: artifactwes there at the library and in springfield or is it spread throughout the country?ion >> well, there are many artifacts here. there's a huge kwex of documentsrs. related to lincoln's life particularly his prepresidential i spe life. this is a mecca for all lincoln scholars. i spent many many summers here.the it's an invaluable collection of documents and newspapers and archiveal term. the library of congress has a huge collection. and there's a project underway now being carried out in springfield to collect all the documents that were addressed to president lincoln in addition to the ones that are in his papers here and in washington. the and many of those wound up in the nationalco archives and they're cubic acres of papers. the crew based here in

springfield has been poring through those archives looking ents for new documents. they found some remarkable documents not only to lincoln but new and important documents by lincoln. >> oak ridge cemetery is the lino location whereis p the university oflled "ab illinois professor michael burlingame has joined us. his book is called "abraham e to lincoln: a life."t. it's about 2,000 pages. >> be sure to buy it. you don't have to read it. but be sure to buy it. >> thanks for being with us here on american history tv. >> thank you very much. with live coverage of the u.s. house on cspan and the senate here on cspan 3 we compliment that coverage. and then on weekends cspan3 is the home to american history tv with programs that tell our nation's story. including the civil war's 150th

anniversary. american artifacts touring museums and historic sites to discover what artifacts reveal about america's past. history bookshelf. the presidency. lectures in history, with top college professors devilling into america's past. and our new series "real america" featuring educational films from the 1930s through the '70s.ng cspan3. watch us in hd, like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. may 4th marked the 150th anniversary of president abraham lincoln's funeral in springfield, illinois. america coming up on american history c-span tv a procession and ceremony reenactment in oak ridge cemetery. the site of lincoln's resting place. first, we'll take you to in springfield's train station where lincoln's funeral train

arrived on may 3rd 1865.even-sta we'll learn aboutte the cross-country trip and the stopsg the it made along the way. this is 15 minutes. we're here at the train station in springfield, illinois where the trains run from -- to chicago, originally from dhaug to st. louis through ns tha springfield. trains that frequently were used by lincoln as he grew his practice in chicago illinois. for political appearances in s chicago. springfield was his hometown. ca he came here in 1837. he was in new salem, a little ide of village outside of springfield.d and he was -- tried a bunch of professions. he was is surveyor storekeeper, finally he decided to become a lawyer and he came into his

springfield to practice law. he spent his entire career as a spri lawyer in springfield. this was the state capitol . because of lincoln he got the state capitol moved to pica springfield. and then typical of lincoln, he to gets the state capitol moved to where he's going to practice law which didn't hurt his law practice at all. that's why springfield was so special to him. this is also the place to which his body came back after the assassination on the 14th of april, 1865. as you know, john wilkes booth shot him at 10:30. he lived until 7:22 the next morning when he passed. edwin stanton, the secretary of war who was there, uttered the belon words, now hegs belongs to the ages. w thisas was a national event of firs great horror. the first president assassinated. this came on the heels of the

triumph of the war and people just just could not adjust from the of ecstasy of victory to the horror of this assassination. he laid in state in washington until april 21st. and then the long journey home began. the journey retraced the steps that he -- or the stops that he had made on his way out from springfield for his inaugurationour year some four years earlier. so the first stop was baltimore. when he he came out, he had to n sneak through there in disguise di to avoid possible assassination. his son robert was on the train.s best f his best friend from ju bloomington, illinois the judge that he practiced before, david davis who he put on the supreme court. was he also was on the train. one one of the really poignant s

things his beloved son willie had died in 1862 and temporarily buried or held in d.c. until the return to springfield. so lincoln's body was not the only body o n that train.13-ye willie his 13-year-old son's body was also on the train. mary stayed behind. she was in such an emotional state that they didn't feel she could travel.rt, hi robert his oldest son was on the train.d and he rode as far as baltimore with davis. john and john hay, his two secretaries who were almost likes two sons to him they got off and returned to washington. the the train then retraced the steps. it went to philadelphia. first to harrisburg, pennsylvania. the state capital.tops all of these were stops on the way out.he then to philadelphia. when one of the ironies, when he was in philadelphia on the way out

which would be four years and two months to the day, he went to independence hall and he said that he was there -- he was coming to defend the principle cipl that alle men are created equal. pri he said if that principle cannot cann be saved but has to be surrendered, i would rather be assassinated than see it ind surrendered. there he was back in lyin independence hall his body lying in state under the shadow of the liberty bell. from there, they went to -- through new jersey. didn't stop in new jersey. they went -- i won't keep epeati repeating thisng but there were f hundreds of thousands of people that saw these processions. they'd take him off the train, his body and take it to like lined independence hall. hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets. then in new york, that was the largest procession. the the procession alone with the oing t

casket going to city hall was 60,000 people in the procession. 750,000 viewed him as he -- as from he took that trip from the train station. interesting enough there was no underst bridge across the hudson river, n so the train car had to be taken across on a ferry across to new york. from new york up the hudson to river to albany, the state capital where he'd stopped before. then in a scene that just is overwhelming almost to satisfy the grief of this nation, it was a cold rainy time.and and thousandsthou -- they don't have no idea how many people lined the tracks from albany to ed buffalo because it traveled all was a night. and there were thousands of thous people witanh bonfires lining the tracks to mourn this loss. it got to buffalo. from there, he went to cleveland

or erie pennsylvania, then to cleld cleveland. people -- thousands of people ple pa passing by the casket at every e one of these stops.st all the towns were draped in black. it it was just an amazing scene. from there to columbus, ohio. s where he laid in state in the pita state capitol.re to from there to indianapolis. to that point, that duplicated and reversed the trip that lincoln took out in the first the fi place. but when hers went to be innaug rated in '61.up from there, went up to chicago, because that was by now a large city and he laid in state in chicago for three days until he he left at that point to head back down through illinois. in illinois, he -- this was all night too. l thefe train left at 9:00 evening.evenin

it was supposed to leave at 9:00.10:0 it left about 10:00. all these towns had thousands of bo people with bonfires as the rough trainil passed through illinois, his home state, of course. joel yet was 15,000 people in joel yet and all these towns were draped in black. they had portraits of lincoln. the train itself had a portrait o of him on the front.o from joliet on down, they came to the town where i live in rth bloomington, having gone through the town of north blood work lton first which is now normal illinois. that's where it started.ches o the people would put arches over the tracks and the train would pass under these arches.said it said go to thigh rest was on that arch that they built. bloomington did nothing. the town was 8,000 people.

there were 5,000 people at the tracks as it went past on town to -- through what is our county mcclain county.unty and then to the town of lincoln named for him in 1853.sands thousands of people there. another, malice toward none and an charity for all was on an arch ere. across the tracks. there would be choirs singing. sin it got to little town of elkhart illinois. they put up an arch. ours the crown, thine the cross. it elkhart, it stopped there.e trip. he had friends there in elkhart. he'd stayed the night in elkhart when he was riding the circuit it as a lawyer. and from there to springfield. sprin it got to springfield maybe 9:00 ne in the morning where he laid in state until the next day.

that trip was on may the 3rd, by the way. and it just -- it was amazingly moving thing. on the 15th of april, robert todd lincoln telegraphed davis and said get out here to handle hand my father's affairs. davis by then on the supreme us court but he was home in bloomington. davis rushed to washington to help robert. now here we are on may the 1st when the train gets to michigan city, indiana coming up from get indianapolis. davis went up there to getth on the train.lincol robert todd lincoln had heard -- r he had heard that robert todd the lincoln was not coming to the better funeral. davis wrote him you will regret it the rest of your life. so lincoln got here the afternoon of the funeral on may 3rd, the day before the funeral. 3rd so robert todd lincoln.

so he was here for the funeral. it it was just an immensely sad bu thingt nationwide. but the people in illinois partic particularly, i know in bloomington where i live, the bloomi newspaper --ng he had spent so much time in blood work l ton -- he spent more time there than anywhere other than springfield. our newspaper said this is not just the president this is not ader o just the leader of our nation. an this is a friend and neighbor of ours that we have lost. we all feel this in such a nd personal way. that was true up and down the track tracks. just a tremendous personal loss to the to the people of illinois s because he was so popular and spent so much time in all the towns of the circuit. it's called the land of lincoln. the state, that's our motto. and like so many things that we do -- we say about lincoln, t they're always true. they're too good to be true, butl they are.in

lincoln because he was a circuit lawyer and practiced not just in springfield, but in the 14 he was don'ts around illinois, he was gone half the year. of so he was a resident of all s these towns. so he really was a citizen of and illinois. and i want to just mention one thing about the funeral because ause we can't quite understand -- rn muc we've seen so darn much tragedy and we're used to almost ns, assassinations unfortunately. but this man was so -- so loved by the people of the country f because of seeing this through this war that the loss of him under these conditions create add national sense of mourning. and remember, the civil war, f thou hundreds osaf thousands died in that war.in and in far away places. t so many of the people of this country, did not have the right -- the ability or the opportunity to mourn their own children that they'd lost their

loved ones. so the lincoln funeral became a th funeral for all the martyrs of made the war. that's what made it such an incredible event. the lincoln's resting place -- that. there was controversy about the pe that. the peopleopngfi in springfield wanted t tohe build a monument in the an middle of downtown and have that have th be lincoln's tomb. that's where mary lincoln stood up and said, no no no you do and that and i'm talking him to goin chicago and i'gm going to bury him in chicago.and so and so the city backed off. and at the time, oak ridge ceme cemetery was way out in the country. this beautiful wooded setting. that's where they picked.nd tha and that was fine with her. so that's what i he was buried there. lincoln college in lincoln, li illinois, came across a letter written by a 15-year-old girl to her brother. she she was 15. she lived in the town of atlanta. the beauty of atlanta when this train came through, here he is airies

riding through the prairies, the sun rose as the train got to atlanta. this little girl was there.l i just would take the liberty of reading this letter because it speaks for all the million -- literally millions t -- certainly his hundreds of thousands that saw ain. this train. as she said, as the train came to nta, atlanta, illinois, the church s bells tolled, the muffled drums played, and everything seemed to say, come and mourn with me. even the angels in heaven must surely shed tears of grief when they look down and see the a terrible agony of this nation. when the train came up, then oh, then how our heart did ache, and lincoln's likeness on the front of the train as if he were there. words fail me when i undertake to describe the mournful scene and the anguish of our