Notes compiled by Scott D. Trostel, and held by the Clark County Historical Society, say Lincoln’s funeral train had come through Cleveland, then Lincoln’s body laid in state at the Ohio Statehouse building April 28. Trostel’s notes say the train started west that evening, making stop after stop for local memorials.
On April 29, Trostel’s notes mention a brief stop in Woodstock. Then, according to historical markers in Champaign County, the nine-car Lincoln funeral train got to the village of Cable at 10:13 p.m.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
“As a large crowd assembled around several large bonfires, a lone soldier stood alone in the rain in the center of the crowd holding an American flag,” reads the Ohio Historical Marker along the north edge of Cable, near the Wayne Twp. trustees office. “Many residents stood silently along the tracks, hillsides, and valley fields, soaked in their wet clothes waiting to pay their respects to the fallen president.”
After Cable, the funeral train continued west toward Urbana. U.S. military forces were securing curves, bridges, and railroad crossings along the route to ensure the train’s safety.
According to a second marker on the Simon Kenton Trail in Urbana, the train arrived in Urbana to a large crowd at 10:40 p.m. Urbana’s citizens had erected an arch of evergreens and flowers near the station west of Main Street, but the arch had to be removed, because it was too narrow to allow the train’s passage. Other memorial gestures included a large cross, entwined with evergreen wreaths.
The historical marker, just southwest of Main and Fyffe, shows the train made repeated stops like the one in Urbana. Trostel’s notes suggest 3,000 people came out at Urbana to pay their respects.
"The cross was mounted on the station platform under the direction of the president of Ladies Soldiers Aid Society, Mrs. Milo G. Williams. Forty citizens from different churches sang “Go to Thy Rest.” Ten young ladies entered the funeral car and strewed flowers on Lincoln’s coffin."
The train hit St. Paris for another stop at 11:24 p.m. according to Trostel’s notes. Then it left Champaign County, made a stop in Piqua, and continued its journey west, reaching Springfield, Illinois four days later. The president’s funeral there was May 4.
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