The Capitol Dome

ARCHI T EC T OF T HE C API TOL THE CAPITOL DOME 24 rotunda." 25 As they did so, artillery thundered solemnly. 26 Then, "a low moan shivered through crowd" as Lincoln entered the Capitol for the last time. 27 Save for a few reporters and guards, the Rotunda was empty when the first guests stepped into the domed room, including "Mr. James O. Clephane, one of the civic marshals, followed by the clergy, then the physicians," who had tended to Lincoln, and then the pallbearers "in the midst of which the corpse was borne." Benjamin French had the fitting honor of leading the line to the center of the circular floor. As Commissioner of Public Buildings, he had supervised the vast chamber's trans- formation from a bustling meeting spot to a dark, quiet space well suited for somber reflection. 28 "e magnificent edifice was handsomely draped with black," noted the New York Herald. "All the pillars and win- dows were the solemn emblems of mourning, and high upon the splendid dome the same sad symbols drooped despondently." 29 At the base of the dome, "a heavy drapery of mourning" hung over the corridors, while black crepe covered the large paint- ings and all of the sculptures except one. e statue of George Washington remained visible, though adorned with a black sash, "draping the bust after the style of military mourning." 30 According to the Evening Star, "this work was done by Messrs. G.W. Nokes, G.W. Harris, and other employees at the Capi- tol." e New York Herald, however, proclaimed that French "had entrusted his son, Mr. Benjamin French, and Mr. Kirby" with the "arrangement of the rotunda," as well as the "erection of a catafalque." Additional accounts credit either the elder or the younger French as the catafalque's designer with "Mr. Job W. Angus" as the main constructor. 31 While the reporters differed on who actually designed and built the Capitol catafalque, their descriptions of the bier are similar (fig. 6). As compared to the outsized White House ver- sion, this stand, made of rough pine boards, was a "neat and appropriately simple structure" with a base "eight feet six inch- es long, four feet wide, and one foot high" and a dais "seven feet long, two feet six inches wide, and two feet high." A fine black cloth covered the pine, "with union columns represent- ing bundles of fasces at the corners, and trimmed with silver lace, encircling the entire edge. Upon the sides of the dais were entwined guns, swords, and bayonets, representing every branch of the army." 32 e cloth was "gathered in the center with a black rosette of satin ribbon, with a silver star." From this star fell a "fold of cloth," containing three stars. 33 At exactly 3:30, the pallbearers laid Lincoln's casket on the catafalque, and within a few moments, "all who were entitled to admission had entered, the clergy taking a position at the head of the corpse, the head of which is turned to the west, and immediately behind them were the physicians." At the foot of the coffin stood President Johnson, the cabinet, and Lincoln's personal secretaries, John G. Nicolay and John M. Hay. Military officers included Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, Admiral David Farragut, and Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs, a civil engineer, who had previously supervised the construction of the Capitol's wings and dome. 34 Lincoln's former Secretary of War, Simon Cameron (a past and future senator) was also in attendance, as well as Members of Congress, delegations from Illinois and Kentucky, and the Union Light Guard. Lincoln's son, Robert, appeared with unnamed members of the family. With the casket placed on the catafalque, Phineas Gurley proceeded with the burial service: "It is appointed unto men once to die. e dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit to God who gave it. All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass; the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away." 37 In contrast to the White House funeral, the New York Herald reporter opined, this prayer did not mention Lincoln by name, nor the "circumstance of his death, the condition of the coun- try or any other allusion appropriate to the occasion." In fact, "if the honored dead has been the most humble individual, who had died unnoticed and unknown of some ordinary disease, Dr. Gurley could have said no less." "Perhaps we are all alike when we are dead," the reporter concluded, but his sentiments suggested otherwise. 38 e Daily Tribune reporter provided a more positive response; Dr. Gurley consigned the "dead ashes once animated by the soul of Abraham Lincoln to their original dust. e deep tones of his voice reverberated from the vast walls and ceiling of the rotunda . . . and during the impressive scene many were affected by tears." 39 Fig. 6. e simple wood catafalque constructed in 1865 to support Lincoln's casket while the President's body lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda is kept in a special display area in the Capitol Visitor Center. Although the cloth covering the catafalque has been replaced several times, the style of the drapery is similar to that used in 1865.

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