Interesting Facts

Interesting Facts about the Lincoln Funeral Train Through Pennsylvania

-Pittsburgh was on the original route plan as another city on the itinerary; it was eliminated because of the inconvenience it created in getting to New York.

-The railroads used in Pennsylvania were the Northern Central Railway, the Cumberland Valley Railroad, the Philadelphia, Wilmington, & Baltimore Railroad, and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Also used were the Junction Railroad, Philadelphia street railways, Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, and the Philadelphia & Trenton Railroad.

-Media coverage came from the following Pennsylvania newspapers: The Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, the Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, the [Pennsylvania] Press, the Philadelphia Gazette, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Harrisburg Patriot and Sun, the Erie Observer, and the Erie Daily Dispatch.

-Accommodations for the funeral escorts in Pennsylvania were the Jones House and Buchler House in Harrisburg, as well as the Continental Hotel in Philadelphia.

-Pennsylvania was the only state to be visited twice by the funeral train.

-Four of the Veterans Reserve Corps men who monitored the train were Pennsylvanians.

-Philadelphia's City Hall back in 1865 is Independence Hall today.

-Approximately 128,640 viewers passed through Philadelphia's City Hall over the course of 20 hours to view Lincoln's body. Every five minutes, 268 people passed. Every minute, just about 54.

-There were twelve different funeral services for Lincoln within seventeen hundred miles