailed throughout. 
 Not the least touching feature in this display was that ex- 
 hibited by the negroes, of whom there were a large number 
 in the crowd. Upon their dusky faces could be seen the 
 traces of grief, which sprang from instinct rather than from 
 reason, a profound reverence which was worthy of the study 
 of scholars learned in study of character, and of cause and 
 and effect. 
 
 The hearse was a very handsome one, — a frame-work of 
 glass, black paneled, inlaid with silver beads, with four nod- 
 ding plumes of sable on either side. It was drawn by six 
 handsome gray horses. The caparisons and everything con- 
 nected with the hearse were simple, but appropriate and 
 beautiful. After depositing their precious burden therein, the 
 Guard of Honor marched as special guard to the remains, 
 seven on each side — while the remainder of the cortege fol- 
 lowed in due order. 
 
 The ferry boat New York, which was waiting to receive 
 the procession, was appropriately decorated with flags and sym- 
 bols of mourning. The bridge leading to the ferry was also 
 handsomely decorated with flags and steamers, and the inevi- 
 table dead black.
 
 116 LIFE AKD MARTYRDtM 
 
 After a short delay, the whole party were embarked, and 
 the powerful steamer moved across the river with hardly any 
 perceptible vibration, as if it were a thing of life and con- 
 scious of the precious nature of its charge. The requiem 
 singers continued their solemn chorus. From far down the 
 Bay came the echoes of the distant cannon, and nearer still 
 they rang and reverberatad over the boat. Guns boomed, 
 the requiem rose and fell, vessels in the harbor dipped their 
 flags in token of respect, and the hum of the peopled piers 
 awaiting to receive their dead chieftain could be heard long 
 before the vessel touched the landing. 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 The scenes at the foot of Desbrosses street was one never 
 to be forgotten. Every foot of ground, eyery attainable perch, 
 every house-roof was black, with human forms. Men and boys 
 were perched on trees and telegraph poles ; house-tops were 
 so covered with spectators that it was a wonder that they 
 did not fall in, and every window appeared to contain a 
 dozen heads of eager spectators. But a strong force of po- 
 lice was on hand, and the best of order prevailed. Up the 
 long open space, which stretched from the gates of the ferry- 
 bridge, could be seen a clear, broad lane, awaiting the fu- 
 neral cortege. The left hand hedge was the splendid front 
 of our own 7th Regiment, as regularly formed as a line of 
 palisades, the long line of policemen, on the right, present- 
 ing a no less creditable appearance. The arrangements had 
 been perfected with singular judgment, and the excellent order 
 which was everywhere preserved, notwithstanding the enor- 
 mous crowd, reflected great credit upon the police authorities.
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Ill 
 
 Indeed, we did not witness, in the entire march, a single 
 disturbance of a serious character. The equanimity of the 
 crowd, as a general thing, appeared to be equal to their re- 
 spect for the departed President. 
 
 But little time was lost iu preparations for the march to 
 the City Hall. The hearse was first drawn out, the Seventh 
 Regiment forming round it in hollow square. Four battalions 
 of policemen, in excellent oi'der followed, and the remainder 
 of the procession came after in the same order we have al- 
 ready mentioned. A portion of the Washington delegation, 
 however — that comprising the General officers — making the re- 
 mainder of tlie march in coaches. Four policemen followed, 
 and the remainder of the procession followed in the order 
 we give above. 
 
 The appearance of the sidewalks and houses, as the pro- 
 cession moved up Desbrosses street, to the dull beat of the 
 dead march from the band in the van, was most impressive. 
 
 Every window was full of heads, every house was covered 
 with mourning, and the people on the sidewalks formed a 
 solid, scarcely breathing wall. 
 
 Turning slowly up Desbrosses street, to Canal street, and 
 thence eastward, the solemn procession swung down Broadway, 
 to the same funeral step, the dense crowds gathering denser 
 as they moved, while the most impressive silence prevailed. 
 
 On the procession moved amid serried masses of people 
 ranged along the sidewalks, until it reached the City Park, 
 and here words fail to convey an adequate idea of the im- 
 pressive scene. Balconies, windows, housetops and door-steps, 
 were crowded with fashionably dressed ladies and gentlemen. 
 Every available post was occupied. Enthusiastic boys fixed
 
 118 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 themselves on railings, lamp-posts, &c., while in the Park 
 many were perched on boughs and branches of the trees to 
 the manifest peril of life and limb. The most perfect silence 
 was observed, save at times, when a murmur of whispered 
 grief, like the sound of distant waters, was borne on the air. 
 Heads were uncovered, and tearful eyes turned heavenward 
 as the remains of the martyred patriot — a nation's idol — wore 
 borne past. The Astor House was one mass of life, while 
 the dark decorations of mourning waved sadly and sullenly 
 from basement to roof. As the procession wheeled around 
 the lower end of the Park the utmost eflForts of a large and 
 efficient force of police could not keep the crowd back. For 
 a few moments the procession was broken, and outsiders had 
 an opportunity of pushing onward to the City Hall to get a 
 glimpse of the departed. Many were the congratulations on 
 this point. 
 
 Anxious eyes looked out from the windows in the vicini- 
 ty, while the crowd surged to and fro beneath. Earely have 
 scenes like this been witnessed. Death is at all times im- 
 pressive, but under circumstances like these the feeling is too 
 intensified for language to express it. The windows of French's 
 Hotel were, like all others, full of anxious, eager, pallid 
 faces. Moistened eyes rested on the funeral car which bore 
 the last precious remains of a people's choice, and as the 
 last honors were paid to the great departed a mournful si- 
 lence pervaded the vast multitude. Never did the word of 
 command, "present arms," fall on the ear with such a choking 
 sensation. In the looks of those men thus arrayed there was 
 something too deep for language, too overwhelming for out- 
 ward expression.
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 119 
 
 The City Hall is reached. The coffin is removed from the 
 heax-se. Slowly and solemnly, with heads bent low, and look 
 of profound emotion, while the bright sunshine glimmered on 
 brilliant uniform and glittering sword, and waving flags almost 
 darkened the air, the coffin is borne onward by fourteen 
 orderlies past the military lines of the 7th Regiment N. Y. 
 S. N. Gr.; past the veterans of the war of 1812 j past the 
 lines of the Metropolitan Police drawn up in hollow square — 
 on, still on — up the steps of the City Hall, where one thous- 
 and German singers were stationed, whose mournful wail 
 floated high above all other sounds, and was re-echoed within 
 the dim and solemn chamber of the Hall, and borne onward 
 beyond the military lines on the passing breeze to the dis- 
 tant, heaving crowd. 
 
 The remains were hardly deposited within the Hall when 
 a column of eager applicants for admission was formed, which 
 extended away through Chatham street, to nearly the Bowery. 
 All races and all colors were represented in it, and we eer- 
 taiuly never supposed that there was so much human patience 
 in the world. 
 
 The scene in front of the City Hall was very animated. 
 The long files of policemen were placed in a line running 
 from the east to the west gate of the Park, and also on 
 Printing-House square and Park-row. 
 
 In the Governor's room the decorations were beautiful. 
 The portraits of the Governors and ex-Mayors of New York 
 and the various other celebrities were all draped in the usual 
 form of mourning. At 11 o'clock about 2,000 members of 
 the Saengeround, Liederkranz and Arion Musical Societies 
 marched in front of the City Hall and took their position on
 
 120 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 the esplanade, on either side of the main entrance to tho 
 building. 
 
 THE PROCESSION. 
 
 Even during all the night before, preliminaries for the 
 great funeral procession had been going forward at many 
 points in the city. Before dawn the stir increased. Almost 
 as soon as it was light, the vast amount of our great met- 
 ropolitan population began to move perceptibly toward tho 
 Badly magnificent ceremony of the day. At first many sol- 
 diers, uniformed and armed, or single civilians, in decent 
 black, were gathering to a thousand rendezvous of regiment, 
 society, club or association, as to centres of crystallization 
 sprinkled over the extensive city map. And while uniform 
 and civic costume varied in their respective many ways, two 
 universal marks, distinguishable, indeed, in almost every citi- 
 zen, whether to be participant or spectator of the sombre 
 pageant — the crape badge on the arm, and the countenance 
 serious and often sad — silently witnessed that the vast city 
 arose in oneness of heart to offer a last testimony of grief 
 and love at the death of the liberator, the patriot, the hon- 
 est man and the wise ruler. 
 
 The procession formed in eight divisions. The first division 
 standing in line for a mile and three-quarters on Broadway 
 from the Park to Fourteenth street, could thus be conven- 
 iently followed by each of the others in its order, all cross- 
 ing the Park and wheeling to the right into Broadway. 
 
 THE SPECTATORS. 
 
 As ihje time of starting approached, a tremendous crowd 
 of spectators lined the whole of the appointed route, stand-
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 121 
 
 nif often in a dense human hedore twelve or fifteen feet 
 deep along the curb-stones. Another almost equally numerous 
 body occupied the steps, gratings and inner border of the 
 walk ; while all windows were filled with men, women and 
 children — occupancy being often sold for money, and adver- 
 tised by handbills posted up outside. Thousands and thous- 
 ands of these lookers on were too young to know their 
 right hands from their left, and were doubtless brought in 
 order that, in old age, they might say they saw the funeral' 
 procession of Abraham Lincoln. Eaves, roflfs, trees, posts, 
 were edged or tipt or fructified with men or women. Along 
 the middle of each sidewalk crept in either direction a slug- 
 gish, narrow stream of passengers. 
 
 At 1 o'clock, and with prompt good faith the great pro- 
 cession moved forward. The right of the first or military 
 division resting on Fourteenth street, it was of course at that 
 point that actual movement began. 
 
 THE MILITARY DIVISION. 
 
 According to a funeral etiquette, the order of the march 
 as well as the position of the soldier's weapon, is reversed, 
 and the last instead of the first brigade of a division, regi- 
 ment of a brigade, &c., goes first. The Second Division of 
 New York State troops precedes the First, the Eleventh Brig- 
 ade precedes the Fifth, the Fifty-second Regiment is before 
 the Forty-seventh, that before the Twenty-third, and so on. 
 
 Down the whole long line of the great thoroughfare, clear 
 to the Park, the regiments were standing at ease, facing 
 eastward. One after another, in quick succession, they turned 
 into column of sections, and a bird's eye view would show 
 the whole distance from Union Park to the City Hall, one
 
 122 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 long track of stony gray, bordered with the heavy black 
 masses along each sidewalk, and from end to end, trans- 
 versly striated with the sections, deliberately gliding north- 
 ward in common time, the swords and bayonets sparkling and 
 glinting in the perfect sunlight. 
 
 THE FUNERAL CAR. 
 
 The Seventh Regiment acted as guard of honor; and 
 within its hollow square, rolling slowly nearer and nearer, 
 came the funei^l car, a gloomy and imposing structure, its 
 heavy plumes nodding to and fro. Before the guard of honor 
 inarched a strong platoon of policemen, sweeping once more 
 every inch of the street from curb to curb. There was, how- 
 ever, scarcely the least infringement of the orders in this 
 matter. Here and there some weary old lady or careless 
 boy sat down with feet in the gutter; but the crowd, though 
 dense and massed to a degree even far beyond that of the 
 remarkable occasion just after Inauguration Day, kept heed- 
 fully to the sidewalk. 
 
 THE GUARD OP HONOR, 
 
 the Seventh Regiment, Col. Emmons Clark, came next, with 
 reversed arms; its mathematically accurate marching and 
 thoroughly soldierlike array justified its employment in this 
 melancholy but honorable duty. 
 
 The car itself rolled slowly and gloomily before us. Its 
 Bixteen gray horses were shrouded in black, and led each by 
 a colored groom. Immediately about it marched the faithful 
 squad of soldiers of the Veteran Reserves who accompanied 
 the remains from Washington. The car itself consisted of a 
 broad platform fourteen feet by eight, on which was a stag©
 
 OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 123 
 
 or dais where the coffin lay. O.ver this was a rich canopy 
 upon four columns, having planted at the foot of each col- 
 umn three national flags festooned and craped. Above the 
 four corners of the canopy were four great shadowing and 
 waving masses of sable plumes, and at the top was a small 
 model of a circular temple, unwalled, open, empty. Thus— so 
 would teach this little emblem — was the nation, the home of 
 freedom, bereft of its representative man. Or, perhips, thus 
 empty of its former tenant, w-as the body of the dead the 
 temple of life. Within, the car was lined with white satin, 
 and above the coffin hangs a large eagle, his wings outspread 
 as if he hovered there, and carrying in his talons a wreath 
 of laurel. All around the black draperies hung almost to 
 the earth. Up on the surface of the dais and platform, 
 beautiful white flowers were disposed in graceful, plenteous 
 wreaths and boquets, and the deep blackness of the draperies 
 is moreover somewhat relieved by festoons and spangles of 
 silver bullion. 
 
 THE CIVILIAN PROCESSION. 
 
 The military portion of the processions is thus concluded, 
 with a few small exceptions. With similar exceptions, the 
 remainder of it, in place of the rich efi"ects of the uniforms, 
 the order of march, and the glitter and gleam of weapons, 
 presented a monotonous, although impressive, column of civ- 
 ilians, in black clothes and hats. In several respects thia 
 portion of the procession was to the thoughtful observer 
 more significant than the military part ; but it was by virtue 
 of implications and associated ideas, not by considerations of 
 color and arrangement.
 
 124 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 NATIONALITIES. 
 
 The numerical strength and watchful nationality of the 
 Irish in New York was once more shown by the fact that 
 one whole division, the Fifth, consisted entirely of Irish 
 associations — and a large division it was. Among them 
 marched, as in the Inauguration procession, a number of 
 companies of boys, in green blouses, and hand in hand. 
 The little fellows looked well and mai'ched finely. 
 
 The athletic German turners, in their plain linen coats, 
 looked strong, ready and sensible. 
 
 A long ax'ray of mechanics' protective and provident as- 
 sociations constituted the latter part of the civilians' pro- 
 cession, a very few among them here and there showing 
 disgracefully enough, the influence of liquor. 
 
 The Brooklyn delegation constituted the Eighth Division, 
 and after it, bringing up the rear, with a strong double 
 rank of policemen before and behind, came a body of 
 about two hundred colored men. Part of them were freed- 
 men recently from slavery, and these bore a banner with 
 two inscriptions : "Abraham Lincoln our Emancipator," and 
 " To Millions of Freemen he Liberty gave." This was the 
 only portion of the procession which was received with any 
 demonstrations of applause. For them a just and kindly 
 enthusiasm overrode the strict proprieties of the occasion, 
 and handkerchiefs waved and voices cheered all along as 
 they marched. 
 
 The head of the procession had reached the railroad sta- 
 tion at 2:10. The rear of it had not reached Fourteenth 
 street at 5. It must have contained full sixty thousand 
 men. After the delivery of the remains to the charge ©f
 
 BOSTON COBBETT.
 
 OP ABRAHAM LINCOLX. 125 
 
 the railroad authorities, it was hours before the rear of 
 the procession ceased inarching. The allotted route having 
 been passed over, the various component parts quickly dis- 
 persed to their respective rendezvous. 
 
 The deep sobriety of this ceremony gave it a profound 
 and weighty character, far more impressive than the festal 
 pomp of most pageants. And the wailing notes of the 
 dirges played by the bands greatly increased this effect. 
 The streets were in remarkably good condition. The air 
 and sky were perfect ; the arrangements for the occasion 
 very good indeed ; and in grandeur of form, as well as in 
 ethical and political meaning, the great funeral pageant 
 given by the City of New York to the remains of Presi- 
 dent Lincoln was entirely successful. 
 
 THE CERE3I0NIES IN UNION SQUABE. 
 
 Shortly after the procession had passed through Ufflion 
 Square, Tuesday afternoon, a meeting was held for the 
 purpose of rendering fitting testimonials of respect and 
 reverence for the character of the late President, and join- 
 ing in appropriate religious exercises. 
 
 Facing the Maison Doree, a large stand had been erect- 
 ed, with the national colors draped in black, and a bro- 
 ken column, the design of Mr . Thomas, round the base of 
 which a roll of black crape was placed. In the square 
 opposite the Spingler house and to the right of the stand, 
 was a pedestal beai-ing a bust of President Lincoln, which 
 is said to be a striking likeness. It was draped in mourn- 
 ing, and attracted much attention. In front of the stand 
 about two thousand persons, among whom were a number 
 of ladies, had collected, and the windows and doorways of 
 9
 
 126 LIFEANDMARTYRDOM 
 
 the houses within sight and hearing distance of the stand 
 were crowded. 
 
 On the stand Avere a large representation of the clergy, 
 and deputations from the Union, New York, Century, 
 Athenffium, Citj', Union League, Eclectic and other clubs. 
 A number of ladies and children were also admitted to 
 the stand, which was most inconveniently crowded. 
 
 Hon. John A. King presided. The exercises were opened 
 with prayer by Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, during which the 
 assemblage remained uncovered. After repeating that beau- 
 tiful portion of the burial service, commencing 
 
 " I am the resurrection and the life saith the Lord ; he 
 that believeth in me, though he were dead, j^et shall he 
 live ; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never 
 die," the reverend gentleman said : " God, in whose hands 
 is our life. Thou hast pleased in thine infinite wisdom to 
 take away the light of our eyes, the desire of the people. 
 we bow to thy decree with submission, and we revere 
 Thee as the high and lofty One. Thou hast chastened as 
 a father chastened his children. We confess Thee as the 
 Savior, we acknowledge the fulness of Thy power, we feel 
 a thankfulness for that Thou hast given and now has 
 taken away. We bless Thee that Thou hast made him the 
 instrument of saving the nation, and proclaiming liberty to 
 those in bondage. We feel a deep sense of our loss, but 
 we bow in humble thankfulness for all our blessings. We 
 implore Thee to bless the wounded and suffering, the widow 
 and the fiitherless ; we implore Thee to bless and protect 
 the new President, and to hasten the time when the na- 
 tion shall desire war no more."
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 127 
 
 After the prayer, the band played the " Dead March." 
 
 Hon. George Bancroft then delivered a feeling oration. 
 The delivery of the oration was frequently interrupted by 
 applause. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Joseph P. Thompson was then introduced, and 
 read President Lincoln's last inaugural address in a very 
 impressive manner 
 
 This was followed by the reading, by Eev. W. H. Boole, 
 of the 94th Psalm, which was pronounced by the inspired 
 Psalmist against the enemies of his country. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Rogers then pronounced an eloquent prayer, in 
 which he thanked God that our late President had been 
 removed from among us without even a shadow on his 
 name, and that a Joshua had been raised up to replace 
 him. 
 
 After appropriate music by the band, Rev. Rabbi Isaacs, 
 of the Broadway Synagogue, read a selection from the 
 Scriptures and delivered a short prayer. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Samuel Osgood then read the following hymn, 
 composed only a few hours previously, by Mr. W. C* 
 Bryant : 
 
 0, slow to smile and swift to spare, 
 
 Gentle and merciful and just, 
 "Who in the fear of God did'st bear 
 
 The sword of power, the nation's trust. • 
 
 In sorrow by thy bier we stand, 
 
 Amid the woe that hushes all, 
 And speak the anguish of a land 
 
 That shook with horror at thy fall. 
 
 Thy task is done, the bonds are free— 
 
 We bear thee to an honored grave, 
 Whose noblest monument shall be 
 
 The broken fetters of the slave.
 
 128 LIFE AND MARTYKDOM 
 
 Pure' was (hy life — its bloody close 
 Hath placed thee with the sons of light, 
 
 Among the noblest host of those 
 
 Who perished in the cause of right. 
 
 Dr. Osgood also read the following compositcn of Mr 
 Bryant, which he said had not yet been published) 
 
 HYMN. 
 
 "Thou hKst put all thiugs under His feet." 
 
 North, with all thy vales of green, 
 
 South with all thy palms, 
 From peopled towns, and fields between, 
 
 Uplift the voice of psalms ; 
 Raise, ancient East, the anthem high, 
 And let the youthful West reply. 
 
 Lo ! in the clouds of heaven appears 
 
 God's well beloved Son ; 
 He briirgs a train of brighter years — 
 
 His Kingdom is begun: 
 He comes a guilty world to bless 
 With mercy, truth, and righteousness. 
 
 Father, haste the promised hour 
 
 When at his feot shall lie 
 All rule, authority and power 
 
 Beneath the ample sky, 
 W^hen He shall reign from pole to pole, 
 The Lord of every human soul. 
 
 Archbishop McClosky being unavoidably absent, the ben- 
 ediction was pronounced by Dr. Hitchcock, and the assem- 
 blage then dispersed. 
 
 FROM NEW YORK TO ALBANY. 
 The coflSn was then removed to the train, the assemblage 
 not leaving until it started. On the route to Albany all 
 was in mourning, each place vieing with the other in rich
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 129 
 
 decorations and mourning emblems; the people wore sad 
 faces, indicative of their sad hearts. The train duly arrived 
 at Albany, where the remains were exposed to view and 
 viewed by thousands of people and thousands wei-e disap- 
 pointed. 
 
 The funeral train left Albany at 4 P. M., Wednesday, 
 26th. It was said that delegations from ten counties visited 
 Albany to view the remains.. The lying in state and the 
 procession there had been marked by all the characteris- 
 tics which had signalized the same in other cities. Special 
 trains had brought thousands from towns not on the route 
 to swell the population of the city. The houses were dec- 
 orated Avith fitting emblems and fitting mottoes. The pro- 
 cession was beautifully ordered and very impressive. Gov. 
 Fenton and staff were on foot immediately after the escort 
 which left "Washington, the latter in open carriages. At 
 Schenectady, as always before, there was a still multitude 
 with uncovered heads. At Canajoharie, the Palatine Bridge 
 was clad in flags and mourning, and there was firing of 
 guns, tolling of bells, music of bands, an assembled mul- 
 titude. A refreshment car accompanied the train, and sup- 
 per was had at St. Johnsville. The first young ladies of 
 the town, dressed alike in black skirts and white bodices, 
 with heavy black rosettes upon the left shoulder, waited 
 upon the table and were afterward admitted to the hearse 
 car and a view of the coffin. The ladies of Little Falls 
 placed fresh flowers upon the coffin. At Herkimer blazing 
 torches showed the train in a bright light to an immense 
 company, who spolvc not a word, but let him pass on in 
 his glory. Multip'.ied thousands, made wierd by torches,
 
 130 LIFE AND MARTTKDOM 
 
 Diet the train at Iltica, with bells tolling and guns firing. 
 It was estimated that 25,000 persons were present. Passing 
 Oriskany, where the people had kindled a large bonfire, 
 the train reached Syracuse at 11:15 P. M. The depot and 
 other buildings were draped in mourning, and the scene 
 was illuminated with locomotive lamps. A band of music 
 played a dirge as the train entered the depot, and a choir 
 of 100 voices sang appropriate hymns during the stoppage 
 of the train. The crowd of citizens was immense, and 
 large delegations came in from Oswego, and the surround- 
 ing towns. The train was received by the assembled mul- 
 titude with uncovered heads, and with every manifestation 
 of heartfelt sorrow. The way stations were illuminated 
 with torches and bonfires. At midnight the train reached 
 Memphis. 
 
 Thursday, April 27, the remains passed through, Jordon, 
 "Weedsport, Port Byron, Savannah, Clyde, Lyons, Newark, 
 Palmyra, and other places where the crowds were very large, 
 and the train moved past the stations in the light of count- 
 less bonfires and torches, arriving at Eochester at 3:20 A. M. 
 The cortage stopped 10 minutes at Rochester. The people 
 were abroad in full force. The streets in the vicinity of the 
 stopping places were crowded. Houses were draped with the 
 usual emblems and draped flags. 
 
 BUFFALO 
 was reached at 7 A. M. The procession was formed between 7 and 
 8 o'clock, and proceeded toward St. James Hall, under a civil 
 and military escort, in company with the party which had 
 followed the remains from Washington. The coffin was 
 prominently in view of the very many' persons who lined
 
 OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 131 
 
 the streets through which the cortage passed. The hearse 
 was heavily covered with black cloth, surmounted with an 
 arched roof and tastefully trimmed with white satin and sil- 
 ver lace. The body was deposited, beneath a crape canopy 
 in St. James Hall, a dirge being chanted in the mean time. 
 An elegant harp of choice white flowers was then placed at 
 the head of the coffin, and the public were admitted. The 
 throng was immense until 8 P. M., when the coffin was closed'. 
 The arrangements generally were pronounced to be better 
 than elsewhere on the route. At 10 P. M., the train left for 
 
 CLEVELAND. 
 
 At 21:10 A. M , Friday, the 28th, the train arrived at Dun- 
 kirk. The chief feature at that place was a group of 36 
 young ladies representing the States of the Union. They 
 were dressed in white, each with a broad black scarf rest- 
 ing on the shoulder, and holding in the hand a National 
 flag. The crowd here was dense. The tolling of bells, the 
 solemn music of an instrumental band, and the firing of 
 minute guns, contributed to the interest of the scene. Pass- 
 ing through Braceton, which was illuminated, the train 
 reached Westfield at 1 A. M., where a committee of ladies 
 brought in a cross and wreath of flowers : On the cross 
 were the words : "Ours the cross ; thine the crown." Soon 
 after the train reached the state boundary, and General Dix 
 and staff took leave of the funeral party. At Wiskliffe Gov- 
 ernor Brough and staff, of Ohio, came on board ; also Major 
 Gen. Hooker and staff. The train arrived at Cleveland at 
 7 A. M. On the lake side of the city thousands of per- 
 sons were gather-ed on the sloop'ng green hillside, all hav- 
 ing a good view of the train. High up was seen an
 
 l32 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 arch with the inscription, "Abraham Lincoln." It was 
 draped in mourning, and the supports were covered with 
 alternate Btrips of black and white. The body was borne 
 to the park, where a building had been erected especially 
 for the reception of the remains. The building was 24 by 
 36 feet in dimensions, and 14 feet high fi-om the ground 
 to the plate. The roof was of pagoda style, and the raft- 
 ers were covered with white cloth over the centre of the 
 main roof, and directly over the catafalque a second roof 
 was raised about four feet and covered in like manner. 
 The catafiilque consisted of a raised dias, and was orna- 
 mented with evergreens in the most beautiful manner. 
 Silver-fringed drapery was looped to the columns support- 
 ing the canopy, the borders of the cornice being illumin- 
 ated with white roses and stars of silver. The religious 
 services, after the remains had been put on the dias, were 
 performed by the Right Rev. Bishop Mcllvaine. He read 
 a part of the funeral service of the Episcopal Church, 
 slightly altering the text to suit the occasion, and moved 
 many of the listeners to tears. The remains were then 
 exposed to jmblic view. The arrangements were so per- 
 fect that every one who desired to see them had no dif- 
 ficulty ; the number visiting them during the day averaging 
 180 per minute. At midnight on Friday, April 29th, the 
 cortege left Cleveland, in a heavy rain, for Columbus. 
 Notwithstanding the storm, groups of people were assem- 
 bled at all the stations, many of them bearing lanterns in 
 their hands, in order that the funeral train might be plainly 
 Been. The largest gathering was at Condingham, at which 
 ^iace the buildings were handsomely draped, guns fired,
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 133 
 
 and bells rung. At 6 a. m. the train passed Eden. The 
 rain had ceased and the weather was clear. 
 
 COLUMBUS. 
 At 7^ A. M., Saturday, the 20th, the cortege arrived at 
 Columbus. The Committee of Arrangements began at once 
 to carry out the programme ■ and place the funeral i^arty 
 in carriages. The procession was formed, the 38th Ohio' 
 Volunteer Infantry acting as a military escort : then fol- 
 lowed the officiating clerg}'-, pall-bearers and others, on 
 each side of the hearse. The Veteran Reserve Cor2)s were 
 the guard of honor. The rotunda of the Capitol was 
 draped in mourning. The coffin was approached by five 
 steps. It rested on a mound of moss, in which were dot- 
 ted the choicest flowers. At the head of the coffin 
 rested a large floral wreath, while directly behind the lat- 
 ter were flowers in glass and china vessels, contributed by 
 ladies. At the corners of the platform, on the floor, were 
 large vaces filled with flowers. The walls were adorned 
 with a naval picture representing a scene in the life of 
 Commodore Perry, and with various banners which had 
 been carried by Ohio troops during the war, torn and rid- 
 dled by bullets in many a deadly conflict. No confusion 
 whatever was occasioned in entering and retiring fi-om the 
 Capitol, owing to the admirable arrangements , and for about 
 seven hours there was a constant line of spectators passing 
 before- the remains. At 8 p. M. the remains were again con- 
 reyed to the train, and the funeral escort left for Indianap- 
 olis. Scioto, Hillard's, Pleasant Valley, Unionville, Milford, 
 Woodstock and Vagdenburgh were passed, and along the 
 road the people appeared to the number of thousands, carry-
 
 134 LIFK AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 ing torches and kindling bonfires, to enable thera clearly to 
 see the funeral car. At Woodstock there was both instru- 
 mental and vocal music, and the tolling of bells and other 
 manifestations of mourning. At Urbana the peojile were 
 congregated by thousands. The scene was lit up with a 
 hundred torches and bonfires, and the countenances of the 
 interested multitude were seen in the lurid glare. Guns 
 were fired and bells tolled, and there was music from an 
 instrumental band, but the melody which charmed the most 
 was from a choir of both males and females stationed upon 
 the platform, who sang a deeply impressive hymn. At 
 Piqua 10,000 persons were assembled. 
 
 Between 12 and 1 a. m., Sunday 30th, the State line was 
 passed, and the train entered Indiana. The weather was 
 cold, and the rain was again falling, but there was no di- 
 minuation in the crowd assembled at various points. At 
 Richmond the train passed under an arched bridge con- 
 structed for the purpose by the Air Line Railroad. It had 
 a span of 25 feet, and was 30 feet in height. The abut- 
 ments were trimmed with evergreens dotted with white 
 roses, and the mourning drapery in close association. At 
 this point Gov. Morton of Indiana came on board. At 
 Cambridge thousands of people were at the depot and the 
 train passed under an arch trimmed with evergreens, sur- 
 mounted by a female figure to represent the Genius of 
 America weeping. The State of Indiana was plunged in 
 the depth of grief This was shown, not by the magnificent 
 demonstrations in the cities and towns, but along the line 
 the fiirm houses were decorated with mourning and their in- 
 mates gathered in clusters, and by the light of bonfires and
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 135 
 
 torches caught glimjDses of the train which was bearing from 
 their eight the lamented Chief Magistrate. 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS. 
 The cortege arrived at Indianapolis at 7 A. M. A proces- 
 sion was formed, and through a throng of thousands of spec- 
 tators the body of the dead President was borne to the 
 State House. The entire structure was beautifully shrouded 
 in black and white relieved by evergreen garlands, with a 
 fine display of flags. The platform was in the centre of 
 the rotunda. On this the coffin was placed, surrounded by 
 flowers, while wreaths and floral crosses were laid upon the 
 lid. The remains were soon after their arrival exposed to 
 public view. The city Councils of Louisville and Cincinnati 
 and a delegation from Covington, together with Governor 
 Bramlette of Kentucky, wei'c in the city to take part in 
 the funeral procession. Thousands of persons from the sur- 
 rounding country thronged the city. The Sabbath-School 
 children were the first admitted, then the ladies and citi- 
 zens severally passed through the hall from South to North. 
 At midnight of Sunday, the remains left Indianapolis for 
 Chicago. The usual emblems of mourning were seen on the 
 roxite. At Michigan City the train passed beneath a number 
 of beautiful arches erected in memory of the honored dead. 
 Soon afterward the boundry line was passed, and the cor- 
 tege entered Illinois. 
 
 CHICAGO. 
 Chicago was reached at 11 o'clock, A. m.. May Ist, the 
 train having run 1,500 miles since leaving Washington. On 
 the previous night the Hon. Scuyler Colfax delivered an el-
 
 136 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 oquent funeral oration at Bryan Hall to an immense audi- 
 ence. Minute guns and tolling and chiming bells, an- 
 nounced the arrival of the President's remains. The re- 
 mains of the President were conveyed to the Court House, 
 which was opened to the public at 6 o'clock in the after- 
 noon, and remained open till 7 o'clock p. M. of the next 
 day, thousands of persons crowding thither to see for the 
 last time the face of the lamented dead. 
 
 CHICAGO TO SPRINGFIELD. 
 The route to Springfield was one grand series of bonfires 
 burning at every station, lighting up the darkness, and show- 
 ing to advantage the train, as well as the decorated stands 
 where stood the men and women. Many places had instru- 
 mental and vocal music, chanting dirges and performing re- 
 quiems. The train reached Springfield about daylight, where 
 an immense throng was gathered to witness the reception, 
 etc. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD. 
 
 After placing the cofiSn in the hearse, the procession form- 
 ed and proceeded to the Capitol, which had been highly 
 adorned in every part for the occasion. The catafalque was 
 built in the Hall of Representatives, which was festooned 
 with rich mourning drapery, and had plants and flowers dis> 
 tributed in tasteful display. The canopy, beautiful in it- 
 self, was handsomely decorated in a style of magnificence 
 unsurpassed by anything connected with the pageant from 
 Washington through all of the cities. The ground and build- 
 ings were given in charge of Co. E, 23d Regiment Veteran 
 Reserve Corps. About 10 o'clock a. m.. May 2nd, the ar- 
 rangements were completed and the people were admitted.
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 137 
 
 For twenty four hours the throng passed, even through the 
 night. May 3d, at 11 o'clock, the procession formed and 
 moved off toward Oak Ridge Cemetry. On the route the 
 band played "Dead March in Saul," with solemn and mourn- 
 ful effect. The gate of tbe cemetry was ornamented with 
 evergreens and flowers. The coffin being deposited in the 
 cemetery, the exercises were opened by Rev. A. Hall, in an 
 appropriate prayer, and a dirge followed. The Rev. N. W. 
 Miner then read choice selections from the books of St. John 
 and St. Paul; after which Rev. N. C. Hubbard read the 
 last inaugural of Mr. Lincoln. Bishop Simpson then arose 
 to deliver his address, to which all listened attentively and 
 gravely. He commenced as follows: 
 
 BISHOP SIMPSON'S ADDRESS. 
 
 Fellow-citizens of Illinois and of many parts of our entire 
 Union, near the Capital of this large and growing State of 
 Illinois : 
 
 In the midst of this beautiful grove, and at the open 
 mouth of this vault, which has just received the remains 
 of our fallen chieftain, we gather to pay a tribute of re- 
 spect and to drop the tears of sorrow around the ashes of 
 the mighty dead. A little more than four years ago, 
 from his plain, quiet home in yonder city, he started, receiving 
 the parting words of the concourse of friends who gather- 
 ed around him, and in the midst of the dropping of the 
 gentle shower, he told of the pangs of parting from the 
 place where his children had been born, and his home had 
 been made pleasant by early recollections ; and as he left, 
 he made an earnest request, in the hearing of some who
 
 138 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 are present at this meeting, that, as he was about to en- 
 ter upon the responsibilities which he believed to be greater 
 than any which had fallen upon any man since the days 
 of Washington, the people would offer up prayers that God 
 would aid and sustain him in the work which they had 
 given him to do. His company left our quiet city, but as 
 it went, snares were in waiting for the Chief Magistrate. 
 Scarcely did he escape the dangers of the way, or the 
 hands of the assassin as he neared Washington, and I be- 
 lieve he escaped only through the vigilance of officers and 
 the prayers of his people, so that the blow was suspended 
 for more than four years, which was at last permitted, 
 through the providence of God, to fall. How different the 
 occasion which witnessed his departure from that which 
 witnessed his return ! You expected to take him by the 
 hand, to feel the warm grasp which you had felt in other 
 days, and to see the tall form walking among you which 
 you had delighted to honor in years past. But he was 
 never permitted to return until he came with lips mute 
 and silent, the frame encoffined, and a weeping nation fol- 
 lowed as his mourners. 
 
 Such a scene as his return to you, was never witnessed 
 among the events of histoiy. There have been great pro- 
 cessions of mourners. There was one for the Patriarch 
 Jacob, which came up from Egypt, and the Egyptians 
 wondered at the evidences of reverence and filial affection 
 which came from the hearts of the Israelites. There was 
 mourning when Moses fell upon the heights of Pisgah, and 
 vanished from human view. There have been mournings 
 in the kingdoms of the earth, when Kings and Princes
 
 OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 139 
 
 have fallen ; but never was there in the history of man 
 such mourning as that which has accompanied this funeral 
 procession, and has gathered around the mortal remains of 
 him who was our loved one, and who now sleeps 
 among us. 
 
 If we glance at the procession which followed him, we 
 see how the nation stood aghast ! Tears filled the eyes of 
 manly, sun-burnt faces; strong men, as they clasped the 
 hands of their friends, were unable to find vent for their 
 grief in words. Women and childi*en caught up the tid- 
 ings as they ran through the land, and were melted into 
 tears. The nation stood still, and men left their plows in 
 the field and asked what the end should be. The hum of 
 manufactories ceased, and the sound of the hammer was 
 not heard. Busy merchants closed their doors, and in 
 the Exchange gold passed no more from hand to hand. 
 Though three weeks have passed, the nation has scarcely 
 breathed easily yet. A mournful silence is abroad upon 
 the land. Nor is this mom-ning confined to any class, or 
 to any district of country. Men of all political parties, 
 and of all religious creeds, have united in paying this 
 mournful tribute. The Archbishop of the Eoman Catholic 
 Church, in New York, and a Protestant Minister, walked 
 side by side in the sad procession, and a Jewish Eabbi 
 performed a part of the solemn services. 
 
 There are gathered around this tomb the representatives 
 of the army and navy. Senators, Judges, Governors, and 
 officers of all the branches of the Government. Here, too, 
 are all members of civic professions, with men and women 
 from the humblest as well the highest occupations. Hero
 
 140 LIFE AND MAKTYKDOM 
 
 and there, too, are tears as sincere and warm as any that 
 drop, which come from the eyes of those whose kindred 
 and whose race have been freed from their chains by him 
 whom they moui-n as their deliverer. Far more have gazed 
 on the face of the departed than ever looked upon the 
 face of any other departed man. More races have looked 
 on the procession for 1,G00 miles or more, by night and 
 by day, by sunlight, dawn, twilight, and by torchlight, 
 than ever before watched the pi'ogress of a procession. 
 
 We ask, why this wonderful mourning, this great pro- 
 cession? I answer, first, a part of the interest has 
 arisen from the times in which we live, and in which he, 
 that has flxllen, was a pi'incipal actor. It is a principle of 
 our nature that feeling once excited, readily leave the ob- 
 ject by which they are excited lor some other object, which 
 may, for the time being, take possession of the mind. 
 Another principle is, that the deepest affections of our 
 hearts gather around some human form, in which are em- 
 bodied the living thoughts and ideas of the passing ages. 
 If Ave look, then, at the times we see an age of excite- 
 ment. For four years the popular heart has been stirred 
 to its utmost dejiths. War had come upon us, devouring 
 families, separating nearest and dearest friends, a war, the 
 extent and magnitude of which no one could estimate; a 
 war in which the blood of brethren was shed by a broth- 
 er's hand. A call tor soldiers was made by this voice now 
 hushed, and all over this land, from hill and mountain, 
 from plain and valley, there sprung up hundreds of thous- 
 ands of bold hearts, ready to go forth and save our na- 
 tional Union. 
 
 The feeling of excitement was transferred next into a
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. l41 
 
 feeling of deep grief, because of the danger in which our 
 country was placed. Many said, "Is it possible to save our 
 nation?" Some in our country, and nearly all the leading 
 men in other countries, declared it to be impossible to 
 maintain the Union, and many an honest and patriotic 
 heart wab deeply pained with apprehensions of common 
 ruin; and many in grief, and almost in despair, anxiously 
 inquired, "What shall the end of these things be? In ad- 
 dition to this, wives had given their husbands, mothers 
 their sons, the pride and joy of their hearts. They saw 
 them put on the uniform — they saw them take the martial 
 step, and they tried to hide their deep feeling of sadness. 
 Many dear ones stepped upon the battle-field never to re- 
 turn again, and there was mourning in every mansion and 
 in every cabin in our broad land. 
 
 Then came a feeling of deeper sadness, as the story 
 came of prisoners tortui^ed to death or starved, through 
 the mandates of those Avho are called the representatives 
 of chivalry, or who claim to be honorable ones of the 
 earth; and as we read the stories of frames attenuated 
 and reduced to mere skeletons, our grief turned partly in- 
 to horror and partly into a cry for vengeance. Then this 
 feeling was changed to one of joy. There came signs of 
 the end of this rebellion. We followed the cue of our 
 glorious Genei'als. We saw our army under the command 
 of the brave officer who is guiding this procession, climb 
 np the hights of Lookout Mountain and drive the rebels 
 from their strongholds. Another brave General swept 
 through Georgia, South and North Carolina, and drove the 
 combined armies of the rebels before him, while the hon- 
 10
 
 142 LIFEAN' DM ARTY ROOM 
 
 ored Lieutenant-General held Lee and his followers in a 
 death-grasp. 
 
 Then the tidings came that Richmond was evacuated and 
 that Lee had surrendered. The bells rang merrily all over 
 the land. The booming of cannon was heard, illuminations 
 and torchlight jjrocessions manifested the general joy, and 
 families were looking for the speedy return of their loved 
 ones from the field of battle. Just in the wildest joy, in 
 one hour, nay, in one moment the tidings thrilled through- 
 out the land that Abraham Lincoln, the best of Presidents, 
 had perished by the hands of an assassin, and then all 
 that feeling which had been gathering for four years in the 
 form of excitement, grief, horror, and joy, turned into one 
 wail of woe ; a sadness ines'pressible, an anguish unutter- 
 able ; but it was not the times, merely, which caused the 
 mourning. The mode of his death must be taken into the 
 account. Had he died on a bed of sickness, with kind 
 friends around him ; had the sweat of death been wiped 
 from his brow by gentle hands while he was yet conscious ; 
 could he have had power to speak words of affection to 
 his stricken widow; words of comfort to us, like those 
 which we heard in parting, and at Washington, in his in- 
 augural, which shall now be immortal ; but it would have 
 softened or assuaged something of the grief — there might 
 at least have been preparation for the event. But no 
 moment of warning was given to him or to us. He was 
 stricken down, too, when his hopes for the end of the re- 
 bellion were bright, and the prospect of a joyous life was 
 before him. 
 
 There was a Cabinet meeting that day, said to have been
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 143 
 
 the most cheerful and happy of any held since the beginning 
 of the rebellion. After this meeting he talked with his 
 friends, and spoke of the four years of tempest ; of the 
 storm being over ; and of the four years of pleasure and 
 joy now awaiting him, as the weight of care or anguish 
 would be taken from his mind, and he could have happy 
 days with his family again. In the midst of his anticipa- 
 tions, he left his house never to return alive. The evening 
 was Grood Friday — the saddest day in the whole calendar for the 
 Christian church, henceforth, in this country to be made sad- 
 der, if possible, by the memory of the nation's loss ; and so 
 filled with grief was every Christian heart, that even all the 
 joyous thought of Easter Sunday failed to move the crush- 
 ing sorrow, under which the true worshipper bowed in the 
 house of God. 
 
 But the great cause of this mourning is to be found in 
 the man himself. Mr. Lincoln was no ordinary man, and I 
 believe the conviction has been growing on the nation's mind, 
 as it certainly has been on my own, especially in the last 
 years of his administration, that, by the hand of God, he was 
 especially singled out to guide our Government in these troub- 
 lous times, and, it seems to me, that the hand of God may 
 be traced in many of the events connected with his history. 
 
 First, then, I recognize this in the physical education which 
 he received, and which prepared him for enduring herculean 
 labor, in the toils of his boyhood and the labors of his man- 
 hood, God was giving him an iron frame. Next to this was 
 his identification with the heart of the great people, under- 
 standing their feelings, because he was one of them, and con^ 
 nected with them in their movements and life. His educa-
 
 144 I, IFE AND MARTTRI>OM 
 
 tion was simple : a few months spent in a school-house, which 
 gave him the elements of education. lie read a few books, 
 but mastered all he read. Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, fa- 
 bles, and the Life of Washington, were his favorities. In 
 these we recognize the works which gave the bias to his 
 character, and which partly molded his style. His early life, 
 with its varied struggles, joined him indissolubly to the work- 
 ing masses, and no elevation in society diminished his respect 
 for the sons of toil. He knew what it was to fell the tall 
 trees of the forest, and to stem the current of the hard 
 Mississippi. His home was in the growing West, the heart 
 of the Republic, and, invigorated by the wind which swept 
 over its prairies, he learned lessons of self-reliance, which sus- 
 tained him in seasons of adversity. His genius was soon re- 
 cognized, as true genius always will be, and he was placed 
 in the Legislature of his State. Already acquainted with the 
 principles of law, he devoted his thoughts to matters of pub- 
 lic interest, and soon began to be looked upon as the com- 
 ing statesman. 
 
 As early as 1849 he presented resolutions in the Legisla- 
 ture, asking for emancipation in the District of Columbia, 
 while, with but rare exceptions, the whole popular mind of 
 his State was opposed to the measure. From that hour he 
 was a steady and uniform friend of humanity, and was pre- 
 paring for the conflict of later years. 
 
 You ask me on what mental characteristics his greatness 
 resteil. I answer, on a quick and ready perception of facts ; 
 on a memory unusually tenacious and retentive ; and on a 
 logical turn of mind, which followed sternly and unwavering- 
 ly every link in the chain of thought, on any subject which 
 he was called on to investigate. I think there have been
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLX. 143 
 
 minds more broad in their character, more comprehensive in 
 their scope; but I doubt if ever there has been a man who 
 could follow step by step, with logical power, the points 
 which he desired to illustrate. He gained this power by a 
 close study of geometry, and by a determination to persevere 
 in the truth in its relations and» simplicity. 
 
 It is said of him that in childhood, when he had any 
 difficulty in listening to a conversation to ascertain what peo- 
 ple meant, if he tried to rest, he could not sleep until he 
 tried to understand the precise points intended, and when un- 
 derstood, to convey them in a clearer manner to those who 
 did not. Who that has read his messages fails to perceive 
 the directness and the simplicity of his style ; and this very 
 trait, which was scoffed at and derided by opponents, is now 
 recognized as one of the strong points of that mighty mind 
 which has so powerfully influenced the destiny of this nation, 
 and which shall for ages to come influence the destiny of 
 humanity. 
 
 It is not, however, chiefly by his mental faculties that he 
 gained such control over mankind. His moral power gave 
 him pre-eminence. The convictions of men that Abraham 
 Lincoln was an honest man, led them to yield to his guid- 
 ance. As has been said of Mr. Cobden, whom he greatly re- 
 spected, he made every man feel a better sense of himself — 
 a recognizement of individuality — a self-relying power. They 
 saw in him a man vt^hom they believed would do what was 
 right, regardless of all consequences. It was the moral feel- 
 ing vphich gave him the greatest hold on the people, and 
 made his utterances almost oracular. 
 
 When the nation was angered by the perfidy of foreign 
 nations in allowing privateers to be fitted out, he uttered the
 
 146 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 Bignificant expression, "One war at a time," and it stilled 
 the national heart. When his own friends were divided aa 
 to what steps shou.d be taken as to slavery, that simple ut- 
 terance, " I will save the Union, if I can, with slavery ; but 
 if not slavery must perish ; for the Union must be preserved" 
 — became the rallying word* Men felt the struggle was for 
 the Union, and all other questions must be subsidiary. But 
 after all, by the acts of a man shall his fame be perpetua- 
 ted. Much praise is due to the men who aided him. He 
 called able counselors around him, and able Generals into 
 the field — men who have borne the sword as bravely as ever 
 any human arm has borne it. He had the aid of prayerful 
 and thoughtful men every-where, but under his own guiding 
 hands the movements of our land have been conducted. Turn 
 toward the different departments. We had an unorganized mi- 
 litia, a mere skeleton army, yet, under his care, that army 
 has been enlarged into a force which, for skill, intelligence, 
 efficiency and bravery, surpasses any which the world has 
 ever seen. Before its veterans, the face of even the renowned 
 veterans of Napoleon shall pale. [Applause.] And the moth- 
 ers and sisters on these hill-sides, and all over the land, 
 shall take to their arms again braver men than ever fought 
 in European wars. The reason is obvious. Money, or a de- 
 sire for fame collected those armiee, or they were rallied to 
 sustain favorite thrones or dynasties; but the armies, he called 
 into being fought for liberty, for the Union, and for the 
 right of self-government; and many of them felt that the 
 battles they won were for humanity every-where and for all 
 time ; for I believe that God has not suffered this terrible 
 rebellion to come upon our land merely for a chastisement
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLK. 147 
 
 to US, or a lesson to our age. There are moments which in- 
 volve in themselves eternities. There are instants which seem 
 to contain germs which shall develop and bioom forever. 
 Such a moment came in the tide of time, to our land, wh^n 
 a question must be settled — the power of affecting all the 
 earth. The contest was for huiuan freedom, not for this Re- 
 public merely ; not for the Union simply, but to decide 
 whether the people, as a people, in their entire majesty, were 
 destined to be the Government, or whether they were to be 
 subject to tyrants or autocrats, or to class rule of any kind. 
 
 This is the great question for which we have been fight- 
 ins, and its decision is at hand ; and the result of the con- 
 test will affect the ages to come. If successful, republics will 
 spread, in spite of monarchs, all over this earth. [Exclama- 
 tions of "Amen ; " " Thank God."] 
 
 I turn from the army to the navy. What was it when 
 the war commenced? Now we have our ships of war at 
 home and abroad to guard privateers in foreign sympathizing 
 ports, as well as to care for every part of our own coast. 
 They have taken forts that military men said could not be 
 taken ; and a brave Admiral, for the first time in the world's 
 history, lashes himself to the mast, there to remain as long 
 as he had a particle of skill or strength to watch over hia 
 ship while it engaged in the perilous contest of taking the 
 strong forts of the enemy. 
 
 Then, again, I turn to the Treasury Department. Where 
 should the money come from? Wise men predicted ruin ; but 
 our national credit has been maintained and our currency is 
 safer to-day than it ever was before. Not only so, but through 
 our national bonds, if properly used, we shall have a perma-
 
 148 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 nent basis for currency, and an investment so desirable for 
 capitalists of other nations, that under the laws of trade, I 
 believe the center of exchange will be transferred from Eng- 
 land to the United States. 
 
 But the great act of the mighty chieftain, on which hia 
 fame shall rest long after his frame shall molder away, is 
 that of giving fi'eedom to a race. We have all been 
 taught to revere the sacred characters. We have thought 
 of Moses, of his power, and the prominence he gave to 
 the moral law, and how his name now towers high among 
 the names in heaven, and how he delivered three millions 
 of his kindred out of bondage ; and yet we may assert 
 that Abraham Lincoln, by his proclamation, liberated more 
 enslaved people than ever Moses set free, and those not 
 of his kindred or of his race. Such a power or such an 
 opportunity has seldom been given to man. When other 
 events shall have been forgotten ; when the world shall 
 become a net-work of republics ; when every throne shall 
 have been swept from the face of the earth ; when litera- 
 ture shall enlighten all minds ; when the claims of human- 
 ity shall be recognized everywhere, this act shall still be 
 conspicuous on the pages of history ; and we are thankful 
 that God gave to Abraham Lincoln the decision and wisdom 
 and grace to issue that proclamation, which stands high 
 above all other papers which have been penned by unin- 
 spired men. [Applause.] 
 
 Abraham Lincoln was a good man ; he was known as 
 an honest, temperate, forgiving man; a just man; a man 
 of a noble heart in every way. As to his religious 
 experience, I cannot speak definately, because I was not
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 149 
 
 privileged to know much of his private sentiments. My 
 acquaintance with him did not give me the^ opportunity to 
 hear him speak on those topics. This I know, however' 
 he read the Bible frequently, loved it for its great truths, 
 and profound teachings ; and he tried to be guided by its 
 precepts. He believed in Christ, the Saviour of sinners, 
 and I think he was sincerely trying to bring his life into 
 the principles of revealed religion. Certainly, if there ever 
 was a man who illustrated some of the principles of pure 
 religion, that man was our departed President. Look over 
 all his speeches ; listen to his utterances. He never spoke 
 unkindly of any man ; even the rebels received no words 
 of anger from him ; and the last day illustrated, in a re- 
 markable manner, his forgiving disposition. A dispatch 
 was received that afternoon, that Thompson and Tucker 
 were trying to make their escape through Maine, and it 
 was proposed to arrest them. Mr. Lincoln, however, pre- 
 ferred, rather to let them quietly escape. He was seeking 
 to save the very men who had been plotting his destruction, 
 and this morning we read a proclamation oifering $25,000 
 for the arrest of these men, as aiders and abettors of 
 assassination. So that in his expiring acts he was saying, 
 "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do." 
 
 To the address of a large religious body he replied ; 
 *' Thanks be unto God, who, in our national trials, giveth 
 us th« churches." To a minister who said "he hoped the 
 Lord was on our side," he replied that it gave him no concern 
 whether the Lord was on our side or not, "for" he added 
 " I know the Lord is always on the side of right"; and 
 with deep feeling added, " but God is my witness that it
 
 150 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 is my constant anxiety and prayer that both myself and 
 this nation should be on the Lord's side." 
 
 As a rule, I doubt if any President has ever shown such 
 a trust in God, or in jiublic documents so frequently 
 referred to Divine aid. Often did he remark to friends 
 and to delegations that his hope for our success rested in 
 his conviction that God would bless our efforts, because 
 we were trying to do right. 
 
 In his domestic life he was exceedingly kind and affec 
 tionate. He was a devoted husband and father. During 
 his Presidential term he lost his second son, Willie. To 
 an officer of the army he said not long since : " Do you 
 ever find yourself talking with the dead?" and added — 
 " Since Willie's death, I catch myself every day involun- 
 tarily talking with him as if he were with me." 
 
 On his widow, who is unable to be here, I need only 
 invoke the blessing of Almighty God, that she may be 
 comforted and sustained. For his son, who has witnessed 
 the exercises of this hour, all that I can desire is that the 
 mantle of his father may fall upon him. [Exclamations of 
 "Amen."] 
 
 Let us pause a moment on the lesson of the hour before 
 we part. This man, though he fell by an assassin, still 
 fell under the permissive hand of God. He had some 
 wise purpose in allowing him so to fall. What more 
 could he have desired of life to himself? Were not his 
 honors full ? There was no office to which he could aspire. 
 The popular heart clung around him as around no other 
 man. The nations of the world had learned to honor 
 our Chief Magistrate. If rumors of a desired alliance with
 
 OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 151 
 
 England be true, Napoleon trembled when he heard of the 
 fall of Richmond, and asked what nation would join him to 
 protect him against our Government. 
 
 Besides, the guidance of such a man, his fame, was full ; 
 his work was done, and he sealed his glory by becoming the 
 nation's great martyr for liberty. 
 
 He appears to have had a strange presentiment early in 
 his political life that some day he would be President. You 
 see it indicated in 1839. Of the slave power he said : " Broken 
 by it I too may be; bow to it I never will. The probability 
 that we may fail in this struggle, ought not to deter us 
 irom the support of a cause which we deem to be just. It 
 shall not deter me. If ever I feel the soul within me 
 elevate and expand to those dimensions not wholly unworthy 
 of its Almighty architect, it is when I contemplate the cause 
 of my country. Deserted by all the world beside, and 
 standing up boldly and alone, and hurling defiance at her 
 victorious oppressors ; here, without contemplating consequences, 
 before high heaved and in the face of the world, I swear 
 eternal fidelity to the just cause, as I deem it, of the land 
 of my life, my liberty, and my love." And yet secretly he 
 said to more than one, " I never shall live out the four years 
 of my term. When the rebellion is crushed, my work is 
 done." So it was. He lived to see the last battle fought, 
 and to dictate a dispatch from the home of Jeflferson Davis ; 
 lived till the power of the rebellion was broken, and then, 
 having done the work for which God had sent him, angels, 
 I trust, were sent to shield him from one moment of pain 
 or suffering, and to bear him from this world to that high 
 and glorious realm where the patriot and the good shall live 
 forever.
 
 152 LIFE AND HARTTRDOH 
 
 His example teaches young men that every position of 
 eminence is open before the diligent and the worthy, to the 
 ictive men of the country. His example urges the country 
 to trust in God and do right. 
 
 Standing as we do to-day, by his coffin and sepulcher, let 
 us resolve to carry forward the policy which he so nobly 
 began. Let us do right to all men. Let us vow, in the 
 sight of Heaven, eradicate every vestige of huuiau slavery . 
 to give every human being his true position before God and 
 man ; to crush every form of rebellion, and to stand by the 
 flag which God has given us. How joyful that it floated 
 over a part of every State before Mr. Lincoln's career was 
 ended. 
 
 How singular that, to the fact of the assassin's heel being 
 caught in the folds of the flag, we are probably indebted 
 for his capture. The flag and the traitor must ever be 
 enemies. 
 
 Traitors will probably suffer by the change of rulers, for 
 one of sterner mold, and who himself has deeply suffered 
 from the rebellion, now wields the sword of justice. 
 
 Our country, too, is stronger for the trial. A republic 
 was declared by monarchists to weak to endure a civil war. 
 Yet we have crushed the most gigantic rebellion in history, 
 and have grown in strength and population every year of 
 the struggle. We have passed through the ordeal of a pop- 
 ular election, while swords and bayonets were in the field, 
 and have come out unharmed. 
 
 And now in an hour of excitement, with a large minority 
 having preferred another man for President, the bullet of 
 the assassin has laid our President prostrate. Has there been 
 a mutiny? Has any rival proposed his claims? Out of an
 
 OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 153 
 
 army of near a million, no officer or soldier uttered ono 
 note of dissent ; and in an hour or two after Mr. Lincoln's 
 death, another leader, with constitutional powers, occupied his 
 chair, and the Government moved forward without a single 
 jar. The world will learn that republics are the strongest 
 governments on earth. 
 
 To the ambitious there is this fearful lesson : Of the four 
 candidates for Presidential honors in 18G0, two of them 
 Douglas and Lincoln, once competitors — but now sleeping pa- 
 triots — rest from their labors ; Bell perished in poverty and 
 misery, as a traitor might perish, and Breckinridge is a 
 frightened fugitive, with the brand of traitor on his brow. 
 
 And now, my friends, in the words of the departed, "With 
 malice toward none ;'' free from all feeling of personal ven- 
 geance, yet believing the sword must not be borne in vain, 
 let us go forward, even in painful duty. Let every man 
 who was a Senator, or Representative in Congress, and who 
 aided in beginning this rebellion, and thus led to the slaugh- 
 ter of our sons and daughters, be brought to speedy and to 
 certain punishment. Let every officer educated at public ex- 
 pense, and who, having been advanced to position has per- 
 jured himself, and has turned his sword against the vitals of 
 his country, be doomed to a felon's death. This, I believe, 
 is the will of the American people. Men may attempt to 
 compromise and to restore these traitors and murderers to 
 society again, but the American people will rise in their 
 majesty and sweep all such compromises and compromisers 
 away, and shall declare that there shall be no peace to 
 rebels. 
 
 But to the deluded masses we shall extend arms of forgive- 
 ness. We will take them to our hearts. We will walk with
 
 154 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 tliera side by side, as we go forward to work out a glorious 
 destiny. The time will come when, in the beautiful words of 
 him whose lips are now forever sealed, " the mystic cords 
 of memory, which stretch from every battle-field and from 
 every patriot's grave shall yield a sweeter music when touch- 
 ed by the angels of our better nature." 
 
 The closing prayer was offered up by Dr. Harkey. Next 
 in continuation was the requiem, "Peace, troubled soul," the 
 benediction by Dr. P. D. Gurley, the President's former pas- 
 tor, and last of all, a funeral hymn, composed by Dr. Gur- 
 ley for the occasion, and the doxology : 
 
 Rest, noble martyr I rest in peace; 
 
 Rest with the true and brave, 
 Who, like thee, fell in Freedom's cause, 
 
 The Nation's life to save. 
 
 Thy name shall live while time endures. 
 
 And men shall say of thee, 
 "He saved his country from its foes, 
 
 And bade the slave be free." 
 
 These deeds shall be thy monument, 
 
 Better than brass or stone j 
 They leave thy fame in glory's light, 
 
 UnriTal'd and alone. 
 
 This consecrated spot shall be 
 
 To Freedom ever dear ; 
 And Freedom's sons of every race 
 
 Shall weep and worship here, 
 
 God I before whom we, in tears. 
 
 Our fallen Chief deplore, 
 Grant that the cause, for which he died. 
 
 May live for evermore. 
 
 DOXOLOGY. 
 
 To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
 
 The God whom we adore. 
 Be glory as it was, is now. 
 And shall be evermore.
 
 REMINISCENCES AND INCIDENTS. 
 
 MR. LINCOLN AND JOHN E. Mc DONOUGH, THE ACTO R. 
 
 In an address delivered on the 24th of April hy Hon. W. 
 D. Kelly before the Girls' High and Normal School of 
 Philadelphia, the speaker referred to a number of interesting 
 incidents in the life and character of Mr. Ijincoln, and among 
 other things spoke of an interview betv^een Mr. Lincoln and 
 the well-known actor, John E. McDonough. Mr. Kelly thus 
 describes this meeting : 
 
 On a very rainy night during the session of Congress pre- 
 ceding the last, I found at my room Rev. Benjamin R. Mil- 
 ler, Chaplain of the 118th Pennsylvania Volunteers, and Mr. 
 John E. McDonough, the actor, who was on the next night 
 to begin playing in Washington his extravaganza of the 
 "Seven Sisters," by which he had done considerable in pro- 
 moting patriotic feeling among the young people in the coun- 
 try. Duty and pleasure prompted me to give the evening to 
 them in some way, and I felt that I might do good to 
 them, perhaps to myself — perhaps to my country, too — by 
 taking them to see our good President. I proposed that we 
 should go ; they readily assented, and we started at once for 
 the White House. We found Mr. Lincoln alone ; and, on 
 
 [155]
 
 156 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 entering, I said to him that we had come to trouble him 
 professionally, and probably to perplex him somewhat, as we 
 represented three professions — the law, divinity and the histrionic 
 profession. I introduced my friend Miller as the reverend 
 chaplain, and Mr. McDonough as "Mrs. Pluto," the name of 
 the character he sustained in th(3 extravaganza. 
 
 " Well," said the President, " pray tell me, how do your 
 chaplain and 'Mrs. Pluto' get along together? I should think 
 there might be some discord in a family made up of such 
 materials." 
 
 They were soon seated, at his bidding, and, after a few 
 words to the chaplain, who had come from the field, he 
 turned to Mr. McDonough and said: — 
 
 "I am very glad to see you, sir, for I want to learn some- 
 thing of Shakespeare. I don't get much time to study his 
 writings, and I want to put some questions to you that I 
 put to Mr. Hackett. I will tell you, frankly, that Mr. Ilack- 
 ett's replies, on one or two of the points, were very unsatis- 
 factory to me ; they almost impressed me with a doubt as to 
 whether he studies Shakespeare thoroughly, or only the acting 
 plays." 
 
 Pulsing from his seat, he went to a shelf, and took down 
 his volumes of Shakespeare. Having found the passage, in 
 "Henry "IV." about which he desired to inquire, he read 
 a portion of it, and said to Mr. McDonough, " Can you tell 
 me why that is omitted from the acting play? There is 
 nothing in all Shakespeare — certainly nothing in 'Henry IV.' 
 or the ' Merry Wives of Windsor' — that equals it in wit and 
 humor." Mr. McDonough gave him what he believed to be 
 his reasons — those which were conclusive with him.
 
 OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 157 
 
 The President said: — "Those are more satisfactory than Mr. 
 Hackett's reasons, but they do not entirely satisfy me." Then 
 turning to my friend Mr. Miller, he said: — " Probably you 
 do not know that the acting plays are not the plays as 
 Shakespeare wrote them. ' Richard III.,' for instance, begins 
 with passages from 'Henry VI.; ' then you get a portion of 
 'Richard III.;' then more of 'Henry VI.;' and then there 
 is one of the best known soliloques, which is not Shakes- 
 peare's at all, but was written by quite another man — by 
 Colley Gibber — was it not, Mr. McDonough? " 
 
 Branching off from Shakespeare, Mr. Lincoln cited brief 
 passages from Byron, Rogers, Campbell, Moore, and I think 
 a short one from Shelley, always running a 'parallel between 
 the passage he quoted and some passage or scene in Shake- 
 speare. Finally he said: — " But there is a great deal of very 
 fine poetry floating about anonymously. There is one poem 
 that is almost continually pi'esent with me ; it crosses my 
 mind whenever I have relief from thought and care." He then 
 recited some verses of the poem, which Mr. Carpenter was for- 
 tunate enough to indite from his lips: — 
 
 OH, WHT SHOULD THE SPIRIT OF MORTAL BE PROUD. 
 Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud ? 
 Like a swift, fleeting meteor, a fast flying cloud, 
 A flash of tho lightning, a break of the wave, 
 He passeth from life to his rest in the grave. 
 
 The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade, 
 
 Be scattered around and together be laid ; 
 
 And the young and the old, and the low and the high, 
 
 Shall moulder to dust and together shall lie. 
 
 The infant a mother attended and loved, 
 The mother that infant's aflection who proved ; 
 The husband that mother and infant who blessed. 
 Each, all, are away to their dwellings of rest. 
 11
 
 158 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 The hand of the king that the sceptre hath home; 
 The brow of the priest that the mitre hath worn ; 
 The eye of the sage and the heart of the brave, 
 Are hidden and lost in the depth of the grave. 
 
 The peasant, whose lot was to sow and to reap ; 
 The herdsman who climbed with his goats up the steep ; 
 The beggar, who wandered in search of his bread, 
 Have faded away like the grass that we tread. 
 
 So the multitude goes, like the flower or the weed, 
 That withers away to let others succeed ; 
 So the multitude come^ even those we behold. 
 To repeat everj' tale that has often been told. 
 
 ', : ' 
 
 For we are the same that our fathers have been : 
 
 . V 
 We see the same sights that our father's have seen. 
 
 We drink the same stream and view the same sun, 
 
 And run the same course our fathers have run. 
 
 The thoughts we are thinking our fathers would think ; 
 From the death we are shrinking our fathers would shrink ; 
 To the life we are clinging they also Will cling; S.--- 
 
 But it speeds for us all, like a bird on the wing. 
 
 They loved, but the story we cannot unfold ; 
 They scorned, but the heart of the haughty is cold ; 
 They grieved, but no wail from their slumber will come ; 
 They joyed, but the tongue of their gladness is dumb. 
 
 They died, ay ! they died ; we things that are now, 
 
 That walk on the turf that lies over their brow. 
 
 And make in their dwellings a transient abode, 
 
 Meet the things that they met on their pilgrimage road. 
 
 Yea 1 hope and despondency, pleasure and pain. 
 We mingle together in sunshine and rain ; 
 And the smile and the tear, the song and the dirge, 
 Still follow each other, like surge upon surge. 
 
 'Tis the wink of an eye, 'tis the draft of a breath ; 
 From ttie blossom of health to the paleness of death, 
 From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud, 
 Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud? 
 
 "Now," said he, "I do not know where there is anything 
 
 truer, more touching, more rhythmical than that : and 1
 
 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 159 
 
 wish that if any of ycfu should chance at any time to learn 
 the name of the author, you would let me know it. I have 
 known the poem for years, but I have never been able to 
 learn who wrote it, and I want to regard him by name as 
 a friend." Do you mark why he wanted to know the author? 
 He wanted to know the name that he might love the in- 
 dividual who had given him so much pleasure. When we 
 parted from him, he said : 
 
 "Gentlemen, I am deeply grateful to you for this visit. 
 The heavy rain that has kept^ other visitors away has been 
 a comfort to me. Since I became a candidate for the Presi- 
 dency, I have not enjoyed two consecutive hours of conversa- 
 tion on literature until to-night, and I feel so refreshed that 
 if I could only hope to have the time; I would beg you to 
 
 come soon again. 
 
 MR. COLFAX ON MR. LINCOLN. 
 
 In the memorial addresses, delivered in Chicago, on the 
 character of Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Colfax, of Indiana, re- 
 lated of the late President the following : 
 
 One morning, over two years ago, calling upon him on 
 business, I found him looking more than usually pale and 
 careworn, and inquired the reason. He replied that the bad 
 news he had received at a late hour the previous night, 
 which had not yet been communicated to the press, adding 
 that he had not closed his eyes or breakfasted ; and; with an 
 expression I never shall forget, he exclaimed ; "How willing- 
 ly would I exchange places to-day, with the soldier who 
 sleeps on the ground in the Army of the Potomac." 
 
 No one could ever convince the President that he was in 
 danger of violent death. Judging others by himself, he
 
 160 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 oould not realize that any one could seek his blood. Or he 
 may have believed as Napoleon wrote to Jerome, that no 
 public man could eiFectually shield himself from the danger 
 of assassination. Easier of access to the public at large 
 than had been any of his predecessors, admitting his bit- 
 terest enemies to his reception rooms, alone ; restive under 
 the cavalry escort which Secretary Stanton insisted should 
 accompany him last summer, in his daily journeys between 
 the White House and his summer residence, at the Soldier's 
 Home, several miles from Washington, at a time, too, as 
 since ascertained in the details of this long organized plot, 
 discovered since his death, when it was intended to gag and 
 hand-cuff him, and to carry him to the rebel capitol as a 
 hostage for their recognition ; sometimes escaping from their 
 escort, by anticipating their usual hour of attendance ; walk- 
 ing about the gardens unattended ; he could not be persuad- 
 ed that he ran any risk whatever. Being at City Point af- 
 ter the evacuation of Kichmond, he determined to go thither, 
 not from idle curiosity, but to see if he could not do some- 
 thing to stop the effusion of blood, and hasten the peace 
 for which he longed. 
 
 The ever watchful Secretary of War hearing of it, im- 
 plored him, by telegraph, not to go, and warned him that 
 some lurking assassin might take his life. But, armed with 
 his good intentions — alas, how feeble a shield they proved 
 against the death-blow afterward — he went, walked fearlessly 
 and carelessly through the streets — met and conferred with a 
 rebel leader, who had remained there ; and when he returned 
 to City Point, telegraphed to his faithful friend and consti- 
 tutional adviser, who till then had feared, as we all did at
 
 OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 161 
 
 that time, for his life, "I received your dispatch last night, 
 went to Richmond this morning, and have just returned — 
 Abraham Lincoln." When I told him, on that last night, 
 how uneasy all had been at his going, he replied, pleasantly 
 and with a smile, (I quote his exact words): " Why if any 
 one else had been President and gone to Eichmond, I would 
 have oeen alarmed too; but I was not scared about myself 
 a bit." If any of you have ever been at Washington, you 
 will remember the foot-path lined and embowered with trees 
 leading from the back door of the War Department to the 
 White House. One night and but recently, too, when in his 
 anxiety for news from the army, he had been with the Sec- 
 retary in the telegraph oJfice of the department, he was 
 starting home at a late hour by this short route. Mr. Stan- 
 ton stopped him and said, "You ought not to go that way ; 
 i.. is dangerous for you even in the daytime, but worse at 
 night." Mr. Lincoln replied, " I don't believe there's any 
 danger there, day or night." Mr. Stanton replied solemnly, 
 "Well, Mr. President, you shall not be killed returning that way 
 from my department while I am in it ; you must let me take 
 you round by the avenue in my carriage." And Mr. Lin- 
 coln joining the Secretary on his imperious military ordeta 
 and his needless alarm on his account, as he called it, en- 
 tered the carriage and was driven by the well-lighted avenue 
 to the White House.
 
 162 LIFE AND MARTYRDOM 
 
 r 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN— AN ODE. 
 
 A noble poem, by R. H. Stoddard, entitled "Abraham Lin- 
 coln, an Oration Ode," has just been published in New York. 
 The following stanzas describe the funeral procession through 
 the States, and are worthy the great occasion : 
 
 Peace 1 Let the long procession come 
 
 For hark ! — the mournful mufflled drum — 
 
 The trumpet's wail afar — 
 
 And see I the awful Car 1 
 
 Peace I Let the sad procession go, 
 While cannon boom, and bells toll slow; 
 
 And go, thou sacred Car, 
 
 Bearing our Woe afar 1 
 
 Go, darkly borne, from State to State, 
 Whose, loyal, sorrowing cities wait 
 
 To honor all they can 
 
 The dust of that Good Man 1 
 
 Go, grandly borne, with such a train 
 As greatest kings might die to gain ; 
 
 The Just, the Wise, the Brave 
 
 Attend thee to the grave ! 
 
 And you, the soldiers of our wars, 
 Bronzed veterans, grim with noble scars, 
 
 Salute him once again. 
 
 Your late Commander — slain I 
 
 Yes, let your tears, indignant, fall. 
 But leave your muskets on the wall ; 
 
 Your Country need^ you now 
 
 Beside the forge, the plow I 
 
 (When Justice shall unsheath her brand — 
 If Mercy may not stay her hand, 
 
 Nor would we have it so — 
 
 Site must direct the blow) 1
 
 f^. 
 
 OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 163 
 
 So sweetly, sadly, sternly goes * 
 
 The Fallen to his last repose ; 
 
 Beneath no mighty dome 
 
 But in his modest Home I 
 
 The church-yard where his children rest. 
 The quiet spot that suits him best ; 
 
 There shall his grave be made, 
 
 And there his bones be laid 1 
 
 And there his countrymen shall come, 
 With memory proud, with pity dumb, 
 
 And strangers far and near, 
 
 For many and many a year t 
 
 For many a year, and many an age. 
 While History on her ample page, 
 
 The virtues shall enroll 
 
 Of that Paternal Soul.
 
 I3Sr I^I^ESS. 
 
 A NEW BOOK OFTHmLLING INTEREST. 
 
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 EVERT BOOK AGENT IN THE COUNTRY WANTED AT ONCE. EVERY DISCHARGED SOL- 
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 To Sell by Subscription 
 
 THE SCOUT AND RANGER, 
 
 BKI.VG THE PERSONAL ADVENTURES OP 
 
 CORPORAL PIKE, of the Fourth Ohio Cavalry. 
 
 As a Texas Ranger in the Indian Wars, delineating western adventure, and af- 
 terward a Scout and Spy in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolina? un- 
 der denerals 0. M. Mitchkm,, Roskcrans, Stanley, Sheridan, Lvtle, Thomas, 
 and Sherman; fully illustrating the Secret Service. 
 
 For thrilling adventure, acts of daring and strategy, altogether unprecedented ; 
 exciting incident, reckless exploits, fearful deeds, and hair breadth escapes, the 
 adventures of " Pike, the Scout," written by himself, is bej-ond all comparison 
 the most intensely interesting work of the day. Abounding in local phrases, 
 which give spirit to real-life sketches: full of vivid description, making a picture 
 in every page ; and with a pleasing mixture of comedy and tragedy, it forms one 
 of the most readable books in all the literature of tho country. 
 
 There are tens of thousands of union soldiers, and, perhaps, as many southern 
 soldiers and citizens who will recognize the incidents therein related as having 
 transpired under their immediate observation, and who will for the first time learn 
 the true standing of the corporal who assumed almost every imaginable character 
 to effect his purposes. 
 
 The work will be produced on fine, heavy paper, octavo size, extra bound in 
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 work and executed in the highest style of the art ; and representing some of the 
 most interesting scenes described in the work; it also contains a fine, life-like 
 portrait of the author. 
 
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 The sample copy and subscription book sent, paid, by mail or express, as or- 
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 For further particulars, terms, etc., apply to, or address, 
 
 ■ J. E. HAWLEY & CO., PubUshers, 
 
 164 Vine Street, Cincinnati, 0.
 
 THE SUPPRESSED BOOK AGAIN PUBLISHED! 
 
 Brother Mason, the Circuit Rider; 
 
 OR, TE^Sf YEAIS^ A METH03>INT PREACHER. 
 
 No one of a liberal miud and generous charity can discover aught in 
 "Brother Mason " that should cause its suppression. Although it abouuds 
 in rollicking fun and exciting incident, it recognizes and acknowledges, in 
 every sentence, a God, a faith, and a law; and its influence, as a whole, can 
 not be other than salutary. 
 
 Seven fine Illustrations, on Tint. Price, $2.00. 
 
 liitt i®@i m BiiiKi 
 
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 13mo., Cloth. Price, $1.25. 
 
 THE ARMY AND NAYY HANKY BOOK; 
 
 Or, Every Soldier and Marine His Own Counselor. 
 
 BEING A FULL AND COMPLETE 
 
 GUIDE TO THE SOLDIER AND MARINE, 
 
 In all matters pertaining to his Duties, his Obligations, and his Bights, 
 and how to obtain his Rights without Legal Assistance. 
 
 Together with every thing of interest connected with the Army and Navy 
 
 Departments, and a complete 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF EVENTS CONNECTED WITH THE WAR. 
 
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 ASTOUNDING DISCLOSURES! 
 
 — OF — 
 
 EDMUND WRIGHT; 
 
 His Adventures with and Escape from the 
 
 Giving an Inside Vieiv of the 3£otlas of that Infamous Organization , 
 its Connection with the ItcheUion, and the 
 
 COPPERHEAD MOVEMENT AT THE NORTH. 
 
 This is certainly the most authentic work ever written on the subject, as 
 Mr. Wright was a fully initiated memberj and a man of reliable aii^hority. 
 
 Large Octavo, nearly 200 Pages, with W full-page Engravings. 
 
 PRICE, SO CEIVTS. 
 
 < I I Mi I » I 
 
 FUESH AND RA^CYI 
 MOST READABLE BOOK OF THE DAY! 
 
 LIFE SCENES INOURGREAT CITIES 
 
 BY JOHN COOPER VAIL. 
 
 The freshness and romance and indescribable hon hommit of this work will 
 recommend it to all classes of readers every-where. 
 
 I^arge Octavo, over 200 pages, finely Illustrated. 
 
 FI^ICE, SO CJEISrXS. 
 
 Agents and the Trade supplied on liberal terms, and single copies 
 mailed, post-paid, on receipt of price. 
 
 J. R. HAWLEY & CO., Publishers, 
 
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 NEW YOBK. CINCINNATI, OHIO.
 
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