Conspirators' bodies

[RJNorton]

I found this information here.

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"Embalming immediately followed the
autopsy. To perform the actual operation,
Stanton called upon the firm of Brown &
Alexander, Embalming Surgeons. They sent
one of their employees, Henry P. Cattell.
Cattell first positioned the body, closed the
eyes, arched the eyebrows, and set the mouth
in a slight smile. He also shaved the face
except for a short tuft at the chin. After
closing the cranial incision, he began the
arterial embalming. Cattell used the femoral
artery (in the thigh) to inject the embalming
fluid. The main preservative chemical in the
solution was zinc chloride, extracted by
dissolving sheets of zinc in hydrochloric
acid. The embalming solution and method
were both of a French nature, adopted by
Brown & Alexander before the war. Lincoln
did not receive any cavity treatment, as it
was not a common practice at the time.
Soon, Lincoln's body hardened to a marble-
like state, ready for the amazing journey in
store for it.

Persistent problems with skin discoloration
around the eyes resulted from the grim
nature of the murder. Due to a phenomena
called transmitted force, the bullet's impact
as it entered the back of the head cracked
both of the skull's orbital plates in the front
bruising the skin. With constant, but simple,
cosmetic attention, the staff of Brown &
Alexander, who traveled with the body, were
able to keep Lincoln in a presentable
viewing condition with the help of local
embalmers and undertakers along the way.
Though often noting these discolorations,
newspaper accounts generally reported
favorably on the president's appearance.

During the journey from Washington, D.C.,
to his final resting place in Springfield,
Illinois, an estimated one million citizens
viewed Lincoln's body as it lay in repose in
twelve cities along the funeral train's route.
Lincoln's dramatic and spectacular funeral
journey introduced embalming to a broad
audience and popularized the procedure.
With so many people viewing first-hand the
benefits of embalming for both funerary and
sanitary purposes, it began to earn a newly
found acceptance. Within the next few
decades, undertakers and families would
adopt embalming on an increasing scale,
until it finally became an established social,
and in some cases religious, custom for
Americans, especially of the Christian faith.