Transport to White House

[L Verge]

I know that somewhere on this forum (over the past 3-4 months) there has been some discussion as to how Lincoln's body was transported from the Petersen House to the White House on April 15, but I sure can't find those postings.

That said, my aide at Surratt House, Joan Chaconas, returned from the Lincoln Forum and Gettysburg and told me that the new Gettysburg Heritage Center that is being created in what used to be the wax museum has "the original hearse that carried Lincoln's body to the White House." It is on loan to the museum for two years she said. The museum is still a work in process, so she had a difficult time getting close to the hearse and reading the text panel.

From what she could gather, the hearse spent many years stored in a chicken coop somewhere, but was in good shape when finally rescued. There is a photo of it on the Gettysburg Heritage Center website, but I could not find the provenance on it anywhere. She doesn't know who owns it now, where it resides normally, whether it will go to another museum, etc.

Did anyone else visit this new museum while in Gettysburg?

[Eva Elisabeth]

(11-26-2014 08:50 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I know that somewhere on this forum (over the past 3-4 months) there has been some discussion as to how Lincoln's body was transported from the Petersen House to the White House on April 15, but I sure can't find those postings.

Do you mean this? http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...-2026.html

[STS Lincolnite]

I would find it more likely that the hearse would have been used to transport Lincoln FROM the White House for his DC funeral and then to the train station.

I was going to stop in there while in Gettysburg for the Lincoln Forum Symposium but didn't have time.

[Anita]

Laurie, could this be the same hearse? This article claims that the hearse that took Lincoln from the Petersen house on April 15 and to the train station on April 17, 1865 are one and the same.

"Jerry Sibert found the hearse on a Chambersburg, Pa., area farm in 1990 and bought it for $2,700. One of his first tasks was to clean thick bird droppings off the roof.

Allebaugh contacted Sibert and discouraged him from doing anything with the hearse until it was researched, Sibert said.

In his findings, Allebaugh wrote that on April 15, 1865, the hearse - termed Compound Unit No. 1 - carried Lincoln from the Peterson House to the White House. The coffin was wrapped in a flag and escorted by military personnel, he wrote.

The coffin was loaded back onto the hearse April 17 and taken to the train station, according to Allebaugh's writings. The train took Lincoln to be buried in Springfield, Ill.

A Washington, D.C., mortuary bought the hearse in the late 1860s, Allebaugh reported. He said the hearse, reportedly made by William J. Tickner & Sons Carriage Co. of Baltimore, changed ownership several times in Pennsylvania."

See complete article http://articles.herald-mail.com/2007-01-...al-library

[loetar44]

Thank you Laurie and Anita for this info. Is this the hearse about you are speaking?

   

[L Verge]

I'vew seen dark photos taken from a different angle, but I believe it is the same vehicle.

[loetar44]

(11-30-2014 04:28 PM)Anita Wrote:  Laurie, could this be the same hearse? This article claims that the hearse that took Lincoln from the Petersen house on April 15 and to the train station on April 17, 1865 are one and the same.

"Jerry Sibert found the hearse on a Chambersburg, Pa., area farm in 1990 and bought it for $2,700. One of his first tasks was to clean thick bird droppings off the roof.

Allebaugh contacted Sibert and discouraged him from doing anything with the hearse until it was researched, Sibert said.

In his findings, Allebaugh wrote that on April 15, 1865, the hearse - termed Compound Unit No. 1 - carried Lincoln from the Peterson House to the White House. The coffin was wrapped in a flag and escorted by military personnel, he wrote.

The coffin was loaded back onto the hearse April 17 and taken to the train station, according to Allebaugh's writings. The train took Lincoln to be buried in Springfield, Ill.

A Washington, D.C., mortuary bought the hearse in the late 1860s, Allebaugh reported. He said the hearse, reportedly made by William J. Tickner & Sons Carriage Co. of Baltimore, changed ownership several times in Pennsylvania."

See complete article http://articles.herald-mail.com/2007-01-...al-library

How reliable is this all? The article says: ´ The coffin was loaded back onto the hearse April 17 and taken to the train station, according to Allebaugh's writings. The train took Lincoln to be buried in Springfield, Ill.”

However until April 18 President Lincoln lay in state in the East Room and on April 19 his body was brought to the Capitol Rotunda in an impressive procession. The funeral car then was large. The lower base was fourteen feet long and seven feet wide, and eight feet from the ground. The upper base, upon which the coffin rested, was eleven feet long and five feet below the top of the canopy. The canopy was surmounted by a gilt eagle, covered with crape. The hearse was entirely covered with cloth, velvet, crape and alpaca. The seat was covered with cloth, and on each side was a splendid lamp. The car was fifteen feet high, and the coffin was so placed as to afford a full view to all spectators. It was drawn by six gray horses, each attended by a groom (source New York Times).

Here are two images:
       

Maybe "Allebaugh's hearse" was used in the morning of April 21 when the body was taken from the Capitol Rotunda to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Depot in Washington, D.C.

And in reference to 15 april (Petersen's House --> White House) we still have the account of Noah Brooks: "..... It was headed by a group of army officers walking bareheaded, and behind them carried tenderly by a company of soldiers was the bier of the dead President, covered with the flag of the Union, and accompanied by an escort of soldiers who had been on duty at the house where Lincoln died. "

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(12-01-2014 03:29 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I'vew seen dark photos taken from a different angle, but I believe it is the same vehicle.

I grabbed the image from the Gettysburg Heritage Center facebook site; it had the following caption "President Lincoln's hearse"

Here is another picture:

   

[Anita]

Kees, you asked how credible are the facts presented in this article ( http://articles.herald-mail.com/2007-01-...al-library). I wondered the same thing myself! What do we know about historian Allebaugh and his research? Hopefully his documentation records exist. A lot of money and historical credibility are at stake if it's the hearse that will be in the Gettysburg Heritage Center museum or any museum for that matter. The black and gold hearse posted by you and Laurie could be the one the article describes.

I will try to see if I can find out more. It is puzzling.

[loetar44]

(12-01-2014 05:18 PM)Anita Wrote:  Kees, you asked how credible are the facts presented in this article ( http://articles.herald-mail.com/2007-01-...al-library). I wondered the same thing myself! What do we know about historian Allebaugh and his research? Hopefully his documentation records exist. A lot of money and historical credibility are at stake if it's the hearse that will be in the Gettysburg Heritage Center museum or any museum for that matter. The black and gold hearse posted by you and Laurie could be the one the article describes.

I will try to see if I can find out more. It is puzzling.

Thanks Anita, it's all very confusing to me. The Tallahassee Automobile Museum has Abraham Lincoln's horse-drawn hearse on display too, without telling when and were it was used ....

   

[Anita]

Kees and Laurie, here are photos of Sibert with the restored hearse. "Caption: Jerry Sibert recently sold his 1845 hearse that carried President Abraham Lincoln during his 1865 funeral. January Photos 2007 "

   


   


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