Did Robert Lincoln Ride the Funeral Train to Baltimore?

[RJNorton]

There is a conflict in sources on this. I am curious if anyone has ever come across whether or not Robert rode the funeral train to Baltimore and then returned to Washington in a source other than what I will mention here.

In Scott Trostel's The Lincoln Funeral Train the author writes, "Captain Robert Lincoln, and family friends escorted the remains to the depot, and witnessed their loading on the train. Then he returned to the White House to tend to his grieving mother. He did not leave Washington for the Springfield burial until the afternoon of May 1, 1865."

In The Farewell to Lincoln by Victor Searcher the author writes, "Aboard the cars were seven who had accompanied the President-elect from Springfield. One was the lost son. Wife Mary and young Tad had been with him then but could not undergo the rigors of this return. Only Robert of the immediate family could make it and the strain had him hollow-eyed and drawn-looking. He came just before departure and was seated in the last car alongside his friends, the two private secretaries. Nicolay and Hay both had made the inaugural journey but now would proceed only to Baltimore from where they would return to Washington, and, with Robert, help clear the way for the incoming executive. Judge David Davis would return with them."

In his Robert Lincoln bio Jason Emerson agrees with Scott Trostel. However, in Abraham Lincoln: From Skeptic to Prophet, Dr. Wayne C. Temple agrees with Victor Searcher. Jason Emerson cites a letter Robert wrote in 1900 while Wayne C. Temple cites a Washington Daily National Intelligencer article of April 22, 1865.

Scott lists Victor Searcher's book in his bibliographic resources but apparently didn't agree with Searcher's statement about Robert. I am also going to write Scott and see what he might think about this conflict of whether or not Robert rode the train to Baltimore.