The Capitol Dome

a visitor, "a sign that the Union would go on." 3 Moreover, the statue's symbolism (the sculptor had referred to it as "Armed Liberty") was apt for a war that had become a crusade to end slavery. e soaring Dome provided a fitting backdrop for an inaugural ceremony that many thought would be a celebra- tion of the Union's divinely ordained victory. e war was all but over. Lee would surrender on April 9 and the surrender of all other Confederate forces would soon follow. Some in the crowd who expected a celebration of victory and a call for pun- ishment of the rebels would be disappointed. Others would be inspired by what historians have called "the greatest of [Lincoln's] oratorical masterpieces." 4 e differences between 1861 and 1865 were obvious to reporters of the New York Herald and the Washington, D.C. Evening Star, who both noted the marked difference in the tone of the two events. "Four years ago," the Evening Star observed, "the preparations were of a far more warlike character." e Herald reported: "On the former occasion the President elect was escorted to the Capitol surrounded by double lines of cav- alry, armed to the teeth, with artillery to the front and rear, and infantry in line. . . . is formidable military array . . . was to suppress a threatened outbreak by malcontents who had entered into an alleged conspiracy to prevent by force, if neces- sary, the inauguration of President Lincoln." In 1865, however, "there was danger nowhere." e inaugural procession to the Capitol was "surrounded by a cordon of enthusiastic people." Soldiers were present, but "not there to put down treachery." Artillery thundered, not as a warning but as an honorary salute. In short, the Herald reporter concluded, "the whole affair demonstrated what the people of the United States can accomplish if the administrators of their government be true to their oaths, firm in the performance of their duty; and self-sac- rificing in the exercise of a pure and lofty spirit of patriotism." 5 e upbeat tone of inaugural day 1865 no doubt owed something to the confident belief that victory and an end to the war were close at hand. It also may have been due in part to security precautions that had been taken prior to March 4. Rumors that "something was up" in the days prior to the inauguration had raised security concerns. Military patrols had been doubled, roads and bridges leading to D.C. had been picketed, and both the military and the police were on the lookout for "suspicious persons." Detectives from New York and Philadelphia accompanied trains headed to the capital, fol- lowing known or suspected pickpockets and "roughs." 6 e inaugural proceedings at the Capitol (fig. 2) began with the procession of the presidential party from the White House to the Capitol. Prior to 1889 the procession was an elaborate affair more like the inaugural parades after the Capitol ceremony that are now the custom. The procession in 1865 included a large detachment of Metropolitan Police, Union cavalry, artillery, U.S. marshals and ceremonial marshals chosen for the occasion, Washington, D.C. and visiting Baltimore officials, THE CAPITOL DOME 12 L IBR ARY OF CONGRE S S PRIN T S AND PHOTO GR APHS DIVISION Fig. 4. African Americans, both soldiers and civilians, attended the second inaugural in unprecedented numbers, as seen in this photograph by Alexander Gardner. Fig. 3. "An Inaugural Poem, Dedicated to Abraham Lin- coln, of Illinois, and Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee." is broadside was printed by a press carried on a wagon in the presidential procession on March 4, 1865. ROBERT TODD L INCOL N PAPER S, L IBR ARY OF CONGRE S S MANUS CRIP T DIVISION

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