STATEHOUSE CALENDAR

A special commemoration of the death of Abraham Lincoln will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 27. The day will be marked with a Repose of Lincoln re-enactment and a photo exhibit. The event is free and open to the public.

Since April 29, the day Lincoln’s body lay in state at the Ohio Statehouse in 1865, falls on Sunday, the annual event will take place on Friday. 

About the Repose of Lincoln

The 1st Ohio Light Artillery, Battery A, a group of Civil War re-enactors, will provide an honor guard over a representation of Abraham Lincoln’s coffin and catafalque in the Ohio Statehouse Rotunda. A changing of the guard is scheduled to take place every half hour. Members of the 1st Ohio Light Artillery, Battery A will stand guard from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. in the Statehouse Rotunda on the exact spot where 147 years before stood military sentinels of another generation guarding the coffin of assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln died in the early morning hours of Saturday, April 15, 1865 after being shot a day earlier by assassin John Wilkes Booth. During the next 20 days, Lincoln’s body traveled 1,700 miles by train from Washington, D.C. to his burial in Springfield, IL on May 4, 1865. Along the way, state funerals were conducted in 12 major cities of the time. Columbus was the ninth city to host this solemn event.

The doors to the Ohio Statehouse opened on April 29, 1865 shortly after 9 a.m.  A memorial service was held on the east plaza at 3 p.m. By 6 p.m. more than 50,000 people filed through the Statehouse Rotunda to see the President’s coffin. This was the highest attended event in Statehouse history until November 2, 2008 when Presidential candidate, Barack Obama drew 60,000 people to a rally on the Statehouse grounds.

The perimeter of where the coffin was positioned in the Rotunda will be cordoned off as a physical reminder that the President lay-in-state. A mourning wreath of mixed evergreens, magnolia leaves and white roses will be placed at the site. 

Flowers will be placed throughout the Rotunda to add realism to event. The scent of the flowers played an important part on the overall setting and mood on April 29, 1965.

A historic depiction of the setting in the Ohio Statehouse on April 29, 1865 went on to say: “The platform, tastefully carpeted, the rise of each step dressed in black, was ornamented with emblematical flowers and plants in vases so arranged as to present, with their impression of beauty, the sorrow for the dead. At the corners facing the west entrance, were large vases containing beautiful specimens of amaranth, and midway between them a grand central vase glowing with the richness and beauty of the choicest flowers of the season. A similar disposition of vases faced the east entrance, from the corner ones the flowers of the emblematical Justitia, reaching to the height of the dais. Around these large vases, were grouped smaller ones, rising in gradations of beauty with the steps of the platform.” Also, at the foot facing the west entrance was “a graceful swell of a bed of white roses, immortelles and orange blossoms, the pure white relieved only by the deep fresh green of the leaves and spring accompanying [them].”

The Repose of Lincoln is designed to portray the indelible, personal loss experienced on this historic day by the people of Columbus and in the Statehouse. The Repose of Lincoln has been conducted every year on April 29 (held on a Friday if April 29 falls on the weekend) since 2001.

About the Photo Exhibit

A special exhibit of images from the Library of Congress will be on view in the Ohio Statehouse Rotunda on Lincoln’s assassination and the men and women named as conspirators along with their fate.  This exhibit is for mature audiences.

Lincoln-Vicksburg Memorial

Visitors will also have the opportunity to view the Lincoln-Vicksburg Memorial, which is on display in the Rotunda. In addition, viewers may download a free podcast from iTunes to an iPod or other digital device. The podcast uses music and photographs to outline the history of the Lincoln-Vicksburg Memorial. The Memorial was sculpted by T.D. Jones and was the second piece of art commissioned for the Statehouse by the Ohio General Assembly. The Memorial bears one of the only sculptures of Lincoln that was created from a live sitting with the President. Jones, a native of Granville, took temporary residence in Springfield, IL and had the unique opportunity to spend time each day with President-Elect Lincoln from November 1860 to February 11, 1861.