City Mourns

Jubilation over the surrender of the Confederacy was quickly replaced by sorrow and anger over the assassination of President Lincoln at Ford's Theatre on April 14.

During the national period of mourning Lincoln’s body traveled by train throughout the North, on its way to his eventual grave in Springfield, Illinois. The train arrived in Philadelphia in the afternoon of Saturday, April 22 and lay in state at Independence Hall through Sunday evening, April 23. City officials estimated that some 300,000 Philadelphians paid their repects, with large crowds left standing in the street when the doors closed Sunday evening.

Click on images for a larger view.

Great Central Sanitary Fair, John Moran, albumen print photograph, (Philadelphia, 1864).

Ford’s Theatre,  Benefit! And Last Night of Miss Laura Keene . . . Our American Cousin (Washington, 1865).

 

The fatal playbill. Author Ferdinand Sarmiento gave McAllister this playbill for the April 14 performance. His pencil inscription in the left margin reads: “This program was picked up by me in the private box of Mr. Lincoln, on the night of the assassination.”

Board of Health (Philadelphia, 1865).

Board of Health (Philadelphia, 1865).

 

City Council (Philadelphia, 1865).

City Council (Philadelphia, 1865).

The Late Lamented President Lincoln (Philadelphia, 1865).

The Late Lamented President Lincoln (Philadelphia, 1865).
Issued Gratuitously by Wanamaker and Brown (Philadelphia, 1865).

Issued Gratuitously by Wanamaker and Brown (Philadelphia, 1865).

The Nation Mourns a Martyred Father (Philadelphia, 1865).

The Nation Mourns a Martyred Father (Philadelphia, 1865).
A Nation Mourns a Patriot Gone (Philadelphia, 1965).

A Nation Mourns a Patriot Gone (Philadelphia, 1965).
Schreiber & Glover, Funeral procession for President Lincoln, 1000 block of South Broad Street.Albumen print photograph (Philadelphia, 1865). Schreiber & Glover, Funeral procession for President Lincoln, 1000 block of South Broad Street.Albumen print photograph (Philadelphia, 1865).

These three of many notices on women’s’ committees for the Great Central Fair demonstrate their energy and activism in making the Fair a success.

Schreiber & Glover, Hearse and coffin in Philadelphia. Albumen print photograph (Philadelphia, 1865).

Schreiber & Glover, Funeral procession for President Lincoln, 1000 block of South Broad Street. Albumen print photograph (Philadelphia, 1865).

Schreiber & Glover, Funeral procession for President Lincoln, 1000 block of South Broad Street. Albumen print photograph (Philadelphia, 1865).

Henry Howard Furness, March 1st, 1864. In this printed letter soliciting members to the planning committees for the Great Central Fair Furness urges support from the men by noting the activities of women. “It may well be to state that the Ladies have entered into the project with great ardor and enthusiasm.”

 
He Still Lives (Philadelphia, 1865).8.92 We Mourn For Our Chief (Philadelphia, 1865).

He Still Lives (Philadelphia, 1865).8.92  We Mourn For Our Chief (Philadelphia, 1865).

But If This Country Cannot Be Saved . . . (Philadelphia, 1865).

But If This Country Cannot Be Saved . . .  (Philadelphia, 1865).

 

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