With the ceremony and pomp befitting a deceased head of state, the coffin carrying Springfield's beloved Abraham Lincoln was carried off his funeral car, the United States, placed in an elaborate ostrich-plumed hearse and transported to 2015, where another ceremony awaited it.
The ceremony at Sixth and Washington streets was the opening of the 2015 Lincoln Funeral Re-enactment and featured much protocol and many presentations and speeches. It was watched by a healthy crowd, but a smaller one than the several thousand who packed the areas and streets around the Amtrak station to see the coffin transferred to the hearse.
Eight-year-old Riley Schutt and her grandfather, John Harney, of Curran were at the Amtrak station by 8 a.m.
"Since she was 5, she's been infatuated with Abraham Lincoln," Harney said of his granddaughter. "I take her to the presidential museum two or three times a year."
"She knows his horse's name, his dog's name," Harney said of Riley, who was wearing a stovepipe hat. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
People watched the ceremony from three levels of the parking garage across Washington Street from the station and from windows of the St. Nicholas Apartments across the way. They spilled out of the Amtrak apron down Washington and Jefferson streets.
The transfer itself survived the passing of a six-engine freight train and a problem with the replica coffin that was easily solved by a little sleight of hand.
The transfer by honor guard took place about 9:45 a.m., and the procession left down Jefferson Street to the stage at Sixth and Washington at just about 10.
The coffin carried off the funeral car was actually one built by the Chicago-area Lincoln Funeral Train Coalition to be displayed inside the car.
The real replicated coffin was brought alongside the back side of the funeral car by Mark Staab of Staab Funeral Home, and re-enactors transferred to it the United States flag that covered the one brought off the train.
The problem arose when the stand the coffin was on wouldn't fit through the door of the funeral car.
"We're saying it's like having two Air Force Ones," Staab said. "So no one knows which one the president is in."
The hearse, commissioned by the Staab family, was pulled by six black-plumed horses up Sixth Street to the stage, where the coffin was unloaded for the opening ceremony. The hearse was followed by several regiments of Union Army re-enactors, derbied and top-hatted men, and a sea of parasols and sunbonnets worn by civilian women re-enactors.
Gifts of gratitude
Opening ceremonies featured a keynote speech by Michael Burlingame, noted Lincoln expert and author and the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield.
Gov. Bruce Rauner also spoke and was kept busy by 2015 Lincoln Funeral Coalition co-chairman Katie Spindell, either receiving or receiving and passing on gifts with several dignitaries.
Rauner was presented with a 10-euro silver proof coin minted by the Republic of San Marino by Ambassador Paolo Rondelli, the small country's ambassador to the U.S. The United States recognized San Marino as a country when President Lincoln, in a letter dated May 7, 1861, accepted San Marino's offer of honorary citizenship.
Rauner received a 36-star flag, a replica of the original that draped Lincoln's coffin made by Annin Flagmakers of New Jersey. But he in turn presented it to Maj. Gen. Daniel Krumrei, adjutant general of the Illinois National Guard. The Guard is a successor to the Illinois Militia, in which Lincoln served during the Black Hawk War in 1832.
When Krumrei accepted the flag to honor veterans, the assembled Civil War re-enactors let out three hearty "huzzahs."
Designer, illustrator, and stamp and coin artist Joel Iskowitz presented Rauner with a coin design featuring both Lincoln and President Barack Obama, and he gave a print featuring the two presidents, the hearse and the Illinois Capitol to Rondelli.
Burlingame's speech centered on abolitionist Frederick Douglass' views on his friend Lincoln and how Douglass' speeches show that he eventually came to the conclusion that Lincoln despised slavery.
In a speech given on April 11, 1865, only three days before he was shot, Lincoln called for voting rights for blacks who had served in the Union Army and who were "highly intelligent," which historians take to mean those who were literate.
Douglass was at first dismayed by the narrow approach to black suffrage taken by Lincoln, but he later said it was a rail-splitter's approach — start with a thin wedge, then later drive it home with a maul.
Krumrei talked about Lincoln's service in the Black Hawk War, where he learned his first lessons on the real life of soldiers and understood the death of soldiers and its effect on their families.
Gold Star Families who have lost loved ones in military service then were honored.
'Came for the history'
Arthur Cole of St. Louis came to Saturday's activities with his wife, Verletta, and their daughter Angelique.
He said the morning's events were about what he expected.
"It was great," he said. "We've been here several times before, but this was the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's funeral, and it won't happen for a little while again."
"We came for the history part of it, and we loved all the uniforms and costumes," Verletta Cole added.
Michael Lochhead came with some friends to Springfield from Chester on their motorcycles to watch the ceremonies.
"It was fascinating," he said. "We've got a whole itinerary of things to do here. The ceremony was fascinating."
Ken Franz is a "train nut," and Larry Goark is a "Lincoln nut." They're both from Chicago and found common ground in the funeral car and the other parts of Saturday's events.
"They did a great job on the presentations," Goark said.
