Full Title

"A Nation's Mourning Hymn," by Henry C. McCook

Description

Clergyman Henry C. McCook wrote this hymn in honor of President Lincoln. As noted in the passage below the hymn, McCook wrote the text the day following Lincoln's assassination. McCook's congregation, located in St. Louis, Missouri, sang this hymn during their service dedicated to the President.

Transcription

A Nation’s Mourning Hymn.

HENRY C. McCOOK.

Source

The Abraham Lincoln Foundation of The Union League of Philadelphia (Object ID: XI.2.001)

Rights

Use of this item for research, teaching and private study is permitted with proper citation and attribution, as “Courtesy of The Abraham Lincoln Foundation of The Union League of Philadelphia.” Reproduction of this item for publication, broadcast or commercial use requires written permission. For permission, please contact The Abraham Lincoln Foundation.

Tags

Cite this Item

Henry C. McCook . ""A Nation's Mourning Hymn," by Henry C. McCook ". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 17, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1003

Creator

Henry C. McCook

Date

April 16, 1865

Material

Ink and Paper

Full Title

Resolutions of the YMCA on the Death of Abraham Lincoln

Description

Resolutions of and received by the New York Young Men's Christian Association following the death of Lincoln, including resolutions from the YMCA of Renshaw Street (Liverpool, England) and the Montreal YMCA.

Transcription

Resolutions of the Young Mens Christian Association of New York
Whereas God in His Providence has received from this earth Abraham Lincoln the President of the United States, a man simple in habits and childlike in humor, faithful in intercourse, earnest in purpose, meek in spirit, pure in heart, illustrious in deeds, and Christian in all his ways,
and whereas God has likewise permitted to be stricken down our chief Counsellor of State.

Resolved that we bow to His high purpose in perfect faith, knowing that our Heavenly Father doeth all things well and that we mourn for the good man who has gone before, as children mourn for their father, that we offer our fervent prayers for the recovery of our Sect. of State!
Resolved that we recognize in these assaults the familiar hand of that system of assassination which for eighty years has embittered the councils of our country, stricken down senators in Congress, repressed free speech, bought and sold and whipped the laboring class, starved to death prisoners

[Transcription by: Evan Laugen, Chandra Manning's class, Georgetown University.]

Source

ymca122114-ymca122129, Records of the YMCA of the City of New York - Y.GNY.20, YMCA of Greater New York, Kautz Family YMCA Archives, University of Minnesota

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.

Cite this Item

Young Men's Christian Association of the City of New York. "Resolutions of the YMCA on the Death of Abraham Lincoln". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 17, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/940

Creator

Young Men's Christian Association of the City of New York

Date

April 1865

Full Title

O Captain! My Captain!

Description

Autograph document signed by Walt Whitman, containing stanzas from “O Captain! My Captain!”, Whitman’s elegy to Lincoln. The poet submitted this document to Charles Aldrich for his collection of autographs, which he donated to the State of Iowa in 1884. Aldrich was the first curator of the State Historical Department of Iowa, now the State Historical Society of Iowa. Although Whitman composed the poem in 1865, the date of this autograph is unknown.

Transcription

O Captain! my Captain!

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weather’d every rack, The prize we sought is won,

The port is near, the bells I hear, The people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, The venel grim and daring;

But O heart! heart! heart!

O the bleeding drops of red,

Where on the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.



O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up ­ for you the flag is flung ­ for you the bugle trills,

For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths ­ for you the shores a crowding,

For you they call, The swaying man, Their eager faces turning;

Here Captain! dear father!

This arm beneath your head!

It is some dream that on the deck,

You’ve fallen cold and dead.



My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,

The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;

Exult O shores and ring O bells!

But I with mournful tread,

Walk the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.



Walt Whitman

with best wishes prayers & love for the people of Iowa ­- WW



[Transcription team:

Megan O., Laney R., Kiersten T., Alexis W.

New Hampton Middle School, New Hampton, Iowa]

Source

Charles Aldrich Autograph Collection, State Historical Society of Iowa, Des Moines

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. for permission, please contact State Historical Society of Iowa.

Tags

Cite this Item

Whitman, Walt. "O Captain! My Captain!". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 17, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/938

Creator

Whitman, Walt

Date

unknown

Full Title

Subscription for a Tribute of Respect to the Memory of Abraham Lincoln, Late President of the United States

Description

Circular soliciting funds for Mary Todd Lincoln.

Transcription

SUBSCRIPTION
FOR A
Tribute of Respect to the Memory of
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

SUBSCRIPTIONS ONE DOLLAR

We, the undersigned, being desirous of showing our love and respect for the memory of our late noble and martyred President, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, and our sympathy and regard for his bereaved family in their terrible affection, subscribe one dollar towards a fund to be presented to MRS. LINCOLN thought through HIS EXCELLENCY JAMES Y. SMITH, Governor of Rhode Island.

[Transcription by: Hannah A.-B., Dr. Susan Corbesero's class, Ellis School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.]

Source

MSS027_02_03

Rights

The Providence Public Library encourages the use of all items in the Providence Public Library digital collections for fair use purposes such as teaching, research, and private study. It is solely the patron's obligation to determine and ensure that use of material fully complies with copyright law and other possible restrictions on use.

Tags

Cite this Item

Unknown. "Subscription for a Tribute of Respect to the Memory of Abraham Lincoln, Late President of the United States". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 17, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/933

Creator

Unknown

Date

1865

Full Title

Treason's Masterpiece

Description

Broadside printed with ballad in tribute to Lincoln.

Transcription

Treason's Masterpiece.

To be recited Wed Aug 26th.
Treason’s Masterpiece
Treason has done his worst!
A hand accurst
Has made the Nation orphan by a blow:
Has turned its hymns of joy to wail and woe,
As for a Father lost, a Saviour slain-
And blood, and toil, and anguish spent in vain!
Half his great work was done,
By victory won
O’er recreant chiefs and rebels in the field,
Compelled to bow the knee and homage yield;
And his calm breast, from war and vengeance turned,
With generous pity tow’rds the vanquished yearned.
Deep joy was in his soul
As o’er it roll
Sweet thoughts of peace and magnanimity,
Wounds healed, wrath quelled, his country free,
Foes turned to friends, the bitter past forgiven;
Such thoughts as earthly power make like to heaven.
While all suspicion slept,
The assassin crept
Into the circle where, in guardless state,
The simple chief in friendly converse sate,
And in an instant, ere a hand could rise,
The Nation’s Hope a slaughtered Martyr lies!
In peace, great Martyr, sleep!
Thy people weep,
But stop their tears to swear upon thy grave,
The cause thou died’st for they but live to save;
And the great Bond, cemented by thy blood,
Shall stand unbroken, as it still hath stood!
The traitor’s fiendlike act
By stern compact
Binds us still closer ‘gainst the murderous band
That fain with blood would deluge all the land,
But, vanquished by the sword, for mercy kneel,
And pay it, granted, with the assassin’s steel.
O, for this heelish deed
Thousands shall bleed,
That else had lived to bless thy gentle name
By mercy wreathed with an immortal fame;
And traitors, from a Nation’s wrath, shall learn
That outraged Pity’s tears to drops of vengeance turn.
Geo. Vandenhoff.
New York, 17, April , 1865.

[Transcription by Alicia B., Ford’s Theatre Society.]

Source

MSS027_02_02

Rights

The Providence Public Library encourages the use of all items in the Providence Public Library digital collections for fair use purposes such as teaching, research, and private study. It is solely the patron's obligation to determine and ensure that use of material fully complies with copyright law and other possible restrictions on use.

Tags

Cite this Item

Unknown. "Treason's Masterpiece". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 17, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/932

Creator

Unknown

Date

1865

Full Title

Lincoln Lies Sleeping

Description

A handwritten ballad in tribute to Lincoln.

Transcription

Lincoln lies Sleeping.

Up, from the homes of the land, a cry
Comes from a nation bewailing;
Lincoln the merciful, doomed to die!
Ah! merciful e'en to a failing.
Chorus
Strike, strike the traitor down!
Cry a sad people, while seeping:
Crown, crown the martyr, crown
Weep o'er the grove where he's sleeping

Lower the flag of the glory of the nation now
Drape the proud banner in sorrow:
Sleeping to-day is that marble brow. -
He'll waken in Heaven to-morrow!
Chorus
Peace, peace, in Heaven peace!
Hos earnest earned. while living;
Peace, peace, in Heave peace!
Never a heart so forgiving!

Tearfully, sadly, gaze on the dead,
While ev'ry bosom is swelling:
Tenderly place him in his last bed.
And shroud in deep ev'ry dwelling.
Chorus
Peace, peace in Heaven peace!
Sing a sad people, while weeping;
Peace, peace, in Heaven peace!
Jesus that while soul is keeping!

Tenderly, sadly, we lay him down,
Mourning his murder so gory -
Heaven will find him a golden crown;
He;s gone from Glory to Glory!
Chorus
Live, live, the Union live!
Sing a firm people, while weeping
Lord! Lord! the crime forgive -
The prayers of him who is sleeping!

Source

MSS027_02_01_AB

Rights

The Providence Public Library encourages the use of all items in the Providence Public Library digital collections for fair use purposes such as teaching, research, and private study. It is solely the patron's obligation to determine and ensure that use of material fully complies with copyright law and other possible restrictions on use.

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Cite this Item

Unknown. "Lincoln Lies Sleeping ". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 17, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/931

Creator

Unknown

Date

1865

Full Title

"The Burial of President Lincoln"

Description

On May 19th, 1865 the Madison Wisconsin State Journal wrote an article “The Burial of President Lincoln”. Half way down the article, the writer starts to shift topics towards the widow Mary Todd Lincoln. The author discusses the reaction of the local postal service do to the numerous amounts of letters addressed to Mary Todd. The company uses words like “chaotic” and “understandable.” This shows that many families in the Madison area wanted to show their respect towards the Lincoln family. Unfortunately the author did not discuss the reaction of Mary Todd on this topic but the article assumes that she was grateful. -Andre Doucette

Source

Newspaper Archive

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

Madison (Wisconsin) State Journal . ""The Burial of President Lincoln"". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 17, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/929

Creator

Madison (Wisconsin) State Journal

Date

May 19, 1865

Full Title

Our Martyred President

Description

A poem composed by Samuel Whiting of Dorsey, Illinois. In a letter to Rev. William Salter, he states that he was inspired to write the poem after reading the Reverend’s sermon on Lincoln published in the Burlington Hawk-Eye, April 19, 1865.

Transcription

Our Martyr’d President

Avail from wild Atlantics [[?]] to far Pacifics shore,
Is heard above the battle-din, for one all hearts deplore,
the pilot of our Ship of State, the patriot good and just,
has by a foul assassin’s,hand been stricken to the dust.

And while with hearts-by sorrow guard, above thy, tomb we feud,
we realize the union, [[?]] of its more steadfast friend,
we feel that [[?]] and Liberty- that's Justice, Mercy, Love
were all implanted in thy heart, by the good God above.

The annals of the world can show no purer name than thine
a name which though the coming years, more [[?]] you shall shine,
Bright freedom’s champion, friend of all down trodden and oppress’d,
thy memory throughout the earth shall be forever clip'd.

Thy vile assassin little thought when his foul, murd'ous hand,
Took Abraham Lincoln cherish'd life, and fill'd with woe the [[?]],
that the same bullet which consigned the martyrs to the tomb,
Bequeathed his virtues to all time clothed in immortal bloom.

[[end page]]

[[start page]]

Thy grave is consecrated ground, and pilgrims shall repair
from earth's mortal boundaries, to weep in sadness there;
in sadness, that such fate should be reserved for such a man
In joy, that then went spared to us to work our Freedom plan.

Gods noblest work – ”an honest man” - especially was he
who to the scourged and tortured slave proclaimed " hence forth be free!"
that he, his glorious epitaph, inscribed upon his tomb-
and that the sacred memory to soften all our gloom.

Sam Whiting
Dorsey Lee, April 25th 1865
My dear Mrs Sallee.
The hawk-eye, containing your
excellent remarks on the death of our beloved President.
came [[?]] be heard. Your sermon and the sad event have
suggested the above lines, which, [[?]] as they are, I
beg leave to dedicate to you. I am hard at work, ploughing
and planting, beef in my good health. My wife joins me in Round regards to all.

Truly Yours Sam Whiting.

[Transcription Team: Lola L., Jarett F., Henry W., Addilyne S.]
[New Hampton Middle School]

Source

Letter from Samuel Whiting (Dorsey, IL) to Rev. William Salter (Burlington, Iowa), April 25, 1865 William Salter Papers, State Historical Society of Iowa, Des Moines

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. For permission, please contact The State Historical Society of Iowa

Tags

Cite this Item

Samuel Whiting . "Our Martyred President". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 17, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/921

Creator

Samuel Whiting

Date

April 1, 1865

Full Title

The James Tanner Manuscript

Description

In 1865 Corporal James Tanner was a disabled Civil War veteran working as a clerk in the Ordnance Bureau of the War Department and living in an apartment next to the Petersen House in Washington, D.C. On April 14th, President Abraham Lincoln was shot during a theatre performance at Ford’s Theatre. The mortally wounded President was taken to the Petersen House. Because he had stenography skills, Tanner was called into the Petersen House. While Lincoln lay dying in the bedroom, Tanner sat in the parlor and recorded eyewitness testimony as given to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and David Kellogg Cartter, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. The interrogation of the witnesses took place between midnight and 1:30 A.M. "In fifteen minutes I had testimony enough to hang Wilkes Booth, the assassin, higher than ever Haman hung" noted Tanner. While still in the parlor, Tanner transcribed his shorthand notes into longhand, finishing his task at 6:45 A.M. Tanner returned to his apartment and, dissatisfied with the quality of the first transcription, began a second copy which he left with an aide of Stanton's at his office in the War Department. Tanner retained the original testimony. The copy deposited at the War Department was lost. In 1905, Tanner’s son took his father’s first transcription and mounted each sheet on linen and bound them. In November 1917, as the Union League prepared to celebrate its 55th anniversary and dedicate the Lincoln Memorial Room, Corporal James Tanner wrote to UL President John Gribbell to offer his bound volume of testimony to the League’s collection: "believing that they are of considerable interest to the general public owing to the circumstances surrounding their creation and believing they will become more so as the years pass, I write to say that if you care to give the volume a place among the treasures you may now possess or may naturally gather in the future regarding President Lincoln, I shall be glad to present them to you in perpetuity, limited only to the life of the Union League." Digitization courtesy of the Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text and Image, University of Pennsylvania Libraries.

Transcription

Scroll down to "Related Resources" for a downloadable transcription with page breaks that match the original manuscript.

Source

The Abraham Lincoln Foundation of The Union League of Philadelphia (Object ID: XI.2.1917.2)

Rights

Use of this item for research, teaching and private study is permitted with proper citation and attribution, as “Courtesy of The Abraham Lincoln Foundation of The Union League of Philadelphia.” Reproduction of this item for publication, broadcast or commercial use requires written permission. For permission, please contact The Abraham Lincoln Foundation.

Tags

Cite this Item

James Tanner. "The James Tanner Manuscript". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed July 17, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/892

Creator

James Tanner

Date

April 15, 1865

Material

Paper, board, cloth

Dimensions

11" H x 9.5" W