The Capitol Dome

"THE GREATEST PAGEANT EVER TENDERED": Reporting Lincoln's Funeral, Procession, and Services at the Capitol JANE ARmSTRoNG HuDibuRG L IBR ARY OF CONGRE S S PRIN T S AND PHOTO GR APHS DIVISION Fig. 1. Lincoln's body lying in state in the East Room of the White House, sketched in pencil on paper by Alfred R. Waugh, April 19, 1865. Waugh was a staff artist for Harper's Weekly and this sketch was the basis for the engraving published in the May 6, 1865 issue of Harper's Weekly. W ashington's press correspondents noted the eerie simi- larities. Six weeks after Abraham Lincoln's second presidential inauguration in March, the Capitol featured "the same scene, the same actors, the same spectators." ere was the same crowd "assembled to do him honor," the same long lines of soldiers, and many of the same faces: senators, representatives, cabinet members, and "Andrew Johnson quite as conspicuous." One New York Herald reporter, though, con- sidered the "terrible change." en Lincoln "spoke pious words of peace, of good will, and of his steadfast determination to preserve the Union. Now he spoke still more powerfully in his death, and every man felt the force of the lesson taught by that cold, still form." 1 In the days following Lincoln's assassination, newspapers across the country recorded such observations, their Washington- based writers equipped with both the skills and the access needed to witness and preserve the official acts of mourning. On April 19, 1865, the reporters stationed themselves in the White House East Room, as clergy and guests gathered around Lincoln's coffin for the funeral. en, they scrambled along the hearse's processional route to the Capitol's Rotunda for the ceremonial "burial" service and lying in state. 2 Govern- ment officials not only sanctioned their presence, but placed the press in the best locations to view the "obsequies." In fact, according to the same Herald reporter, "e authorities felt that the occasion was historical, and desired that not one item should be omitted." 3 As a result, Lincoln's legacy includes mul- tiple, comprehensive accounts confirming that the ceremonies were among the most impressive in American history. Sociologist Barry Schwartz argues that, more so than the shocking assassination, these extraordinary rituals, with their unprecedented public participation, transformed Abraham Lincoln from a mortal president, assailed by opponents on all sides, to a sacred symbol. 4 Lincoln's iconic status, however, could not have been achieved without the press. e Washington correspondents relayed the city's events to a national audience, describing "the greatest pageant ever tendered" with such emo- tionally-packed details that the scenes are as vivid today as a modern-day movie. 5 e funeral planning began almost before Lincoln's death, at 7:22 a.m., April 15, the morning after John Wilkes Booth shot the president at Ford's eatre. With the newly widowed Mary Todd Lincoln incapacitated by grief, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton assumed the leadership role. Stanton THE CAPITOL DOME 20

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