Lincoln’s Funeral Procession Through NYC
Lincoln again passed through New York City in 1861, on his way to Washington DC from Springfield, via train. Lincoln’s final trip through the city was the reverse trip of his pre-inaugural 1861 trip. On April 24, 1865, Lincoln’s funeral procession arrived in New York City. He lay in state in City Hall overnight where over 120,000 people came to view Lincoln’s open casket. One of the people who came to see Lincoln’s body was Jeremiah Gurney, Jr, a New York daguerreotype photographer. Gurney managed to take a photograph of Lincoln laying in state, unfortunately, it was almost immediately confiscated by Edwin Stanton. The photograph had been thought lost to history until 1952 when a copy was discovered at the Illinois State Historical Library.
On the 25th, the casket proceeded up Broadway to 14th Street where a young Teddy Roosevelt watched from his window, across Fifth Avenue, and then up to 34th Street where the Hudson River Railroad transported him to his next destination.