Full Title

President Lincoln's funeral. [Harper's Weekly illustration.]

Description

This illustration from Harper's Weekly depicts the funeral procession of Abraham Lincoln in an issue published on May 13, 1865. Guided by Union Soldiers on all sides, Lincoln's body is processed through the crowded streets of New York City as onlookers gather to see their beloved President. In the center of the illustration, a balcony is adorned with a banner that reads "WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE, WITH CHARITY FOR ALL," referring to Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address on March 4, 1865.

Source

Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana.

Rights

This item is in the public domain and may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching, private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.

Tags

Cite this Item

Mathew Brady. "President Lincoln's funeral. [Harper's Weekly illustration.]". Harper's Weekly. Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 16, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1104

Creator

Mathew Brady

Publisher

Harper's Weekly

Date

May 13, 1865

Material

newspaper

Dimensions

40.1 x 55.7 cm.

Full Title

Phoebe Cary Poem on Lincoln's Death

Description

Philadelphia publishing house J.B. Lippincott & Co. compiled poetical tributes to President Lincoln in the months after his assassination. This piece, by Phoebe Cary, talks about how the mood of the country has changed from happiness for the end of the war to sadness for Lincoln's death. She goes on to describe his mercy and considerate leadership. Phoebe Cary was a well known poet and suffragette from Ohio. Later in life she moved to New York with her sister, Alice Cary, who was also a poet. During her lifetime she published two volumes of her own work.

Source

University of Wisconsin - Madison, Digitized by Google

Rights

This item is in the public domain and may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching, private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.

Tags

Cite this Item

Pheobe Cary. "Phoebe Cary Poem on Lincoln's Death". J.B. Lippincott & Co.. Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 16, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1102

Creator

Pheobe Cary

Publisher

J.B. Lippincott & Co.

Date

1865

Full Title

Poetical Tribute to President Lincoln - Julia Ward Howe

Description

Philadelphia publishing house J.B. Lippincott & Co. compiled poetical tributes to President Lincoln in the months after his assassination. This piece, by Julia Ward Howe, talks about Lincoln's legacy and how to honor him and his contributions to the nation. Julia Ward Howe was an abolitionist, suffragette and author, most famous for writing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," which is now one of the most famous songs of the Civil War. She was inspired to write the song after meeting with President Lincoln at the White House in November 1861.

Source

University of Wisconsin - Madison, Digitized by Google

Rights

This item is in the public domain and may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching, private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.

Tags

Cite this Item

Julia Ward Howe. "Poetical Tribute to President Lincoln - Julia Ward Howe". J.B. Lippincott & Co.. Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 16, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1100

Creator

Julia Ward Howe

Publisher

J.B. Lippincott & Co.

Date

1865

Full Title

Poetical Tribute to President Lincoln - William Cullen Bryant

Description

Philadelphia publishing house J.B. Lippincott & Co. compiled poetical tributes to President Lincoln in the months after his assassination. This piece, by Poet William Cullen Bryant, speaks of Lincoln's life and greatest accomplishment, freeing the slave. Bryant was considered a child-prodigy, publishing his first poem at age ten and his first book when he was thirteen. He later served as editor for the New York Evening Post. He was a member of the Republican Party and actually introduced Abraham Lincoln at Cooper Union in New York when Lincoln gave his famed "Cooper Union Speech" in 1860.

Source

University of Wisconsin - Madison, Digitized by Google

Rights

This item is in the public domain and may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching, private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.

Tags

Cite this Item

William Cullen Bryant. "Poetical Tribute to President Lincoln - William Cullen Bryant". J. B. Lippincott & Co.. Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 16, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1099

Creator

William Cullen Bryant

Publisher

J. B. Lippincott & Co.

Date

1865

Full Title

A Proclamation by James Youngs Smith, Governor of the State of Rhode Island

Description

James Youngs Smith, the 29th Governor of Rhode Island, issued a proclamation on the day of Abraham Lincoln's assassination asking the clergy of Rhode Island to commemorate the President and pray for the country during the upcoming Sunday services. Born in Groton, Connecticut in 1809, Smith moved to Providence, Rhode Island at the age of 16 to work for a lumber business. Later in life he bought mills in both Connecticut and Rhode Island. He served three terms as Governor of Rhode Island as a Republican before declining to run for a fourth term. He served throughout the Civil War and was able to fill the state's troop quota through voluntary enlistment because the citizens of Rhode Island opposed drafting soldiers. Smith married Emily Brown, the daughter of a cotton manufacturer from Massachusetts and had three children.

Source

Library of Congress, Rare Book And Special Collections Division

Rights

Transmission or reproduction of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners.

Tags

Cite this Item

James Y. Smith. "A Proclamation by James Youngs Smith, Governor of the State of Rhode Island". Rhode Island, Governor. Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 16, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1093

Creator

James Y. Smith

Publisher

Rhode Island, Governor

Date

April 15, 1865

Material

Printed on page [1] of a single-folded sheet.

Dimensions

21 cm.

Full Title

Drum played at the funeral of Abraham Lincoln

Description

Drum played at the funeral of Abraham Lincoln by W. H. Brooks, a resident of Portland, OR and Hillsboro, OR after 1908. Brooks enlisted in the Union army in 1861 when he was 14 years old and served in the 14th Iowa Regiment in a brigade the Confederates dubbed the "Hornets' Nest" because it so fiercely defended its position in a sunken road at Shiloh, Tennessee. In 1931, Brooks told an Oregonian reporter he had marched more than 800 miles before his discharge from the army. He recounted, "I was in the consolidated drum corps that played in the funeral procession of President Lincoln from the city to Oak Ridge cemetery in May 1865. I saw the president's casket placed in the vault."

Source

Oregon Historical Society

Rights

Use of this item for research, teaching, and private study is permitted with proper citation and attribution. Reproduction of this item for publication, broadcast, or commercial use requires written permission.

Tags

Cite this Item

William Henry Brooks, 14th Iowa Regiment. "Drum played at the funeral of Abraham Lincoln". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 16, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1041

Creator

William Henry Brooks, 14th Iowa Regiment

Dimensions

diameter 16"; depth 9"

Full Title

Silas H. Billings Diary

Description

Silas H. Billings was a U.S. Army soldier from Lafayette, New York, wounded at the Battle of Winchester in September 1864. In April 1865 he was a patient at Saterlee Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when he learned that John Wilkes Booth had assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. Billings then received permission to attend Lincoln's funeral in Philadelphia. Like many people at the time, Billings recorded both newsworthy events, like Lincoln's assassination, and the details of his everyday life together. After the Civil War, Billings became a school teacher and part-time farmhand. His wounds led to his death in 1873, at the age of only 30.

Transcription

[inside cover]
Silas H. Billings
Wounded at
Winchester Va
Sept 19 1864

[Friday, April 14, 1865]
Abraham Lincoln
is Shot at Fords
Theatre at 9,30 p m and dies at 722 am

Wm H & Fred Seward are stabbed at or
about the same time

[Saturday, April 15, 1865]
my eye is very bad

[Wednesday, April 19, 1865]
Funeral of our Chief
Abraham Lincoln
President of the
U S of America

Recd a Visit from
C F Falch co. "D" 9 ny
Ward 2 Turners Lane

[Saturday, April, 22, 1865]
Recd a pass 2 pm to 9 pm
went downtown to Corner
of Broad & Prime Sts
Funeral Train of the
late President A Lincoln
arrives at 4,30 pm
Procession is formed in
Broad & goes down to
Walnut up to 21st
down to Vine down to
2nd up to Chesnut to
Independence Hall on
Chesnut between 5th & 6th

Source

Marjorie Billings Martinez, great-granddaughter of Silas H. Billings

Rights

This item may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching, private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.

Tags

Cite this Item

Silas H. Billings. "Silas H. Billings Diary". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 16, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1040

Creator

Silas H. Billings

Date

April 14, 1865

Full Title

The President's grave

Description

Work for vocal quartet and piano associated with the Union side. Part of the Library of Congress Civil War Sheet Music Collection.

Transcription

Verse 1
Be silent! there cometh on spirit wings sped,
The wail of a nation in grief for the dead;
The strong and the mighty, from glory and light,
Hath waned in his brightness and left us in night;
The proud eagle banners all droopingly wave,
And the wild wings are hushed round the President's grave.
And the wild winds are hushed round the President's grave.

Verse 2
A deep brooding sorrow comes over the heart
A moan like the tempest, when summers depart,
A gushing of anguish, unbroken and still,
As tolleth the requiem o'er valley and hill;
The sun that rose bright o'er the free and the brave
Now is setting in gloom o'er the President's grave.
Now is setting in gloom o'er the President's grave.

Verse 3
Be silent! our father hath laid him to rest,
A hero of battles hath yielded his crest,
A statesman hath fallen, his counsels are o'er,
His firmness and wisdom shall guide us no more:
Let cannon boom forth and the banners all wave,
While we mingle our tears o'er the President's grave.
While we mingle our tears o'er the President's grave.

Source

Library of Congress Classification M1640.M

Rights

Public Domain. Suggested credit line: Civil War Sheet Music Collection, Library of Congress, Music Division.

Tags

Cite this Item

Miller, L. B. (composer); Babbitt, Edwin S. (lyricist). "The President's grave". Chicago: Root & Cady, 1865. Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 16, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1035

Creator

Miller, L. B. (composer); Babbitt, Edwin S. (lyricist)

Publisher

Chicago: Root & Cady, 1865

Date

1865

Material

Sheet Music

Full Title

Requiem march in honor of President Lincoln

Description

This is sheet music for President Lincoln's funeral march for solo piano. The title on the cover page is "Requiem March In honor of President Lincoln," while the first page of music lists the title as "President Lincoln's funeral march." A requiem is traditionally in a minor key and imitates the solemn, slow pace of a funeral procession. This piece is part of the Library of Congress Civil War Sheet Music Collection, associated with the Union side. Probably a third of the entire U.S. population at the time, out of a total of 31 million, participated in some kind of memorial commemoration for Lincoln. Roughly 150,000 people were present at Lincoln's funeral in Springfield.

Source

Library of Congress Classification M20.C59F

Rights

Public Domain. Suggested credit line: Civil War Sheet Music Collection, Library of Congress, Music Division.

Tags

Cite this Item

Fiske, W. O.. "Requiem march in honor of President Lincoln". Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co., 1865. Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 16, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1033

Creator

Fiske, W. O.

Publisher

Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co., 1865

Date

1865

Material

Sheet Music

Full Title

Lincoln's funeral march: as played by Menter's Band

Description

Funeral march for solo piano. The composer dedicated this work "to the nation" and it was composed "in commemoration of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, The Savior of His Country." Part of the Library of Congress Civil War Sheet Music Collection, associated with the Union side.

Source

Library of Congress Classification M20.C59H

Rights

Public Domain. Suggested credit line: Civil War Sheet Music Collection, Library of Congress, Music Division.

Tags

Cite this Item

Hess, Charles. "Lincoln's funeral march: as played by Menter's Band". Cincinnati: A. C. Peters & Bro., 1865. Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 16, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1032

Creator

Hess, Charles

Publisher

Cincinnati: A. C. Peters & Bro., 1865

Date

1865

Material

Sheet Music