Burying Abraham Lincoln
Finding the President’s Final Resting Place Sparked a Controversy in
© Jim Rada
Aug 21, 2008
Abraham Lincoln died at 7:22 a.m. on April 15, 1865, felled by an assassins bullet to the back of his head. Upon his death Secretary of War Edwin Stanton said, “Now he belongs to the ages.”
However, before that could truly happen, the President needed to be laid to rest.
Lincoln’s Body Returns To Illinois
Following the autopsy, Lincoln’s body was embalmed and dressed for his funeral, which was still a long time away. Officials held a viewing and funeral service in Washington and then Lincoln’s coffin was loaded onto a funeral train that crept across the country back toward the President’s home state of Illinois.
Arguing About a Burial Site
Once back in Illinois, the question arose as to whether Lincoln would be buried in Washington D.C., downtown Springfield or Oak Ridge Cemetery outside of Springfield.
“Almost from the moment the president died, members of Congress lobbied for Lincoln to be buried in Washington. They suggested a resting place in the vault directly beneath the Capitol dome that had been built originally for the remains of George Washington,” Thomas Craughwell wrote in Stealing Lincoln’s Body (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007: pg. 20).
Illinois politicians wanted Lincoln’s body to be buried in the capital city of his home state.
A Widow’s Wishes
However, Mary Todd Lincoln, newly widowed, made the decision that her husband would be buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery. Oak Ridge was on 17 landscaped acres north of Springfield. Mrs. Lincoln would say years later that her husband had told her, “Mary, you are younger than I. You will survive me. When I am gone, lay my remains in some quiet place like this.” (Isaac N. Arnold, The Life of Abraham Lincoln, Chicago, Ill.: A.C. McClurg, 1893, pg. 435)
Thirteen prominent citizens of the town were appointed to form the National Lincoln Monument Association. They selected a burial site and began construction of a tomb that they believed would be worthy of Lincoln. In doing so, they ignored Mrs. Lincoln’s wishes altogether.
“Back in Washington, word of the change of plans roused Mary from her grief. Furious that her neighbors had failed to respect her rights as the widow, she asked Secretary of War Stanton to send a telegram to the Monument Association insisting that Lincoln’s body be interred at Oak Ridge,” Craughwell wrote (Stealing Lincoln’s Body, pg. 25).
The committee complied. On May 4, procession carried the Presidents remains to a temporary tomb in the cemetery.
Surrendering to Lincoln’s Wishes
The members of the committee hadn’t given up hope that Lincoln could be reinterred in Springfield.
Mrs. Lincoln found out about the plan and tried to warn them off with a letter from a friend of her husband. She followed that letter with one to the governor saying that if efforts continued to try and bury Lincoln in Springfield, she would have his remains relocated to Washington under the Capital dome. (Mary Todd Lincoln Letters, Letter to Governor Richard J. Oglesby, June 5, 1865, Collection of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, Illinois).
When the Governor Richard Oglesby traveled to Chicago to try and persuade Mrs. Lincoln to allow the body to be placed in Springfield, he was met at the station by Robert Lincoln who gave the governor a letter from his mother reaffirming her position.
Oglesby relented and issued a statement on June 15 that the president’s grave would be at Oak Ridge Cemetery.
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