The tragical procession

[L Verge]

From the Abraham Lincoln Classroom online: (Note that I have capitalized "hearse" twice and "carriage" once in the text related to moving the body from Petersen's to the White House.)

Abraham Lincoln died from his wounds at 7:22 P.M. on Saturday, April 15, 1865. Teenager Henry B. Stanton, who had frequently visited the President with his father, made his way to the Petersen House before the body of Abraham Lincoln was removed to the Executive Mansion. “I stood very close to those steps until finally there came out that little band of mourners and gently placed the body of the murdered President in the hearse.” There were few other people around so Stanton was able to follow the HEARSE. “At the east gate of the White House, there were soldiers and no one was admitted to the grounds. I had gone a little ahead and stood on the pavement close to the gate. This absence of a great crowd on such an occasion was not due to any want of interest or sympathy, but was rather caused, as it seemed to me, by the terrible shock that had passed over the city, and because every one was so depressed that few had the desire to rush forward to form or join a crowd.”1

“Instantly flags were raised at half-mast all over the city, the bells tolled solemnly, and with incredible swiftness Washington went into deep, universal mourning,” wrote journalist Noah Brooks. “All shops, government departments, and private offices were closed, and everywhere, on the most pretentious residences and on the humblest hovels, were the black badges of grief. Nature seemed to sympathize in the general lamentation, and tears of rain fell from the moist and somber sky. The wind sighed mournfully through the streets crowded with sad-faced people, and broad folds of funeral drapery flapped heavily in the wind over the decorations of the day before. Wandering aimless up F street toward Ford’s Theatre, we met a tragical procession. 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. As the little cortege passed down the street to the White House, every head was uncovered, and the profound silence which prevailed was broken only by sobs and by the sound of the measured tread of those who bore the martyred President back to the home which he had so lately quitted full of life, hope, and cheer.”2

As young Stanton stood by the gate, he observed an elderly black woman still wearing “her large blue-and-white kitchen apron…come running across the street. She passed in front of the HEARSE and had no difficulty in taking her place beside me within two feet of where it would pass.” As the CARRIAGE passed by she “gathered her big apron over her face and sobbed aloud. Then there seemed to come to her soul a great light and a great courage. She dropped her apron and said in a firm though broken voice: ‘They needn’t to crow yet. God ain’t dead!”3

This section describes the official hearse used in the transport from White House to Capitol:

The funeral car 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.