Lincoln’s Legacy: Historic Americana from the Life of Abraham Lincoln

1 p.; 9 3/4 x 7 3/4 in. (247 x 197 mm); mounted to board; creasing from old folds; scattered soiling; with original mailing envelope.

THE WAR DEPARTMENT REQUESTS THE PRESENCE OF THE EMBALMER OF LINCOLN'S BODY ON THE PRESIDENTIAL FUNERAL PROCESSION.

In full: "Sir, The Secretary of War desires that you shall accompany the remains of the late President Lincoln to Springfield, Ills. The train will leave the depot tomorrow morning punctually at eight o'clock, I enclose a programme and time-card for the journey. All necessary arrangements are made for your transportation &c. I am, Sir, Very Respectfully Yr. obdt. svt. E.D. Townsend Assistant Adjutant General".

Edward D. Townsend, the logistical planner of the funeral proceedings, would serve as Adjutant General of the U.S. Army from 1869-1880. In this letter he calls upon Dr. Charles Da Costa Brown (1817-96), the preeminent embalmer of Washington, D.C., who had prepared the body of Lincoln's 11 year old son, Willie, in February 1862 after he died of typhoid fever (see lot 83).

The Presidential Funeral train departed Washington D.C. on April 21, 1865, bound for Springfield, Illinois, passing as many as 30 million mourners across seven states and 400 cities or towns, including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, Columbus, and more. In Springfield on May 4, 1865, after being on display for nearly 24 hours at the State Capitol, Lincoln's body was laid to rest at his family plot in Oak Ridge Cemetery, alongside his father Thomas and son Willie.

Upon seeing Lincoln's body at one stop in the Funeral Procession, war-correspondent George A. "Gath" Townsend (1841-1914) described, "Three years ago, when little Willie Lincoln died, Doctors Brown and Alexander, the embalmers or injectors, prepared his body so handsomely that the President had it twice disinterred to look upon it. The same men, in the same way, have made perpetual those beloved lineaments...All that we see of Abraham Lincoln, so cunningly contemplated in this splendid coffin, is a mere shell, an effigy, a sculpture. He lies in sleep, but it is the sleep of marble." (The Life Crime and Capture of John Wilkes Boothe, p. 140).

[With:] Official black-bordered War Department pass signed by Townsend, inviting Dr. Brown to accompany the remains of the President: "Dr. Chas. Brown & 1 asst. are invited to accompany the remains of the late President, Abraham Lincoln from the City of Washington to Springfield, Illinois..." 3 x 4 1/4 in. (76 x 108 mm).

Provenance:

Previously sold, Sotheby's, 16 December 1992, lot 215

Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California

Exhibition:

The Last Best Hope of Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America, at the Huntington Library, October 1993-August 1994