CONTACT: Joseph Garrera
Executive Director
(610) 435-1074, Ext. 19
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President Abraham Lincoln's Horse-Drawn Funeral to be Authentically Commemorated in Allentown, Pennsylvania On 142nd Anniversary of his Death

Allentown, PA -- April 10, 2007 -- The American public is invited to experience and participate in the thrill of history in Allentown, Pennsylvania with an authentic commemoration of President Abraham Lincoln’s historic funeral, which will occur at 1:00 p.m. on April 15th, the 142nd anniversary of Lincoln’s death in 1865.  The announcement was made by Joseph Garrera, Executive Director of the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum, the organization sponsoring the event.

The historical commemoration includes a horse-drawn vintage funeral hearse.  The hearse will be pulled by a team of jet black horses.  An authentic replica of President Lincoln’s funeral coffin is being provided by the Batesville Casket Company of Batesville, Indiana, the company that constructed the original Lincoln burial coffin in 1865.

The Lincoln Funeral Car that transported Abraham Lincoln’s body back to Illinois.  Pictured here in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on April 21, 1865.

 

President Lincoln’s official state funeral did not pass through Allentown, but Allentown officials did convene their own citywide funeral for Lincoln in April of 1865.  “The funeral train that escorted the martyred president back to Illinois for burial made two historic stops for state funeral ceremonies in Pennsylvania,” said Garrera.

The first official Pennsylvania funeral occurred at the State Capitol in Harrisburg on April 21, 1865, where Lincoln’s body was viewed by tens of thousands of mourners as he lay in State at the House of Representatives.  Departing Harrisburg, the Lincoln funeral train traveled to Philadelphia.  Near Lancaster crowds along the tracks were reported to exceed twenty thousand spectators.  As the train approached Philadelphia, tens of thousands of mourners lined the tracks for several miles.  It was an event that remains unequaled in American history.

On April 22, 1865 Lincoln’s body arrived in Philadelphia, then the second largest city in America.  Newspapers reported crowds as large as half a million turned out to see the funeral cortege.  Lincoln’s body was laid out next to the Liberty Bell where four years and two months earlier he had stated he would rather be assassinated on the spot than surrender the principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence.  It is estimated that one million people viewed President Lincoln’s body from the time of his death on April 15, 1865 until his burial twenty days later on May 4. 

The Allentown Historical Commemoration Ceremony is the first of its kind ever to occur in the Eastern United States.  This major commemoration includes a life-size replica of the coffin in which President Abraham Lincoln is buried.  President Lincoln’s coffin was the most elaborate of that time.  It was constructed of solid walnut.  Measuring 6 feet, 6 inches long, the coffin was decorated with sterling silver handles. 

Beginning at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 15, the cortege will depart the J.S. Burkholder Funeral Home at 16th and Hamilton Streets.  The procession will transport the Lincoln coffin down Hamilton Street in a vintage horse-drawn hearse provided by Joe and Barbara Tetz of New Tripoli, Pennsylvania.  The hearse will be escorted by official pall-bearers traveling in a period coach accompanied by a Civil War Honor Guard including members of the Mifflin Guard, 33rd New Jersey Zouaves, the 88th Pennsylvania Volunteers and the 27th New Jersey Regiment of Volunteer Infantry.  As was done during the funeral of April 1865, the general public is invited to walk behind the procession on foot as it travels through the streets.  At 1:15 p.m., halfway to the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum, all the church bells in Allentown will begin ringing as a show of respect and remembrance for President Lincoln’s place in history and his unwavering reliance on God to guide him through the unprecedented death and destruction of the Civil War. 

The ceremony is a major historical commemoration that, according to Museum Director Joseph Garrera, is a “once in a lifetime event.”  Upon arrival at the Museum at 1:30 p.m., an official dedication ceremony will occur, where the Lincoln funeral coffin will lie in state on public exhibit for twenty days in a setting similar to that of 1865.

On February 19, the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum opened a national exhibit dedicated to Abraham Lincoln’s life.  The exhibit will run until September 30 and has attracted widespread interest.  Since its opening, more than 5,000 visitors have seen the exhibit, which is titled Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America.

The Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum is located at 432 W. Walnut Street in Allentown.  For more information, contact Joseph Garrera at 610-435-1074, Ext. 19.

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