Ghost Stories: Now he belongs to the ages

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

– Abraham Lincoln

Ladies and gentlemen, the 16th President of the United States once wrote, “In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all; and, to the young, it comes with the bitterest agony, because it takes them unawares.”

Since our time together last week, more than 120 souls were murdered and more than 350 were wounded on Friday the 13th in Paris, France. Some of the victims of terrorism were at a concert venue, others were at a soccer match, while others were dining at restaurants before horror struck in an unprecedented manner.

Nearly a decade and a half earlier, our nation mourned on Sept. 11, 2001. I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news that horrific morning. You probably do, too. And 150 years ago, a nation was in mourning following the events of April 14, 1865, which was Good Friday. The Civil War was winding down, and Gen. Robert E. Lee had surrendered on April 9, 1865. Just a few days later, President Lincoln was attending a play, “Our American Cousin,” at Ford’s Theatre on Good Friday. His bodyguard left the theatre during intermission to have a drink at a saloon next door, and John Wilkes Booth crept up behind Lincoln and shot him in the head at point-blank range at 10:13 p.m.

The Great Emancipator died at 7:22 a.m. the following morning.

George Washington Barrere served as a lieutenant colonel in the Civil War, and on April 19, 1865, his family and residents of Highland County picked up their local newspaper and saw the headline, “A Nation in Mourning,” under a photo of an American flag. The Highland News, which Colonel Barrere would buy in the 1880s, devoted almost an entire page to Lincoln’s assassination.

The residents of Hillsboro and the surrounding area read: “Never in the history of our country has any event occurred which has caused such deep and universal sorrow, as the terrible tragedy that enacted on Friday last, at the capital of the nation, when our beloved and honored president was
suddenly struck down and slain by an assassin.

“The sad and shocking intelligence, as it was sped over the wires to the remotest parts of the
country, thrilled every truly loyal heart with grief and indignation and cast a gloom over all, which nothing could dispel. The people of this state, in particular, had devoted the previous day to public rejoicings and thanksgivings for the recent glorious success of our armies, and the sure and speedy return of peace. Every patriotic heart was filled with joy and gratitude over the brightening prospects of the nation, when in a moment, joy turned into sorrow, and gladness into mourning. Never was there a more impressive illustration of the solemn truth, that ‘in the midst of life we are in death,’ and ‘we know not what a day may bring forth.’

“It is not for us to attempt a fitting eulogy upon the great and good man whose career has thus been brought to a cruel and untimely close. Abler pens than ours will perform that duty, and we shall take pleasure in transferring to our columns some of the tributes paid to his memory. At present, we can only join with our readers in expressing the sorrow which every patriotic heart must feel over the great calamity which has befallen the nation.

“We have lost a ruler, who by his wise and prudent administration, had brought our Government safely through a rebellion which threatened its destruction and who had justly won the title of Savoir and Deliverer of his country. His name will go down to future ages as a martyr to Liberty,
hallowed and venerated as only one other name has ever been – that of Washington – and only more endeared to his countrymen by the remembrance of the wicked and dastardly crime to which he fell a victim.

“Mr. Lincoln was born on the 12th of February, 1809, and was therefore 56 years of age last February.”

When Abraham Lincoln died, Secretary of War Edwin McMasters Stanton saluted and said, “Now he belongs to the ages.”

The city’s church bells rang out as the flag-enfolded body of Abraham Lincoln was escorted in the rain to the White House by Union officers.

On the morning of April 21, 1865, the Lincoln Funeral Train departed from Washington, D.C. with two bodies on board. One was that of the late President Abraham Lincoln and the other was that of his son, Willie, who had died in 1862. Willie Lincoln’s body had been disinterred and would be buried with his father. Mary, President Lincoln’s widow, had very reluctantly agreed to a route that partially followed portions of the Inaugural Train route of 1861. There were several stops made along the way where Lincoln’s body lay in state, including a viewing in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday, April 29, 1865 at the State Capitol building. The destination at Springfield, Ill. was reached on May 2, 1865.

In the fall of 1901, Abraham Lincoln’s body was exhumed so that it could be re-interred in a newly built crypt. However, the 23 people present for the exhuming feared that his body might have been stolen in the intervening years, so they decided to open the coffin and check.

According to accounts, at Lincoln’s final viewing, a harsh choking smell arose when the casket was opened, but Lincoln was perfectly recognizable, even more than 30 years after his death. His face was a bronze color from unhealed bruises caused by the gunshot wound, which shattered the bones in his face and damaged the tissue. His hair, beard and mole were all perfectly preserved, although his eyebrows were gone. His suit was covered with a yellow mold and his gloves had rotted on his hands. On his chest, they could see some bits of red fabric — remnants of the American flag with which he was buried, which had by then disintegrated. It was theorized that Lincoln had been embalmed so many times on board his funeral train that he had been practically mummified. (For the record, Lincoln’s coffin has been moved 17 times and opened five times since December of 1865.)

Let’s pause for now, and we’ll continue next week.

Steve Roush is a vice president of an international media company and a columnist and contributing writer for The Highland County Press. He can be reached by email at roush_steve@msn.com.