The Death of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln died on the morning of April 15, 1865 (159 years ago today.) He was 56 years of age. It was Holy Saturday, the morning before Easter Sunday.
Lincoln was shot on April 14, 1865 by actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth while Lincoln was attending a performance of the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC. There is not general agreement as to the time when Lincoln was shot, but the time most sources quote is at around 10:13 p.m. Although army surgeon Charles Leale recognized wound as fatal, Lincoln managed to hold on to life until the following morning, remaining in a coma for over 9 hours before passing away at 7:22 a.m. on the morning of April 15, 1865. Lincoln died at the William Peterson Boarding House, across the street from Ford's Theatre.
When Lincoln died, (the official time is recorded as 7:22 a.m. 10 seconds on April 15, 1865), the crowd around the bed knelt for a prayer, and when they were finished, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton is quoted as having said, "Now he belongs to the ages". (There is some disagreement as to Stanton's words after Lincoln died. All agree that he began "Now he belongs to the..." with some stating he said ages while others believe he said angels.)
In Team of Rivals, author Doris Kearns Goodwin describes Lincoln's death as follows, at page 743:
No sooner has "the clocks struck seven" one observer recalled, than "the character of the President's breathing changed. It became faint and low. At intervals it altogether ceased, until we thought him dead. And then it would be again resumed." Lincoln's nine hour struggle had reached its final moments. "Let us pray," Reverend Phineas D. Gurley said, and everyone present knelt.
At 7:22 a.m., April 15, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was pronounced dead. Stanton's concise tribute from his deathbed still echoes. "Now he belongs to the ages."
When Mary was told that he was gone, she piteously demanded, "Oh, why did you not tell me that he was dying." Her moans could be heard throughout the house. Finally, with Robert's help, she was taken to her carriage, which had waited in front of the house through the long night.
Until the moment of Lincoln's death, Stanton's "coolness and self-possession" had seemed "remarkable" to those around him. Now he could not stop the tears that streamed down his cheeks. In the days that followed, even as he worked tirelessly to secure the city an catch the conspirators, "Stanton's grief was uncontrollable," recalled Horace Porter, "and at the mention of Mr. Lincoln's name he would break down and weep bitterly."
While Stanton's raw grief surprised those who had seen only his gruff exterior, John Hay understood. "Not everyone knows, as I do," he wrote Stanton, "how close you stood to our lost leader, how he loved you and trusted you, and how vain were all the efforts to shake that trust and confidence, not lightly given and never withdrawn. All this will be known some time of course, to his honor and yours."
Lincoln's body was wrapped in a US flag and taken in the rain to the White House by Union officers, while the city's church bells rang. Vice President Andrew Johnson was sworn in as President at 10:00 am that morning. Lincoln's body lay in state in the East Room, and then in the Capitol Rotunda from April 19 through April 21. For three weeks, his funeral train brought the body to cities across the North for large-scale memorials attended by hundreds of thousands, as well as many people who gathered in informal trackside tributes with bands, bonfires and hymn singing. On May 3, 1865 the train arrived in Springfield, Illinois where Lincoln was interred at Oak Ridge Cemetery.
Lincoln was shot on April 14, 1865 by actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth while Lincoln was attending a performance of the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC. There is not general agreement as to the time when Lincoln was shot, but the time most sources quote is at around 10:13 p.m. Although army surgeon Charles Leale recognized wound as fatal, Lincoln managed to hold on to life until the following morning, remaining in a coma for over 9 hours before passing away at 7:22 a.m. on the morning of April 15, 1865. Lincoln died at the William Peterson Boarding House, across the street from Ford's Theatre.
When Lincoln died, (the official time is recorded as 7:22 a.m. 10 seconds on April 15, 1865), the crowd around the bed knelt for a prayer, and when they were finished, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton is quoted as having said, "Now he belongs to the ages". (There is some disagreement as to Stanton's words after Lincoln died. All agree that he began "Now he belongs to the..." with some stating he said ages while others believe he said angels.)
In Team of Rivals, author Doris Kearns Goodwin describes Lincoln's death as follows, at page 743:
No sooner has "the clocks struck seven" one observer recalled, than "the character of the President's breathing changed. It became faint and low. At intervals it altogether ceased, until we thought him dead. And then it would be again resumed." Lincoln's nine hour struggle had reached its final moments. "Let us pray," Reverend Phineas D. Gurley said, and everyone present knelt.
At 7:22 a.m., April 15, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was pronounced dead. Stanton's concise tribute from his deathbed still echoes. "Now he belongs to the ages."
When Mary was told that he was gone, she piteously demanded, "Oh, why did you not tell me that he was dying." Her moans could be heard throughout the house. Finally, with Robert's help, she was taken to her carriage, which had waited in front of the house through the long night.
Until the moment of Lincoln's death, Stanton's "coolness and self-possession" had seemed "remarkable" to those around him. Now he could not stop the tears that streamed down his cheeks. In the days that followed, even as he worked tirelessly to secure the city an catch the conspirators, "Stanton's grief was uncontrollable," recalled Horace Porter, "and at the mention of Mr. Lincoln's name he would break down and weep bitterly."
While Stanton's raw grief surprised those who had seen only his gruff exterior, John Hay understood. "Not everyone knows, as I do," he wrote Stanton, "how close you stood to our lost leader, how he loved you and trusted you, and how vain were all the efforts to shake that trust and confidence, not lightly given and never withdrawn. All this will be known some time of course, to his honor and yours."
Lincoln's body was wrapped in a US flag and taken in the rain to the White House by Union officers, while the city's church bells rang. Vice President Andrew Johnson was sworn in as President at 10:00 am that morning. Lincoln's body lay in state in the East Room, and then in the Capitol Rotunda from April 19 through April 21. For three weeks, his funeral train brought the body to cities across the North for large-scale memorials attended by hundreds of thousands, as well as many people who gathered in informal trackside tributes with bands, bonfires and hymn singing. On May 3, 1865 the train arrived in Springfield, Illinois where Lincoln was interred at Oak Ridge Cemetery.