Interesting Relic

[Finnigan]

Does anyone have a definite answer - was Abraham Lincoln buried with a flag inside the coffin?

I wrote on my Lincoln's Tomb FAQ that the remains were dressed in a suit with a flag draped over the hands.

I didn't put any sources for the FAQ since it wasn't intended for academic audiences. But I didn't dream up the answers, either. I'll look it up this evening in my Tomb files.

A piece of uniform found beneath a skeleton in 1859 was placed in Abraham Lincoln’s coffin by a dignitary.

I never heard of this, but then again, I'm less interested in the funeral and more interested in the events that happened after Mr. Lincoln's return to Springfield in May 1865. I will look into this too. I will remark that the remains changed coffins several times.

Also I see, according to the excerpt on the Wikipedia article, that the New York Herald article doesn't definitely say that these relics were placed in the coffin, only that they were "presented to Gen. Dix, with a view of their being interred in the coffin."