Lincoln Funeral Train

[RJNorton]

Herb, regarding the Rochester stop, author Victor Searcher writes in The Farewell to Lincoln:

"Though the hour was unconscionable and the weather inclement, the Fifty-fourth Infantry regiment, a company of Veteran Reserves, the Union Blues regiment, a battery of the Twenty-fifth Brigade, and several bands were surrounded by a solid sea of citizens."

The phrase "solid sea of citizens" exemplifies what happened all along the route during the nights. I am always amazed at the hordes of people who stood in the rain to watch the train go by late at night and early hours of the morning. For example, officials of Richmond, Indiana, estimated its mourners at 15,000 - a number greater than the city's population - at 3:15 in the morning!